Westlock County council has authorized an additional $500,000 to address water-related issues with the new $2-million yet-to-be-opened Tawatinaw Valley ski chalet.
Council approved the county’s 2015 Capital Budget, which includes the $500,000 expense, at its Dec. 9 meeting. Neither council nor administration offered any specific details at the meeting of how the money would be spent
A Request for Proposals (RFP) published in the Dec. 16 Town & Country, however, outlines the scope of the work to be done as constructing “a new perimeter drainage system to control the surface water,” wastewater treatment, a new building and foundation for potable water storage, and several dewatering and sump pumps. The tenders will be opened scheduled Dec. 22 at 2:01 p.m.
The potential $500,000 expenditure would bring the total project budget to around $2.5 million, a cost overrun of more than 25 per cent over the initial budget.
Council also approved paying $17,250 for engineering costs to Matrix Consulting for the Nova-Scotia-based engineer J. Michael O’Connor’s report on options to get the chalet open.
The Westlock News learned in June that the new chalet wouldn’t open on schedule, and later discovered the reason was unspecified drainage issues causing flooding in the building. CAO Peter Kelly hired O’Connor to provide options to rectify those issues.
Although council approved making the payment, which is slightly higher than the $15,000 initial estimate for the work, the report has not been discussed publicly. On Dec. 11, reeve Bud Massey said council has not seen the report they authorized paying for and isn’t aware of the options presented therein.
“Our new administration (CAO Peter Kelly) doesn’t give us a whole lot of information until he actually has facts,” he said. “I have not seen the report.”
There has been no public discussion about the options presented in the report; Massey said a public debate would come in due course.
“When the time comes, there will be a debate,” he said, but wouldn’t specify when. “I don’t know; it’s when we get all the information.”
He said Dec. 12 that to his knowledge no RFP had been issued, but when shown the document, he said the intent was to “see what the actual cost would be to pursue one of those options.”
“There’s no secrecy,” Massey said. “We discussed the various options that are being pursued.”
He added he hopes the full $500,000 won’t be required, but that’s the figure administration asked for in the capital budget so council approved it.
As for the possibility of recouping any of that cost — particularly since water and drainage were included in the original contract with BRZ Architecture — Massey would not say anything specific.
“At this point in time, we’ve put it in our budget in order to go forward,” he said. “Issues dealing with anything caused by past decisions or lack of decisions, or past performances, will be dealt with at a later time.”
The county has also issued an RFP for the demolition and removal of the old ski chalet, which will also be opened Dec. 22 at 2:01 p.m.
