OLDS — Now that it has been built, the $10 million Olds Operations Centre has an official name.
And it’s --
Wait for it!
The Town of Olds Operations Centre.
Council made that decision during its May 10 meeting.
This new facility consolidates staff and equipment from three other buildings in town into one.
The 15-acre site will also house equipment like graders, other vehicles, sand and salt for roads, materials for road repairs, pipes for the water system and garbage bins. It will also house the Olds Fire Department training grounds.
The building was completed the week of May 4 in just under a year – on time and just under budget, according to Michael Merritt, the town’s chief executive officer.
The cost to build it was estimated at about $8 million. Another $2 million or was allocated for reclaiming and servicing the land.
The facility does have a specific address, too: 3701 - 70th Ave.
The town borrowed approximately $10.7 million to complete the project.
That made it controversial because the town applied for – and received – permission from the province to exceed its debt limit in order to complete it.
During town council’s May 10 meeting, Merritt said an official name for the facility was needed so it could be identified by people, including emergency responders.
Merritt spoke in defence of the name.
“It is a centre," he said. “It has much more than a building, (it’s) a facility, it’s multi-faceted. We have our shed for our sand and other products there. We have lots of places to include our equipment. So I believe it is a centre and (that name) would probably be appropriate.”
Coun. Mary Anne Overwater proposed a motion to give the new facility its official name.
"Such a creative name,” she said dryly.
Merritt said administrative staff could have asked for “something more creative to recognize the name of a town citizen, past or present, or historic item, but this is an operations centre for the town – public works, parks, utilities.
“I think it should be very simple so people would understand where to go for this item," he said.
"It is very simple, it’s very good, yeah. Everybody should be able to find that,” Overwater said.
