OLDS — The sale of the Town of Olds administration office to Westview Co-op for $2 million is a prudent move that creates efficiencies and provides room for the organization to grow for up to 30 years or so, the town's chief administrative officer says.
Brent Williams made those points as council debated the town budget earlier this month.
It “allows the town to better plan its long-term future,” he said.
Council approved the sale during a closed-door meeting Nov. 1. It was announced on Nov. 4.
Williams said the building was sold for $2 million, money that will be used as the operations centre on 70th Avenue is renovated to accommodate staff and council chambers currently in the administrative building.
He said town officials had the town office professionally appraised. One appraisal pegged its worth at $2 million. Another estimated its value at $1.765 million.
Williams said the move to the operations centre brings efficiencies because currently, the administrative building and the operations centre are only partly occupied.
This way, all staff will be in one building and the municipaity will only have to concern itself with maintaining that one building instead of two.
Williams also said staff are taking advantage of the opportunity to renovate the operations centre so that in future a mechanic can be accommodated there.
He said right now, the Town of olds does not have in-house mechanics, which “does affect our ability to maintain our core equipment and the subsequent costs incurred by us.”
A contractor will be chosen shortly. The plan is for renovations at the operations centre to begin in early January. The move of staff from the administrative building is expected to begin by June and be completed by about July 7.
Williams said the sale also benefits the town’s economy.
“Westview Co-op certainly is a major employer in town,” he said.
“We get to keep their headquarters and administrative function in town, which is upwards of 20 full-time jobs, and they are a growing organization. That is to me certainly a large benefit.”
Williams said the possibility of selling the town office first arose in 2023, when a private business approached town officials about possible sale of the town administration building. That sale fell through.
But it spurred council to ask Williams to look into the matter.
He said coincidentally, while doing so, early this year, Westview Co-op representatives approached the town about leasing buying the building as the ability to continue renting the space they’re currently in is ending.
One question residents have asked is why the possibility of selling the town office wasn’t advertised first.
“Commercial transactions require a degree of discretion,” Williams said.
“Oftentimes there’s things like leases in place for one or both parties. That confidentiality is crucial, just because of business operations and the own respects that.
“(There are) certain things we’re allowed to share versus certain things we’re not allowed to share, because there’s two parties who both have to be willing to share that information,” he added.
Williams also said there’s no requirement under the provincial government’s Municipal Government Act for the town to advertise when selling its property except in certain circumstances.
One such circumstance he said, would be if the town wished to sell public land for less than market value.
Williams said the sale fits in with the town’s overall efforts in recent years to make better use of town-owned assets.
For example, non-profit tenants have been found for the former fire hall and a move is afoot to house a men’s shed, artists, and Mountain View Moccasin House in a former town operations Quonset.
Plans will soon be unveiled for the town’s larger Quonset across the road from the smaller Quonset.
Williams also noted that the town divested itself of the Nu2U thrift shop in 2022-23.
“The town owns a lot of land and we just have to be strategic about the value that land is providing, either through its service to the organization or value to residents,” he said.
“I think we’ve been well briefed over the last few months on this move and the potential moving forward, so good to get it all out there in one chunk to our community members who are listening,” deputy mayor James Cummings said.
