By Chad Ingram

The Township of Algonquin Highlands will proceed with the renovation of its fire station at Oxtongue Lake known as Station 70 at the township’s north end.

Councillors for the township approved awarding the contract for the project during a special meeting on Jan. 24.

As a staff report indicated $70000 was budgeted for the project which includes a new roof and washroom in 2019. However while a tender was put out for the job last fall no bids were received. Following its purchasing policy the township then solicited quotes from four contractors receiving quotes from two. The job was awarded to RCOOL Construction which had the lower of the two bids at $76000 plus HST with the additional $6000 included in the fire department’s 2020 budget.

At the same meeting councillors appointed Wayne McIsaac as interim chief of Algonquin Highlands Fire Services as former chief Mike Cavanagh recently resigned his post to take a job as deputy chief of Peterborough’s fire department. The township was beginning to conduct interviews for Cavanagh’s full-time replacement this week