Municipal garage price skyrockets

By Pam Wright Local Journalism Initiative pamwrightlji@gmail.com

Skyrocketing inflation has caused the cost of a building a new public works garage in Chatham to more than double.

At its Feb. 6, meeting Chatham-Kent council approved a motion to construct the new building on Creek Road at a cost of $6.1 million.

The amount is more than twice the original estimate of $2.7 million.

Several councillors took issue with the spending hike.

“Why the big pay increase now?” Chatham Coun. Amy Finn asked.

Ryan Brown, Chatham-Kent’s director of public works, blamed the increase on rampant inflation and the fact that some of the services, such as the installation of new hydro meter, were not factored in.

“The biggest driver of the cost increase, compared to the original estimates, is the ongoing inflation,” Brown told council.

East Kent Coun. Steve Pinsonneault questioned why the $450,000 architectural design fee was so high, but Brown said that an estimated 10 per cent of a project is the standard cost.

Hello ALC and Community Members!

The Board of Directors and the staff of the Active Lifestyle Centre would like to assure you that we are up and running with over 30 programs and services. While we still have some work to do, we are very proud of how far we have come. We have introduced some evening programs for those of you that can’t come during the daytime hours. We have revamped our website, check it out at:

activelifestylecentre.org

(You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram)

We have posted our program schedule. Keep checking in as we expect to introduce new programs each month. We continue to look for new programs and instructors using our community survey results to guide us. Social events and trips are on the near horizon as we plan for the upcoming year! If you have never been to the Active Lifestyle Centre located at 20 Merritt. Ave., stop in for a tour, one of our great staff would love to show off the Centre.

Be assured that the staff have the full support of the Board of Directors and decisions are being made in the best interest of ALL of our members. We are trying to balance the needs of our members with our current financial status. The objective is to maintain programming, offer services and still make it affordable for our members to enjoy a home away from home. Pre-pandemic we had to raise $200,000 annually (after all of the grants) to keep our member fees affordable, pay the bills and offer exceptional programming. We expect that this will be an ongoing requirement.

We are excited to introduce memberships for the 2023/2024 fiscal year. We will begin offering them in March for $60 and they will be good until March 31st 2024. In addition we have introduced a six month membership for $30. The daily user fee will be $3.00 for members in addition to the annual fee. The user fee for ALC evening classes will be $4.00.

We have an amazing facility offering diverse, all-inclusive programming for the senior population of Chatham-Kent. Thank you for supporting us as we strive to continuously improve.

ALC Board of Directors.

20 Merritt Ave., Chatham

For info please call 519-352-5633 or visit our website: activelifestylecentre.org.

Facebook Pages: Active Lifestyle Centre or ALC Friends

Council originally approved the project in 2020, but the pandemic and problems hooking into services delayed the construction.

East Kent Coun. John Wright expressed concern over the high cost and the delay.

“I can’t understand why this has taken so long and why it’s more than doubled in price,” Wright said.

Brown said the pandemic and unforeseen issues contributed to the slowdown.

“We did have to reroute and plan for new gas lines,” Brown said.

Up to $2.6 million will be transferred from the asset management plan for bridges, with the funds to be replaced in the 2024 capital budget with no impact on future bridge projects.

A portion of the new garage was financed through the sale of municipal property at 540 Park Ave. East to Onbelay Automotive for $750,000.

Council also learned that the public works employees that used the garage that was sold have had to do some of their work and store equipment out of doors since the sale.

The tender from Windsor-Essex based Barrineti Construction Ltd. was the lowest of nine received by the municipality.

Helping Monarchs

The Monarch butterfly may be getting some love in Chatham-Kent following an idea from South Kent. Coun. Trevor Thompson.

At the Feb. 6 council meeting, Thompson put forward a notice of motion for administration to investigate what actions can be taken by the municipality to assist the public in helping the prolific pollinator. The population of the colourful insect is in decline, Thompson said, due to loss of habitat and use of herbicides.

The motion will come before council on March 6.