The City of St. Albert is looking to hire a consultant to complete hazard assessments on all municipal buildings built prior to 1995, in order to comply with a new accounting standard.
The new accounting practice, implemented by the Public Sector Accounting Board last year, requires municipalities to preemptively identify any hazards and estimate all abatement costs associated with municipally-owned buildings in the event that the building was to be torn down, renovated, or otherwise retired, said city spokesperson Wade Bendfeld in an email.
“In the past, an assessment was obtained prior to retiring the asset and this cost was added to the budget for approval,” Bendfeld said, adding, “with this new standard, we are required to estimate this cost much earlier for financial reporting purposes.”
The 1995 cut-off date, which Bendfeld said is when asbestos was no longer used in the construction of city facilities, means at least 27 buildings will need updated hazard assessments, including St. Albert Place; Fountain Park Recreation Centre; the Jarome Iginla and Kinex arenas; the St. Albert Curling Club; the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce office; and more.
Bendfeld said the 27 buildings were all built between 1960 and 1995.
“Some buildings have hazardous materials reports within the last 10 years; however, these reports did not include abatement costs which is required for the new (accounting) standard,” he said. “The new assessments are completed mainly for the purpose of obtaining updated cost information to comply with this new standard, it will also provide useful information internally to help manage improvement and activities within our facilities.”
Although the assessments won't be made public once completed, Bendfeld said some hazards that could be identified in the older buildings include asbestos; lead paint; mercury from fluorescent lighting tubes; and possibly americium or neptunium, which are radioactive materials commonly found in smoke detectors in small and risk-free quantities.
The total estimated cost of removing hazards from municipal facilities will appear as a line item in future city financial reports.
Bendfeld said the city is currently trying to determine if the city's eight historical buildings also need to be assessed, and are consulting with the city's external financial auditors.
The city's historical buildings include the two grain elevators on Meadowview Drive, which were built in 1906 and 1929, the Little White School, the Belcourt House, the Art Gallery of St. Albert, and a couple of others.
Bendfeld said all of the historical buildings were built between 1800 and 1948.
Other buildings to be assessed include Fire Hall No. 2; the Grosvenor Pool building; Beaudry Place; and multiple outdoor rink's change room buildings. A complete list can be found on the city's Bids and Tenders website.
Interested companies have until May 16 to submit a project proposal to the city, and according to the request for proposals the city's preferred deadline for project completion is the end of July.
Bendfeld was unable to say what the city's budget is for the assessments.
