City Hall renovations to finally happen

A City Hall renovation plan that council turned down during budget talks in November is expected to happen in 2017 after all.

The interior renovations – which the city has been budgeting for since 2014 – are expected to cost $1.5 million.

They include a new, larger women’s washroom on the second floor, a gender-neutral washroom, and upgrades to both the clerk’s department and the upstairs boardroom.

Workers will also put in a shaft for a new elevator, in the lobby; the installation of the elevator itself will wait until 2019.

The plan is to do all this work at once.

It’s a change of plans form November, when councillors were in the midst of budget talks.

At the time, they voted to remove the women’s washroom and the upgrades to the boardroom – for a saving of $425,000. But now things have changed. There was a flood in the clerk’s department over the Family Day weekend. City staff advised that it makes more sense to proceed with the renovation there rather than do repairs now – and then do a full renovation later.

Coun. Lesley Parnell urged council to get on with the renovation because it increases accessibility of the building – plus it saves money to do it now, rather than later.

It always ends up costing more to put off a renovation, she pointed out.

City staff said the work can begin April 10 and be done by late July or early August.

Mayor Daryl Bennett said it’s best to keep the City Hall in good shape.

“This is a 60-year-plus building we’re working out of here - we have some obligations to the people we serve,” he said.

Coun. Dean Pappas, who had pushed for the deletion of the project from the budget, back in November, wasn’t at the meeting Monday night.

He had urged council to cut the project in order to save tax money.

The plan to go forward with the renovation after all got preliminary approval from councillors on Monday. It needs a final vote before council, next week.

Also on council’s agenda Monday night:

Police Budget:

Councillors voted to give city police the full sum of money requested for capital assets in 2017.

Peterborough Police had asked for $547,700 to replace assets such as police cruisers and computer hardware.

But the sum was $102,000 more than more than what council was prepared to give.

Instead of giving the full amount right away, council asked the Peterborough Police Services Board to consider nixing the purchase of a new emergency van that was expected to cost roughly $102,000.

But the police board isn’t willing to take that suggestion: it says the police need that emergency van and won’t be whittling down the budget request.

Although council voted in favour, Mayor Daryl Bennett said he still wasn’t happy that police are buying this new emergency vehicle.

The police say they’ve been using a de-commissioned ambulance for the job; it was made in 2009 and isn’t road-worthy.

But Bennett said he went shopping, and found a perfectly good 14-passenger vehicle that would do the job, for police – for $16,000.

“It would last for the next 10 years, I would suggest .... It’s a good working vehicle and it’s $16,000,” he said.

“There are better ways for tax money to be spent than shiny new vehicles,” the mayor added.

Council still voted in favour of gi9ving the police they money they asked for.

Library Renovation and Expansion:

ConstructionatthePeterborough Public Library is on budget, so far – but it’s running three months behind schedule.

A $12-million renovation and expansion project is taking place at the library. It started in June 2016 and was expected done about a year later.

But now it’s late. That means the library’s temporary location, in Peterborough Square, may remain open until sometime in the fall (perhaps September or October).

The Peterborough Public Library is 36 years old and has never undergone renovations before.

A city staff report released on Friday states that “challenges” have been encountered at the construction site.

For example, the foundations of the city’s former fire hall were discovered as excavation took place. Those foundations had to be removed, which took some time.

Councillors approved the plan to keep the library operating out of its temporary location until the renovation is done in the fall.

The vote will have to be ratified at a forthcoming council meeting. NOTE: See more city council coverage on Pages A1 and A3.