Town of Sundre officials are spending $120,000 to resurface the Sundre Community Centre's leaking roof.
During the council meeting on June 3, council passed two motions identifying how the expense will be paid.
One of the motions passed is to use a maximum of $100,000 from unallocated Municipal Sustainable Initiative (MSI) money which is grant funding from the provincial government.
The other motion passed is to transfer a maximum of $20,000 from the unallocated community centre reserve. The $20,000 is coming from the town/tenant portion of the reserve.
Dean Pickering, the town's chief administrative officer said this does not affect taxpayers at this time.
“Inevitably it does, because we spend the MSI capital money on this project instead of something else so down the road we will have to juggle our projects a little bit,” said Pickering.
“But this was a priority so they want to make sure they get it done and do it right,” he said.
Town officials have been planning on fixing the roof for some time now but were hoping it would last a little longer, he said.
“This leaking has impacted the electrical and alarm systems in both River Valley School and the community centre,” said Jacci Hager, the town's manager of community services, in a report to council.
“Not to mention the operations of the school, the library and the before and after school care program with water damaged ceiling tiles and water pooling in their interior areas,” she said.
She said the issue has become emergent and that it is costly to repair interior damage.
The town took ownership of the community centre in 2007 in a three-way partnership between itself, the province, and Chinook's Edge School Division.
In 2009, a portion of the roof was resurfaced after several leaks and damage occurred within the facility. However, 11,000 square feet of the roof was not resurfaced and leaking has now been occurring in those areas.
The portion of the roof that was not resurfaced is 30 years old, she said.
“The eaves and downspouts on the east side of the building have lost their grade and are not deep enough to accommodate the amount of water coming off the roof,” she said.
“This poses a huge safety risk for the students and patrons of the River Valley School as the water spills over the eavestroughs and onto the main sidewalk, freezing into a thick spread of ice,” she explained.
She expressed to council that the roof should be repaired before this year's snowfall to alleviate any further leaking, which would be caused by ice and snow buildup on the roof.
“We will tender out the process to gain a contractor to do the work and our hope is to have it completed before snowfall,” she said.
The cost for resurfacing the roof, replacing insulation, eaves and downspouts, project management, inspection and contingency, has been quoted to town officials at $120,000.
However, town officials have contacted five different roofing companies and only one has visited Sundre to examine the community centre's roof and provide the town with a quote.
It was discussed at the council meeting that this is a common issue for the town. Officials believe it is because the jobs in town are too small.
It was also discussed at the meeting that the repair in 2009 was said to provide the portion of the roof that was resurfaced with a lifespan of 20 years.
Paul Isaac was the only councillor who opposed both motions that were passed.
“It wasn't that I wasn't voting for the project, but I don't see a written proposal that this is going to fix it,” said Isaac.
“There is no company saying ‘this is the cost and now it will be fixed', so I didn't see that, and I also think I would rather have a company tell me what it is we're doing and what is going to have to happen in two or three years' time, because we don't have a complete project. All we're doing is piecing this thing and I just don't like that idea,” he explained.
Mayor Annette Clews and Coun. Chris Vardas were absent from the meeting.
