Little said about library project
The new tentative completion date for the library expansion and renovation is December 2013, 11 months after the original completion date of January 2013.
The new date was announced by Heather Bretz of Stantec during the May 21 meeting of council. Bretz was there to give an update on the project and to answer questions from council, but, aside from the completion date, the presentation gave little to no new information.
The $8.5-million library project, which was last reported as a million dollars over budget, has been on hold for a number of months as the municipality, Stantec and Delnor waited for a third party review to reveal issues with the roof. The review was completed at the beginning of May and shows that the shingle roof needs to be removed in order for a new air barrier to be installed鈥攁s the one currently in place was installed improperly and with inadequate materials.
The municipality, builders and architects are now trying to determine how much that error will cost and who is liable for it.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know the total cost at this point,鈥� Bretz told council. 鈥淭here is a process that is very clearly set out and I wouldn鈥檛 speculate right now until we go through the process.鈥�
Bretz鈥檚 presentation included frequently asked questions, like why is the roof coming off; who鈥檚 fault is it; and how did this happen? In response to all of them, she responded similarly: 鈥淲e鈥檙e committed as a team, Stantec, Delnor and the [Municipality of Jasper] to work together to ensure the project is a high quality project and that it鈥檚 a success at the end of the day.鈥�
To close out the presentation period, Coun. Gilbert Wall bluntly stated his frustration with the builder and architect. 鈥淭his conversation will be easily forgotten if the building is one of perfection, but this conversation will not be forgotten if we get a bad building,鈥� he said.
Festival funding request pushed again
Council postponed its decision on the Jasper Folk and Blues Society鈥檚 funding request for a second time because the budget items were still missing from the May 21 agenda.
The society is requesting $5,000 from the Economic Development Fund for portable toilets and fencing for the Sept. 13-15 Jasper Folk Music Festival. The request was first presented to council at the May 7 meeting, but there were no line items for either portables or fencing, so it was held over to May 21.
But, again last week, the cost of the items were missing from the budget, so council asked Simon Chisotti, who attended the meeting on behalf of the society, to provide those numbers to the municipality.
Coun. Brenda Zinck told Chisotti that without the numbers, she would feel uncomfortable voting on the request. The rest of council agreed.
The Economic Development Fund has $6,750 in it. The municipality gives out money twice a year from the fund. Application deadlines are in March and September.
