Westlock County has awarded a $500,000 contract to raise the new $2 million, but never used, Tawatinaw Valley Ski Chalet.
It’s hoped the work, approved at the council’s June 9 meeting, will bring an end to the ongoing saga of the ski hill’s main building and allow it to open this year.
“End of July it’ll be finished, but depending on weather, it could go into August,” said county director of engineering and infrastructure Bill Mills.
Three businesses bid for the job and the successful tender, put in NCV Industrial from Spruce Grove, came in at just under $500,000, $215,000 less then the next closest.
Due to fears of flooding, the whole building will be lifted and the current basement filled in with gravel before a new concrete floor is installed.
The work includes landscaping and connection to utilities and once completed will see an extra six feet added to the building.
“There’s a crawlspace under there right now, and that’s going to be filled and then a new floor poured,” Mills said. “It’s going to be landscaped three feet below the new floor and then the surface drained out. It’s given us a huge amount of greater percentage drop.”
The controversy-plagued facility has a lengthy history for its short life and it’s never been open to the public.
As well as running over budget, the chalet was not available for the 2014/15 ski season after water began seeping into the basement last year. That meant the project had to be put on hold over winter as the municipality looked for solutions.
Not including the latest work, the building has cost around $2 million.
During discussions about awarding the contract Coun. Mel Kroetsch asked if this would be the final bill for the municipality.
“Is there was going to be any costs after this?” which brought some laughter from council and administration.
“I’m not going to commit to that,” Mills replied.
Reeve Bud Massey added: “I think that was a serious question from Mel. We’d love to stop the bleeding.”
The quote provided by the contractor was more than the county had allocated for the job.
Somewhat handily, at council’s May 25 meeting, administration advised that an extra $136,000 had been added to the budget bottom-line after a software conversion error.
Council asked for three options on how to spend the windfall and decided to allocate the cash to the chalet.
But even that was without minor controversy as council split 5-2 on what to do with the cash.
Before the vote on the chalet, a motion to use the money to buy a new backhoe was defeated.
Coun. Dennis Primeau was the most vocal against the cash going to the chalet and requested a recorded vote before the council took the decision.
Along with Primeau, Kroetsch voted against the move with the main sentiment being the project had already used up enough money.
There was a short delay after the vote was taken as councillors clarified requirements of a recorded vote. Primeau, who asked that the vote be recorded, initially requested that the minutes also show why councillors voted the way they did.
After consulting the Municipal Government Act, only the names and the vote were noted.
Massey, who supported the allocation of the extra funds, said he appreciated Primeau’s stance on the hill.
“Dennis is just concerned with the amount of money that the ski hill has cost the county,” Massey said. “It has an ongoing deficit in operating costs, and he’s concerned about that.”
CAO Peter Kelly said the municipality was exploring ways of making the facility a year-round venue and noted the forthcoming Spartan Race on June 27 and 28 and opportunities for biking and other summer activities and events.
The county is also continuing to explore alternative management arrangements at the site, including lease or sale options, although they would have to see a good return for taxpayers.
“It appears that if you polled our residents, the vast majority of our residents do not use the facility, and so there would be a significant amount who feel that it’s a constant money drain. However, we did not get elected to fire sale community assets,” Massey said.
