Cranbrook city council gave a soft endorsement of a preliminary plan to fix the Memorial Arena roof structure, while funding and project completion timelines remain a challenge.
At the low end of the scale, the fix is estimated at $2 million, with the potential to climb higher based on a number of variables, while bureaucratic issues navigating an inter-provincial trade agreement between Western Canadian provinces could potentially interfere with the city’s processes in awarding contracts.
The cost estimate was prepared with assistance from New Dawn Developments, while additional factors such as completing engineering for the proposed fix, as well as adding a project manager, were not included.
“As a municipality…we struggle to get cost estimates on any of the work that we do because companies are busy and it’s a lot of work to build a cost estimate,” said Mark Fercho, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer, “so I just want to make it very public that we thank New Dawn Developments for taking that on in a very quick way, wrangling subcontractors and themselves to put all that work together with the engineer to get that cost estimate in front of us.
“That was a critical piece, because otherwise, we’d be sitting here tonight with no idea what a potential cost might be.”
The city is also seeking a legal opinion to determine if direct-awarding a contract over $75,000 would run afoul of the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, an accord between the four Western Canadian provinces that removes trade barriers to free up movement of goods, services, investment, and people within.
Specific to the Memorial Arena, the trade agreement contains procurement terms for municipal governments along with a bid protest mechanism, however, it also contains exemptions based on unforeseeable situations of urgency.
In the meantime, council and administration are also wrestling with how to come up with funding for an unplanned $2 million expenditure.
Administration options included dipping into the $3.9 million Moir Park reserve fund or going to the public for an Alternative Approval Process to borrow the $2 million, however, that process could take up to six months to go through the bureaucratic process.
Mayor Wayne Price suggested a third option of borrowing against the Moir Park reserve fund and paying it back over time, a process that doesn’t require public consultation and won’t be held up by red tape.
That plan would ultimately come with a tax increase, as the city heads into budget planning sessions next week, according to Charlotte Osborne, the city’s top finance official.
Price’s suggestion also preceded a warning that the city’s reserve funds are not in good shape.
“The Memorial Arena is not a potable water emergency or a sanitary sewer emergency and your reserves in both of those utilities are not in very good shape, so should something come up — such as out at the lagoons that would require a $2-$3 million repair — that money will be gone,” said Osborne.
Both elected and administration officials noted that conversations will be happening with the Regional District of East Kootenay, and other organizations such as the Columbia Basin Trust, to gauge interest in supporting the arena project.
Fercho also confirmed that the current and previous councils were not informed by administration of any concerns relating to the Memorial Arena roof structure until a consultant’s report was submitted to the city in late September.
Fercho added that the city is working towards adding municipal buildings into the city’s asset management matrix, which already includes aspects such as the vehicle fleet and water and sewer infrastructure.
The structural repair of the arena roof system is a viable option, according to an engineering consultant hired by the city.
The repair would include a number of elements, such as new reinforced concrete foundations, installation of steel ties across each set of the glulam arches, installation of new steel columns and diagonal braces, among other necessary work.
The repair would bring the arena roof to an as-new build, as long as the building envelop is left intact and all the prescribed repair and maintenance occurs, according to staff.
The Kinsmen Arena remains closed, as it shares the ice plant with the Memorial Arena, while setting up a temporary ice plant is cost prohibitive, per staff.