By James Matthews

County staff provided council three options to deal with revised cost estimates for work on the Newcastle Street Land Registry Office and the Administration buildings.

The original estimated price was about a year old. Economic factors such as current bloated tariffs faced by suppliers wrought by the trade war with the United States made it necessary to revise the cost estimate.

Sylvin Cloutier, Haliburton County’s public works director, said the scope of work at both structures is similar. Renovations will improve accessibility at both buildings and ensure they meet building and fire code requirements. Mechanical and electrical systems will also be upgraded.

The tentative schedule for the project begins with a request for proposals that will be issued June 9 and hopefully awarded in late July. Construction is hoped to begin soon thereafter and completed in November.

The final inspection will conclude the project in mid-December.

The approved 2025 budget allocated $1,621,337 for the renovation of both county buildings. The county will fund $1.2 million by department with the remaining $421,337 funded by reserves.

The revised budget is $2,436,000 where $421,337 is funded by reserves, $386,000 from 2025 capital program savings, and $1,628,663 by department.

The total revised budget also includes a 12.5 per cent contingency.

The cost to remove asbestos was about $50,000 and the mould remediation was pegged at about $40,000.

Due to the increased cost estimates for the project, staff have developed three options for the project’s next steps.

Option A has the county proceed with all renovations for both buildings based on the revised cost estimates, including all described improvements and financial considerations.

Option B is to complete only the necessary improvements to ensure code compliance at the Administration building at 11 Newcastle Street and to defer all other renovations at both the Administration and LRO buildings to next year.

Option C includes the required code compliance improvements at the 11 Newcastle Street Administration building and dispose of the 12 Newcastle Street LRO building without making any improvements to it.

Councillor Bob Carter, the mayor of Minden Hills, asked what the county process was to dispose of the building as suggested in Option C.

Gary Dyke, the county’s CAO, said the building would be declared surplus and then properly appraised based on its current state. The council can either sell it or go to tender.

Coun. Murray Fearrey, Dysart’s mayor, said in this hard economic time he couldn’t support spending $2.5 million for both buildings. At the very least, he suggested that the project be deferred.

“I don’t think that we’re ready to spend that kind of money on a council chamber,” Fearrey said. “This project needs a lot of consideration.”

The county is in the midst of a service delivery review, he said. And that gives uncertainty to such things as jobs and space. For instance, information technology staff doesn’t have to work out of the Administration building.

“I just think it’s premature and, quite frankly, I can’t justify it to taxpayers,” he said.

Dyke said that, as public buildings, they need to be brought to provincial accessibility standards.

Carter urged council to defer its decision until there is a clearer idea of what’s needed.

“Obviously, compliance we have to do,” Carter said. “No argument about that.”

“I’m always concerned about deferring projects because they just get more expensive as time goes by,” said Deputy Warden Liz Danielsen, who is Algonquin Highlands’ mayor. “Nothing gets cheaper.”

She suggested the RFP be broken into the work’s necessary components so the cost of each of more easily known and which parts can be deferred can be known.

“At least we’d have the information,” Danielsen said. “If we decide not to go ahead with it, then so be it.”

Coun. Jennifer Dailloux, Algonquin Highlands’ deputy mayor, said no building should be declared surplus in the midst of growth.

“Our county is expanding, our needs are expanding, expectations are expanding,” she said, and added that space might be able to be shared with Minden Hills’ township council.

Fearrey said Danielsen’s point had merit. But, he said, construction materials won’t increase so much the cost will be unmanageable.

“Yes, stuff does go up in price,” he said. “But in the real world construction costs are going down. We went through four years of hell here with COVID and now is the most expensive time to price anything. I’ve talked to several contractors that don’t have work. They’ve lowered their prices to get work and that’s the way the outside world is working.”

In the end, council decided to complete the work at 11 Newcastle Street and enter into discussions with Minden Hills to share council chambers there.

“As long as they (Minden Hills) don’t charge us for parking,” Fearrey quipped.