(Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Budgeted renovations

New council chambers for City of North Battleford planned for upgrades

Jun 27, 2023 | 5:00 PM

The City of North Battleford’s current council chambers in Room 107 at the Don Ross Centre in North Battleford will be renovated this fall.

At its meeting Monday, council approved hiring LV Schell Construction Management Services for the project, at a cost of up to $300,000, plus $16,981 for PST.

The work will involve improving the design of the room. It was noted council meetings will revert back to the former Council Chambers at City Hall, with accommodations for any presentations or delegations requiring Zoom, while the upgrade work is underway.

City Clerk Stacey Hadley mentioned in her report the renovations are expected to take about three months to complete.

Hadley said LV Schell Construction Management Services pre-qualified for the renovation project. The work will include a redesign of the space.

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“We can bring [the project details] back to council prior to commencing the work to give an update,” she added.

The majority of council supported administration’s recommendation, with Coun. Bill Ironstand and Coun. Kelli Hawtin opposed. Coun. Kent Lindgren was absent from this part of the meeting.

Ironstand questioned why the work is needed.

“I’m still not in favour of this,” he said. “We’re doing adequate business with what we have. This was one of our highest tax seasons in our community. I understand it. We discussed it multiple times [in budget deliberations]. But I will not be supporting this today.”

Hawtin questioned how much of the “full vision” of the renovation project would be able to be completed while staying within budget.

“We’ve all experienced a lot of inflation over the last number of months, number of years,” she noted.

Hadley said some design options could be cut from the projection to reduce some costs.

“We’re willing to make changes to materials, [items] of that nature that won’t necessarily sacrifice the quality and longevity, but will be a little more cost-effective,” she said.

Possibly cutting the sound-dampening features that were going to be installed on the walls would reduce the costs.

As well, rather than redesigning the ceiling, the lighting might just be updated to save some money.

“I am working in partnership with our Director of Engineering, Planning, Asset Management and Infrastructure for his knowledge and expertise from the engineering perspective,” Hadley said. “We will be having a meeting once the contract has been awarded. He has already, from what I understand, been working on some of those options to bring forward.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow