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STICKING TOGETHER DURING THESE TIMES
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020
City council awards tender for the expansion of the Estevan Police Service’s building The expansion of the Estevan Police Ser vice’s building is moving forward. Estevan city council approved a $2,159,000 tender from Quorex Construction at Monday night’s meeting, following a recommendation from the Estevan board of police commissioners, who also selected Quorex for the work. The bid came above the budgeted amount of $1.5 million. Mayor Roy Ludwig noted at the meeting that the work has been trimmed to about $2 million. Council will be seeking $1 million from the provincial government’s recently-announced stimulus package to ease the city’s burden for this project. Council spent about 20 minutes debating the issue during the open portion of the meeting, covering such topics as ways to reduce the costs, to getting local contractors involved, to the
condition of the current building. A building committee has been struck to discuss the project and to look at how to lower costs. “The building committee has spent literally hours and hours and hours just on this, on awarding this tender, and that’s why we took our time,” said Ludwig. “ We wanted to make sure we cross ts and dot I’s.” Ludwig believes that if anyone takes a tour of the police station, they would see how much the expansion is needed. Members of council echoed Ludwig’s statement. “The room that really just stuck with me was a room where some of the vulnerable victims go to,” said Councillor Shelly Veroba. “It’s very small, and to have to be interviewed in that room or to give your statement in that room, I thought that was one of many items
in the police stations that need to be enhanced.” She also cited concern with the filing system that requires more space and the lab. Other members of council shared their experiences with the design of the building, with Councillor Greg Hoffort calling the building’s design “dysfunctional.” C o u n c i l l o r Tr e v o r Knibbs cited a conversation with an unnamed member of council, who pointed out that in the last few years, the fire department has moved into a new building, and the police station will be expanded, all for less than $5 million. “ W hen you put that into perspective, I’m even more in favour,” Knibbs said. “I think we’ve done a great job getting two new facilities. You see police stations getting built all over the country for $17 million to
$20 million.” Quorex was awarded the bid even though they weren’t the lowest bid. That was local company B&S Construction Ltd., whose bid came in at $1,847,127. B&S called for the work to be completed in 7 1/2 months, while Quorex projects a seven-month project. A total of nine bids were received for the expansion, and a 10th came in late. All were above the city’s budgeted figure. Ludwig pointed out that for large projects such as the renovation, the city uses a system called the best value tender agreement. The cost of the project accounts for the majority of the value at 60 per cent, but also receiving weight in this case were COR certification, experience with previous similar projects and completion time. According to Ray Gos-
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of one of the most eagerly anticipated events in Estevan this year. The Estevan Exhibition Association’s board of directors announced on May 5 the cancellation of the 2020 Energy City Ex. The decision was made public on the association’s Facebook page. The Energy City Ex., slated for June 4-7, was to bring Estevan’s Fair and Rodeo together on the same weekend for the first time in more than 20 years. The annual domestics show, the Estevan Sings talent competition, the SMILE Services Parade and other attractions were to be part of the event. “We know the public is aware that this cancellation was going to take place and we could not officially announce until we were able to arrange a meeting and follow all the necessary steps that need to take place prior to the announcement,” president Tamera Huber wrote in a letter posted to the exhibition association’s Facebook page. “It was a sombre night when the information was
officially recorded into our minutes.” The board was unanimous in the decision to cancel. In the initial days of the pandemic, the association held out hope that this marquee community event would still be able to happen. But as the days progressed, they knew a decision would have to happen eventually, but they still needed to arrange a meeting of some type while respecting all government guidelines. “We had to get a meeting together, and it just wasn’t easy because some of us don’t have technologies to do it. I needed to speak with West Coast Amusements (the midway provider) as well.” West Coast Amusements, which supplies midways to events throughout Western Canada, has since announced the cancellation of their entire season. Ride passes and tickets were not on sale as of yet. The association noted that the public had asked for the fair and rodeo to be held together on the same weekend for many years, and they felt blessed when West Coast Amusements came to the
table last year with the news of a four-day midway leading into a weekend. Huber said the EEA heard so much excitement in the community. People were stepping forward to volunteer to do their part to make it happen. “I was hearing great things about it. People were excited about it. We spoke with the business community at a chamber of commerce meeting and they were on board with us,” said Huber. “It was going to be a good one. I could picture it all happening, and it’s a shame.” The fair has been held on weekdays in June for nearly two decades. The rodeo has typically been on the last weekend in August or the first weekend in September since 2011. Prior to that, it was in July. “The Estevan Exhibition Association midway is what sustains our non-profit organization throughout the year,” Huber wrote. The City of Estevan was planning to bring in the #Rednek country music festival with Gord Bamford and Jess Moskaluke to Affin-
ity Place on June 6 as part of the Energy City Ex., but that concert has been pushed back to 2021. Huber hopes the exhibition association can have some sort of an event or a fundraiser later this year. A couple of people have tossed around some ideas for events, such as having a digital version of the domestics art show, which has been one of the long-standing traditions of the fair days. “We were actually going to have something new this year. We were going to have an agriculture pavilion. We were calling it Farm to Fork. One of our board members had some really great things lined up there. It was all about ag. And education,” said Huber. It’s been difficult to communicate over Zoom meetings, and get people talking, but there are good ideas out there, she said. The association also doesn’t want to make plans for the fall and then have to cancel those as well because the government restrictions are still in place. The coming months will be tough to get through, the association said, just like they
The next step has been taken for the expansion of the Estevan Police Service’s building. File photo selin Architect Ltd., who is the architect for the project, B&S didn’t have a letter of surety. Ludwig said that if council were to have looked strictly at the cost of the bid, and ignored the other factors, Quorex could have sued the city under the terms of the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, which includes
Saskatchewan and the other Western Canadian provinces, or the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. “In both those agreements, they very clearly state that we can’t give preference to local, so even though the local was lower, we go with what we call the best value tender agreement,” said Ludwig. A2 » POLICE
Fair and rodeo reunion will have to wait a year
The Estevan Exhibition Association has been forced to cancel the Energy City Ex. File photo will be tough for the entire business community. But Huber is confident the organiza-
tion, which is more than 100 years old, will survive this setback.
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