Inside the North Battleford Co-op Aquatic Centre. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

Replacement Projects

North Battleford council approves aquatic centre roof project and replacement of multiple light poles

Aug 10, 2023 | 5:00 PM

A large portion of North Battleford’s Co-op Aquatic Centre will be under construction in the coming weeks.

The city’s council held a special meeting earlier this week where they approved replacing sections of the roof over the pool and the lobby.

A roof condition assessment was done in 2019 which encouraged replacing these sections sometime in the coming years as the insulation was becoming more saturated which is making it much heavier.

“The longer we leave it, there’s a potential for a major disaster,” said David Gillan, the mayor of North Battleford.

He told battlefordsNOW this project will cost over $1.3 million. The 2023 budget already includes $1.2 million with the roughly $100,000 remaining coming out of the city’s gas tax fund.

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The plan is to have construction start in late August or early September. This is around the same time the centre closes each year for maintenance work.

“The start will coincide with that, and they’ll work right through the fall with the plan being to finish it by the end of the year or early into next year,” said Gillan.

The rest of the roof received repairs in 2022 and isn’t expected to need more until sometime in 2028.

Meanwhile, the city’s council also approved having the four light poles at the intersection of Territorial Drive and 100th Street replaced.

The south signal light pole broke down in November 2022 with an assessment later determining that each would need to be replaced.

This project is estimated to cost over $420,000 with council choosing to replace all four at once instead of two now and two later.

“It costs more today to do it all together versus splitting it, but the reality is the cost over time would be higher,” added Gillan.

Estimates from the administration have the cost being closer to $494,000 if they delayed half of the project due to the rising cost of materials.

A tender has since been put out for a company to oversee the work.

“That was the reason for the special council meeting, because (administration) wanted to get the tender out right away, they want to get the work done this year,” Gillan said.

The funds for the project aren’t a part of the 2023 budget and will also come out of the gas tax fund.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow