NORTH BATTLEFORD — City council in North Battleford has officially awarded the tender on the Dekker Centre for the Performing Arts roof replacement project.
At their meeting Monday, council voted to award the tender in the amount of $507,846 (PST included) to Flynn Canada Ltd. of Saskatoon, for replacement of sections 2 and 4A of the Dekker Centre roof.
Flynn Canada Ltd. was the lowest of six bids received from the public tender conducted by RMIS Engineering of Saskatoon.
RMIS Engineering is the firm that conducted a roof condition assessment on the Dekker Centre in 2019. The two sections being replaced were identified as sections where “major failure” should be expected in the next few years, according to a Feb. 14 city memo from Fleet and Maintenance Manager Seton Winterholt.
According to that report, the slope of the roof originally installed was found to be inadequate, and that the roof needed to be re-engineered and tendered for replacement.
It was also noted in Winterholt’s memo that the work is a priority, as there are "active leaks" into the theatre area that need to be eliminated to prevent further damage to interior fixtures and finishes.
There should be little disruption to the Dekker Centre’s shows when the work goes ahead. There will be signage installed and notice to users of the work area impacted.
The roof project had been included in the capital budget in the amount of $420,000, but the overall tender is over budget by $112,210.50. That includes both the tender to Flynn Canada Ltd. as well as an additional $24,364.50 to RMIS Engineering.
Winterholt told council the belief is this deficit can be made up through the capital reserve account.
The budget shortfall was a sore point for council members Monday's. Councillors have been vocal for the last year about tenders for major projects consistently coming in above budget estimates.
Councillor Bill Ironstand called it “just disheartening, so many times” to hear of things “consistently over budget.”
“It’s something we need to rectify, somehow figure out, as city leadership we need to figure this out.”
Winterholt said he “agreed wholeheartedly” with that comment. In this instance, the numbers were compiled in 2019, and that was prior to COVID and the supply chain and various price increase challenges, he said.
Mayor David Gillan agreed with Ironstand’s point. “We need to have as much accurate budgeting numbers as we can possibly have.”
Councillor Greg Lightfoot directed his ire towards the original design.
“I’m not blaming the engineers and design team on this one,” said Lightfoot. Instead, he said he blamed the “architects and design team of 2010-12 when the building was first put up, as it was not designed properly in the first place.”
In the end the resolution to award the tender carried unanimously.
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