Morinville's new town hall will be $665,000 over budget, council learned this week, and the town has little choice but to foot the bill.
Town council received a report on the ongoing renovations to St. Germain Place (formerly Plaza) this week. The project, which was meant to fix up the town's library and administration building, is months behind schedule and thousands of dollars over budget.
As recently as Jan. 24, council had been told that the renovations were on schedule and within their $3.5 million budget. But on Feb. 29 project managers ONPA Architects and Synergy Projects Ltd. told council that they were over budget and wouldn't be finished until May 15 – about three-and-a-half months later than the original Dec. 31 deadline.
The final bill for the renovations now stands at $4,171,675, meaning the town has to shell out $665,000 more to finish the job, said Andy Isbister, the town's director of corporate services.
Earlier this year, project representatives were estimating that cost overruns could add up to around $860,000 but ONPA representative Robert Black vowed repeatedly that the firm would keep its costs under $4 million.
Synergy is still committed to keeping its share of the bill to under $4 million, which means it will technically earn less money from this job than usual. However, ONPA will still get its full $171,675, as it's under a fixed contract, council learned.
And the building will also be missing some extra features, Isbister continued. Overhead doors for the library, storefront windows, fancy flooring and other items have been cut or downgraded in an attempt to save money.
"The building has not lost any of its functionality," Isbister emphasized. "It will still retain the same attractive appearance. It'll be a great place to work."
Additions cost council
The higher cost appears to come down to three items, Isbister told council.
First, council asked the developer to switch to a radiant heating system instead of a forced-air one to prevent the hot-and-cold spots that plagued the old building. That added about $300,000 to the bill.
Beefing up the electrical systems to support the emergency operations centre cost about $200,000 – far more than the expected $35,000. Council also added more office space to the second floor after construction started, necessitating $300,000 in structural reinforcement.
These and other cost escalations mean that the building will cost about $210 per square foot, Isbister said – in line with the $200 per square foot estimate provided by Black in February.
Council could get the additional $665,000 from its Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) grants, Isbister said. While much of that money has already been earmarked for projects like power line burial, they could free up a chunk of it by taking one of them, the 107 Street redevelopment, and funding it through the Alberta Municipal Infrastructure Program instead. (Council tapped that hard-to-use fund last month to buy a new fire truck.)
Council would still have about $187,000 in MSI cash left over, and would not have to cut any other projects Isbister said.
"There are no other projects that are being delayed or postponed by this cost overrun," he said.
And it won't cost residents any more tax dollars, said Coun. David Pattison.
"The debenture is still the same. The reserve fund, what we're taking out of there, is still the same."
Council voted 5-1 in favour of raising the renovation's budget to $4.2 million from $3.5 million, and to get the additional $665,000 from MSI funding. Coun. Nicole Boutestein was opposed. Coun. Gordon Boddez was absent.
Consequences
Synergy now says it will have the project done by June 15, Isbister said.
"It could be June 1st, but no later than June 15," he said.
No additional costs are expected, he added.
"We should have realized what these additional costs were last year."
The delay means that library staff won't be able to move into their new digs until about June 30, Isbister said.
It also means that the new outdoor washroom for the town's splash park won't be ready until the end of June, according to public works director Claude Valcourt.
The plan was to renovate a Sea-Can shipping container and turn that into the washroom, he explained, but since the container in question is currently holding the library's books, it can't be converted until the library completes its move.
Council should have done more research on the cost projections for the town hall before it signed off on them, said Mayor Lloyd Bertschi.
"We probably should have made a few phone calls to see what other renovations would cost," he said.
Still, he continued, ONPA and Synergy are professionals, and should have given them a better estimate.
"If it's going to be $210 per square foot, they should have said it's going to be $210 per square foot."
Council could have gotten this price at the start if they had gone with the traditional "tear down the walls and then price it" approach, Bertschi said, but that would have meant even more delays. He was also convinced that council would still have supported the renovations if they knew the true cost at the start.
Council could have fired ONPA and Synergy over this, Bertschi said, but that would have meant hiring new developers to finish the renovations.
"We wouldn't be in the building for another eight months," he said.
Council was not likely to recommend the two companies to others in the future, he added.
