Central Frontenac buildings need up to $10 million in repairs — report

Craig Bakay | Mar 02, 2022

Central Frontenac municipal buildings (fire halls, recreation halls, equipment depots) need $7,813,689 in repairs and upgrades, Council heard at its regular (online) meeting Feb. 22.

“That’s about $10 million over 10 years,” said Treasurer Michael McGovern.

The Township commissioned a Building Condition Assessment through a grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities which paid 80 per cent or $48,000 of the $61,056 cost leaving the Township contribution to be about $12,211. It was a joint RFP with North Frontenac Township.

McIntosh Perry was the successful bidder for the project.

Dierdre Roe of McIntosh Perry said they looked at 24 facilities — six fire halls, seven operations buildings and 11 recreation facilities. She said they looked at all major building elements including structure, building envelope, interior finishes, mechanical and electrical systems and siteworks as well as such things as hazardous materials, indoor air quality, code compliance, energy efficiency and accessibility. The Mountain Grove Library, Crow Lake Schoolhouse and Hinchinbrooke School were not part of the study.

“Forty-eight per cent of our facilities are in the good to excellent range and 52 per cent are in poor to critical,” McGovern said. “The only two in critical are the Parham Palace and the Parham Pump house.”

The study did include the old Parham fire hall and some other buildings that are only used for storage.

“It is apparent that this is a first kick at the can,” said John Kirkpatrick of McIntosh Perry. “There may be some things that are grandfathered in but there are some health and safety issues (staff and public) need to be addressed to limit your liability (such as plumbed eyewash stations).

“I don’t think there’s any big surprises in this,” said Mayor Frances Smith. “Although it’s probably time to rent some storage units.

“It’s probably cheaper and we can let somebody else have the liability.”

“How did our facilities rank with others you’ve done this for?” asked Coun. Bill MacDonald.

“We’ve seen better but we’ve seen worse too,” said Kirkpatrick. “You’re not the only ones in this situation.”

The most expensive facilities to repair include the Godfrey equipment depot at $1,110,010, the municipal office at $1,109,212 and the Kennebec Hall and Library at $600,009. By comparison, the Oso ballpark canteen can be brough up to snuff for $27,568, the Parham Pump House for 45,480 and the Parham canteen and washrooms for $50,400.

Booking Software

Council approved $10,400 for online recreational booking software of which 75 per cent is funded by the Municipal Modernization Program.

“This will save a lot of administration time,” said Treasurer Michael McGovern. “It can show people what slots are available, register for swimming class, book halls and save us $3,000 worth of administration time.

Coun. Tom Dewey asked about the approval process. “There are some people we don’t want booking our halls,” he said.

“We’re still working that out,” McGovern said. “Do we want approval first or pay first and then perhaps have to give a refund.”

“Regardless, if you don’t have a computer, you can still come to the office to book a hall,” said Mayor Frances Smith.

Tenders Apporoved

Council approved grounds maintenance tenders as follows (plus HST): Kennebec — $13,500, Olden — $12,400, Oso — $27,900, Hinchinbrooke — $10,850.

Coun. Brent Cameron asked if there was a significant increase due to inflation.

“It’s not reflective, in fact, Kennebec is down a couple of thousand,” said Public Works Manager Tyson Myers.

Myers also said they keep the contracts to one year because there are always new contractors joining the market and they don’t want them excluded.

Council Supports Brewery

Council passed resolution in support of the proposed Kick & Push Brewing Company Ltd which is scheduled to be built on Hwy 7 just west of the Ultramar.

Referendum Question

Council passed a bylaw to have the following question placed on the ballot for the 2022 Municipal Election for Central Frontenac: “Are you in favour of reducing Council size from nine to five members Yes or No?”

Committees of Council

Council did manage to delete a couple of standing committees including the Multi-Use Facility committee and the Waste Management Steering Committee.

Coun. Bill MacDonald, chair of the Multi-Use said: “everything we had online, we completed. If we need to, we can resurrect it.”

Coun. Victor Heese said the waste management steering committee’s mandate was taken over by another committee. He said he’d like to keep the re-use committee because there was a proposal on the table when covid hit.

Coun. Cindy Kelsey questioned the need for a Central Rec Committee.

“What do they do and do we need them?” she said.

“They apply for grants and parcel them out,” said Mayor Frances Smith.

“We parceled out $40,000 to $50,000 worth of equipment,” said Coun. Bill MacDonald.