(File photo/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Cost management

City looks for ‘flexible’ RCMP janitorial services contract

Oct 30, 2023 | 3:37 PM

North Battleford city council gave its OK to the RCMP detachment’s janitorial cleaning services contract at its recent meeting.

Council agreed to a three-year contract at a cost of up to $418,306, but will review the contract with Regina-based SRS Property Management Corp. after the first year to see if it meets or exceeds the hours for the service and the type of service required.

SRS Property Management Corp. had the highest score in the request for proposal submissions received, and presented “the best value for the services provided,” the city’s fleet and maintenance manager Seton Winterholt said.

Councillors discussed the proposal to find the best workable solution in the contract wording.

Winterholt noted he and the city manager met with the RCMP to discuss the level of service increases, and “where we could maybe adjust some of those things.”

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The previous janitorial service contract for $90,000 was set to expire at the end of December 2023, so the new contract was needed.

The new contract is being built into the next three budget years, including a revision of the 2024 draft operating budget, the city confirmed.

The revised approved amount for janitorial services for 2024 will now be $135,349, including PST. Council and administration will review the services and hours within this contract at the end of year one to determine the level of services that are needed for years two and three.

The city noted it will receive a 55 per cent reimbursement for the cost of this contract from the RCMP, through their operation and maintenance program.

“We could look at evaluating the data that’s received on an annual basis to see if there could be more cost savings, based on the fact we will now be able to track the amount of hours being spent and the tasks being completed, which wasn’t available to us previously,” Winterholt said.

He added by having the three-year contract in place it serves as protection that the cost won’t go up further.

Mayor David Gillan echoed these sentiments, saying the new contract “could be flexible” in its design. The city will determine “what service is needed at the detachment as [it] gets more data, so we can take a closer look if we want to reduce the service level to save some dollars in the future.”

Coun. Greg Lightfoot agreed this was a good solution.

“We have to look at the contract over three years to a maximum dollar, with the option from the second and third year to revisit service-levels and needs with all the parties involved, to make sure we are not paying more than what is needed,” he noted.

Coun. Ross MacAngus commented “after the first year, we’ll have the knowledge of how much time it’s taking [to do the work].”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow