By Emily Stonehouse
It’s been a fairly contentious topic for the past few weeks, as county councillors have navigated the ins and outs of potentially moving their location.
During a June 25 meeting, council directed county staff to attain a real estate appraisal for 12 Newcastle Street, the current Land Registry Office, as well as a cost estimate for the construction of an addition to 11 Newcastle Street, which currently houses the county council chambers and staff offices.
At the time, there was interest in changing locations from 11 Newcastle to 12 Newcastle, but the recommendation to proceed was met with rebuttals from councillors, who sought further information on the potential move.
On July 17, staff requested a summary report from Tessier Design Corp. regarding constructing a building addition to the rear of the existing building. The report noted that a 2,600 foot, two story addition is feasible. “That space, it’s important to realize, isn’t for a lot of growth. It actually accommodates our current needs,” said County CAO Gary Dyke when he spoke to council on Aug. 27. “We currently have two staff members who don’t actually have a space to work directly in the building … but also we have two staff members who are situated in less than optimum locations with respect from a health and safety standpoint.”
While the addition would not necessarily increase space, it would allow for the building to level up to AODO accessibility requirements, such as the council chambers being moved to the first floor, and appropriate stairs, ramps, and hand rails.
“It should be noted that leaving the council chamber on the top floor fails to address the lack of an accessible path to the offices on the second floor,” outlined the staff report to council, “as the public is required to pass through the council chamber, even if a meeting is in progress, to access the other side of the building and the washrooms.”
Dyke noted that attaining a geotechnical study on the property would have cost the county $12,000 to complete. “So we didn’t actually commission the full study, but we got a desktop opinion from an engineer as to what could be required (for the addition).”
If staff were to proceed with just the addition on-site, they would be looking at a price tag of approximately $2.5 million, not including any specialized foundation work if required, or any ongoing accessibility requirements that currently need to be implemented in the existing building, plus the geotechnical study. Dyke shared in his report that if all that were combined, they would be looking at $3.1 million dollars to make the current building fit the needs of staff and community.
If staff and council were to move across the street to 12 Newcastle, the total cost would be $2.4 million.
Staff requested a real estate appraisal from the Troy Austen Real Estate Team for 12 Newcastle Street, which was identified to have a market value range of $375,000 to $425,000.
The report was concluded by providing the recommendation to council to move ahead with renovations to the current building, and relocating the council chambers to 12 Newcastle Street, based on cost efficiencies.
“I know that we have gone through a lot of different considerations and looked at our different options,” said Councillor Liz Danielsen, Mayor of Algonquin Highlands. “And I am still absolutely set on the staff recommendation that we proceed with what was proposed to us early on in the year with the council chambers moving to 12 Newcastle Street and the improvements made to this building.”
Danielsen noted that she would welcome Minden council to meet in the new council chambers when ready.
“We are not dwindling as a community,” said Councillor Lisa Schell, the Deputy Mayor of Minden Hills. “We are continuing to grow. At some point, it might not be in the lifetime of any of these members of council, but I am sure there will be an amalgamation of some sort with the county.”
“I do have a problem with across the street,” said Councillor Bob Carter, the Mayor of Minden Hills. “We welcome your generous offer for Minden council to move in the new building, but, we have a building, and there is little we can do with that building since we also share it with the court, so that building is going to continue to exist.”
Carter brought up ongoing expenses to the proposed building, and concerns around costs moving forward. “I would much prefer if we could sell it or re-purpose it to some other non-government organization … it may not be ideal for childcare spaces, but there may be something that could be done somehow.”
Carter agreed that the work needs to be done with the work at the current building, “but someone still needs to convince me about across the street,” he said.
“We’re on a slippery slope here,” echoed Councillor Murray Fearrey. “We’ve got people who can’t even afford groceries here … how much do you keep adding five and six per cent every year to the tax base, is it really necessary that we do what we have to do?”
Dyke responded to Fearrey by saying that he understands and supports his comments around a concern for increase for rate-payers. “However, the option that has been brought forward by staff to council has been done with that in mind.”
Between the two options of addition versus the purchase of the new building, Dyke noted that cost efficiencies lie in the opportunity to mitigate any external construction. All alterations would be internal renovations.
“We’ve done the best we can, and we truly believe that the option brought forward is the most fiscally responsible one we have,” said Dyke.
Councillor Jennifer Dailloux challenged Dyke’s point, seeking clarification around the option to share a council space with the existing Minden chambers. Dyke indicated that at the June council meeting, he believed that council did not want to pursue that option. He agreed that the cost for that option would be less, but some accommodations would need to be made, and he did not believe that option to be sustainable down the road.
“I just don’t know if we’ve pursued every possible option,” said Fearrey, noting that some “outside the box” options may arise with staff potentially working off-site.
“What else are we getting across the street for $1.3 million dollars?” asked Carter. “Because if it’s only a council chamber, I think that’s a colossal waste of money.”
Dyke clarified that there are additional meetings and committees that utilize the council chambers, so it would not merely be for council meetings. He also noted that by expanding across the street, there would also be the option for a public space within the building – a feature the current building does not house.
After a tense discussion amongst councillors, the recommendation was approved in a vote of 5-3, allowing staff to move forward with the recommendation of renovations to both 11 and 12 Newcastle Street in Minden.
