River Valley Centre in North Battleford. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Upgrades ahead

City planning to renovate River Valley Centre

Jul 5, 2022 | 3:45 PM

The City of North Battleford plans to renovate the River Valley Centre to use a space on the east side for the city’s building maintenance crew.

Council approved the proposal to adapt the facility to house the city’s fleet, building manager and the building maintenance staff and operations.

Administration proposed making the changes since the River Valley Centre, located at 801 River Valley Drive, has been vacant since Destination Battlefords left the facility.

Director of Operations for the city, Stewart Schafer noted the site experienced some vandalism in March when three individuals tried to break into the building and damaged the security cameras outside. So it would help keep the site more secure if city staff were using it.

As well, Schafer said that the Wildlife Federation have already removed their items in the display cases that were located in the building. Some of those have been moved to Regina.

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Schafer said the city’s building maintenance crews are currently set up in the Parks Shop where there is limited space. So moving them to the River Valley Centre would alleviate the issue.

“Originally we were thinking of moving them into the airport maintenance shop. But that was quite expensive to do, and this building became available,” Schafer said. “We took a look at it. It seems it will meet our needs.”

The River Valley Centre building work will entail renovating the interior, adding cameras and security features, and installing a fenced vehicle storage compound.

Budget-wise, the total cost for the project is estimated at $52,470 including PST.

The city originally budgeted $115,000 to renovate the airport maintenance shop to move its building maintenance crew into that space. Instead, it will reallocate part of these funds for the River Valley Centre renovations, and use the remaining amount ($62,530) for other projects experiencing cost-overages. Schafer said the airport shop upgrades can be done at a later date, and will be less expensive since the work will no longer involve making renovations to create office space.

City Manager Randy Patrick said the city will advise the Town of Battleford of its plans for the River Valley Centre changes.

“Obviously we would let Battleford know about our desire to do this, and make sure they are aware we are maintaining part of that building for future use for the River Valley,” he said.

Mayor David Gillan wanted to make sure the renovations would allow for some flexibility, so the west side of the building, where there is a kitchen, cafeteria and some meeting area, could still be used for other purposes.

Patrick said the city will maintain about one-third of the building for potential future use, such as rentals.

“We wanted to make sure there was flexibility,” he said. “That’s why we thought that side of the building would be best to keep open.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW