The Jasper Activity Centre will receive new locker room furnaces and upgrade its main air handling unit, however in doing so, council chose the highest bidder.

Council approved the decision on Sept. 1 by a 5-1 vote, accepting Siemens Building technology to install the new units. 

Mayor Richard Ireland questioned why administration recommended the highest bidder in the tendering process. 

“How do we justify spending more of the taxpayer’s money than we have to?” asked Mayor Ireland. “I’m worried about the principle.”

Staff explained that the town had an existing service agreement with Siemens, and that its systems would integrate well with existing infrastructure, and that the town could save more money by having a single contractor on site. The Siemens bid was ranked as the top bid in terms of credentials and integration, but was $7,000 higher than the lowest bid from NuEnergy mechanical.

Mayor Ireland was concerned that by not choosing the lowest bidder, the town opened itself up to a lawsuit from the other tenders.

Town manager George Krefting said there is no legal obligation for the town to accept the lowest tender, as the evaluation takes into account several other factors.

Manager of finance Alice Lettner said the town will save money on the deal because Siemens completed work on other systems in the building, and the technology would fit together well.

“How the systems mesh are where the savings come in the long run. The headaches it avoids are more than the additional expense.” 

Christopher Read, Aquatic Centre manager said since the companies are the same, there should be no cost overruns.

The project will allow the activity centre staff to have control over the temperatures in the change rooms, and will greatly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the building. That in turn should translate into an energy cost savings.

“The units were rated at 60 per cent, but recently they’ve been running between 30 and 40 per cent efficiency. Now (with the upgrade) they will be running at 98 per cent efficiency for 200,000 BTUs,” Read said, noting that the new system will allow him to tell exactly how much money he’s saved.

Read said this project has nothing to do with the renovation project, and that the town has the funds to cover the cost.

“It’s just a coincidence that now is the time to get them refurbished,” Read said.

Council also agreed to waive notice on the motion in order to allow the work to begin sooner. The notice of motion is usually required to let the public know two weeks in advance of a decision. The approval also means there will be no changes to the scheduled pool shutdown, which is scheduled for October.