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Council approves additional $900,000 for RCMP detachment

$300,000 request for Eco Centre tabled to next meeting. Mayor asks about creating bio fuel as revenue generator.
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Town council approved an additional $900,000 for the construction of the new RCMP detachment to be built in Heartland bringing the cost of the project to $4.7 million.

The additional funds were needed to complete design and costing of the building which will house RCMP, town bylaw, victim services and Alberta Sheriff personnel.

Tanya Galon, the town's financial services manager, made the request during her presentation on the municipality's second quarter financial report.

The increase in project cost came after the town had to purchase a larger 4.7-acre site for the new facility. Originally, 2.1 acres was purchased but initial design work revealed the need for a larger site to accommodate the required footprint of the building and its substantial parking needs.

Once completed, the detachment, which administration described as a priority project, will house approximately 100 staff and will be designed to accommodate future growth.

While the town, through its municipal policing agreement, is responsible for the construction of policing-related infrastructure, a portion of the borrowing will be charged back to the RCMP as part of a lease agreement for the space it uses.

The $900,000 will be funded from the town's facility growth reserves.

A second request for an additional $300,000 to go toward the expansion of the ECO Centre was tabled at the recommendation of town CAO Dave Devana who felt the request needed more detailed information to reflect the changing scope of the project. If approved, the extra $300,000 – to come from the Recycling Depot Facility reserve – will bring the total cost of the expansion to $640,000.

Devana explained the extra cost comes from the fact the location and size of the facility had to be adjusted due to site suitability and the needed amenities.

Rick Deans, the town's senior manager infrastructure, explained the original site adjacent to the Eco Centre would have been insufficient to allow the town to adhere to the land use bylaws landscaping requirements. There were also concerns around the need to remove power poles and site drainage. The original design also proposes to join the expansion to the existing building which would require significant building upgrades.

"It was best determined to relocate the entire expansion to a different part of the ECO Centre. With that in mind we could create some better traffic flow through, we could have better monitoring of the facility ... we'd also end up with a larger footprint that could take the ECO Centre well into the future," he said.

Following the presentation, Mayor Jeff Genung asked if administration could consider investigating the possibility of the town incorporating a system into the new ECO Centre that would allow community green bin material to be used for the creation of bio-fuel.

"I believe there is a market for that and could potentially turn our green bins into revenue," he said.

Highlights of the second quarter report:

• All technology and equipment projects are still in progress as of Q2 2019.

• 9 new fleet capital projects in 2019. The brush attachment was completed in Q1 2019 and the bush buggy which was on hold, is expected to get underway in the fall of 2019. All other seven fleet projects were in progress as of June 30, including the transit buses.

• Green Trip funding of $1,617,307 was received. This funding will be used for the purchase of eight buses for the on-demand transit system. Total budget is $2 million.

• There were a total of 17 on going and three completed facilities projects during 2019.

 

 

 

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