The Town of Olds will be proceeding with several rehabilitation projects after council ratified them at the body's August 29 meeting.
The town will be spending $456,310 to upgrade lighting and replace stairs going up to the slide at the Olds Aquatic Centre as well as replace furnaces and dehumidification units at the Olds Sports Complex.
The lighting project was necessitated by a safety audit conducted in late 2011, which found that the lighting was not meeting Alberta Building Code standards. That project totals about $111,000. The stairs project at the OAC involves replacing concrete stairs with fibreglass ones so they can be cleaned on a regular basis. That project totals about $106,960.
“Because the concrete is chipped and cracked, it can't be properly cleaned and sanitized so it's being replaced with fibreglass steps so that the water can drain through and then they're going to paint the railings and the columns as well,” said Kelly Giesbrecht, parks and facilities foreman for the town.
The dehumidification units and forced air furnaces projects will be costing $237,750. Staff is expecting to receive the units in October. The pool projects will be completed during the annual shutdown, also in October.
The upgrades should last the life expectancy of the respective buildings, Giesbrecht said.
