City wants money for pool repairs
Municipality also looking at recovering rink expenses
St. Catharines will “vigorously” pursue reimbursement for the costs of fixing Kiwanis Aquatics Centre after ceiling tiles and light fixtures fell from the ceiling last month, the mayor says.
The damage to the five-yearold, $19.5-million facility on Carlton Street closed down the pool for the entire summer and is estimated to cost more than $100,000 to repair.
“Council’s feeling is that we shouldn’t be paying one dime for this structural issue,” Walter Sendzik said. “That’s our position as a city. I’m sure our staff will do everything to ensure this isn’t a cost carried by the taxpayer.”
The St. Catharines Kiwanis Aquatics Centre was shut down for emergency repairs the morning of July 4 after acoustic ceiling tiles and lights fell to the pool deck while swimmers were in the water.
The city’s investigation found a cable holding the suspended tiles wasn’t fastened tight enough and pulled down the tiles and lights.
Alert lifeguards evacuated the pool area moments before the tiles fell after seeing a bolt fall and hearing an eerie noise. They were commended for their quick actions by city council this past Monday and credited for the lack of injuries or fatalities.
Sendzik said the city’s legal staff and insurance providers are now looking at all options on how to recover costs for the repairs, which began last week and are expected to continue into September.
Whose fault it was is part of that investigation.
“Our expectation is that we’re going to vigorously pursue, so that there’s no costs transferred back to the city on this,” he said.
“We did nothing wrong in this case. No one within the city did anything wrong to create that condition.”
The city is also continuing to look at its options for recovering $4 million in rink repairs at the Seymour-Hannah Sports and Entertainment Centre on Fourth Avenue.
That four-pad complex, which opened in September 2005, developed humps in its ice in 2015.
A report to council in 2015 said the city noticed problems with the underfloor heating system shortly after the facility opened and a glycol leak was ultimately discovered.
After several failed attempts at isolating the leak, the underfloor heating system was disconnected by the city to prevent more glycol from going into the ground and causing further damage. But that move ultimately allowed frost to build up and heave the concrete.
The city had two rinks repaired last summer and the other two this summer by re-doing the underground piping and re-pouring the concrete pads.
Sendzik said the city is waiting for the final report from the company hired to do the refurbishment of the pads, which is expected to show deficiencies in the system so the city can then look at courses of action.
Sendzik said they need to know why the problem happened, whether due to faulty installation or compounded by staff not have a proper process that prevented the concrete heaving.
Council has made it clear it can’t just accept the $4-million cost and move on.
“Until our legal and finance team says we’ve tried every option and every option is no longer available to us, as a council we’re going to keep asking questions,” the mayor said. “We owe it to the taxpayer to make sure that every avenue that we can pursue is pursued.”
He said the city also needs to know what happened so the same mistakes aren’t made again.
The Seymour-Hannah experience will likely lead to a greater focus on quality in the city’s procurement system.
The city is reviewing its procurement process to incorporate environmental policies as part of the Compact of Mayors for climate change. Sendzik said it’s also an opportunity to look at new ways in the process of balancing quality with affordability, rather than zeroing in on the lowest bid only.
When tenders go out, he said the discussion should include bids that may be higher but can demonstrate the product will last longer.
“If our only focus is to get the cheapest product built, then we will pay for it eventually.”