WESTLOCK –Town of Westlock councillors have given first reading to a 10-year, $700,000 debenture bylaw that’ll pay for a portion of the municipality’s new $4.3 million public works shop.
Passed unanimously at the Feb. 14 regular meeting, the bylaw will now be advertised for two weeks, then faces a 45-day pause before it can be passed — as per the Municipal Government Act, ratepayers have that period to present a petition against it.
The project is the main highlight of the $8,111,961 2022 capital budget passed by council in December, a document that includes $1 million for demolition of Jubilee Arena, plus $1,648,461 worth of carry-forward projects from 2021 — a portion of that list includes $713,164 of work left on 108th Street, $451,131 for improvements to 100th Street (108th Avenue to 115th Avenue) and $57,500 for an EV charger.
In a request a decision to council, finance director Julia Seppola said the Jan. 1, 2022, transfer of Westlock Place to Homeland Housing and subsequent payout of the remaining $617,080 debenture on it means there will be “no additional tax increase” needed to pay the debenture costs.
“It’s pretty much a wash. The debenture we were paying was $82,210 and under this document for a 10-year debenture it is $81,745, so by using a 10-year debenture there’s no impact to the taxes — they won’t go up, but they won’t come down,” she told council.
Seppola went on to explain that a five-year debenture would have required a .95 per cent tax increase, while stretching it out over 15 years would have added up to an additional $76,933 in interest. If there’s no petition, the town will apply for the debenture in the summer.
“I think prime is 2.55 (per cent) and I think it’s set to climb so we’ll see what happens in June when this comes back to you,” she added.
Built in 1975 and named after Dave G. Turner, a long-time town employee and community booster, the current shop underwent an engineering review in 2017 which led to some fixes the following year. Ultimately, the RFD to council notes the building requires “substantial” repairs to remain in use and is too small for “current operational needs.”
CAO Simone Wiley said that although construction on the building can’t start until the 45-day petition window has ended, they’re working with their engineering firm currently on a “design-build” package.
“Our engineering firm is very close to having that package ready to go out. We’re taking the step that we’re assuming this is going forward,” said Wiley. “It’s low risk with the amount of money we’re borrowing in relation to the entire amount of the project. We’re not going to wait until the 45 days is up in order to put the package out there. I would assume it will be out at the end of February.”
Operations director Robin Benoit said over the next couple of weeks they’ll have a contractor going through both the shop and Jubilee Arena to figure out “what they’re up against” regarding the demolition of both. Jubilee Arena, which currently houses several old emergency vehicles and other equipment, was supposed to be levelled in 2012, but those plans were shelved following the discovery of asbestos — a 2012 report stated that 16 of 26 building-material samples tested positive for the substance. Council then talked about demolishing the building in late 2018 and briefly considered the possibility of renos to use it as a warm-storage facility. But when faced with a $1 million price tag for that work, or $900,000 to simply demolish it, council balked and put the issue on the backburner.
“We’re getting an abatement assessment being done, so what kind of hazardous are we going to be dealing with,” said Benoit. “What kind of asbestos, is there lead? It’ll help us tighten up our demolition costs.”
Work on the new shop, as well as construction of a cold storage facility, is slated to start around the end of the first quarter and the cost for both is $4.4 million — the cold storage building is tabbed at $140,000 to be paid for via grant dollars.
The new shop will be located north of the current one which will mean the ball diamond, which had initially been intended as a stop-gap facility when constructed years ago, will be bulldozed. The 2024 capital budget does list $700,000 for ball diamond replacement, although that’s not necessarily aimed at replacing the one that’s being lost, said Wiley in a previous interview. The town is slated to spend $120,000 on a recreation master plan this year and Wiley said that ball diamond will be part of that discussion.
