In a unanimous move, the Town of Jasper has rejected all tenders put forward to develop a new public restroom in the downtown core because the price of the project was more than double what the town had expected to pay.

“I recognize that there’s a need for public washrooms, but not at any cost,” said Mayor Richard Ireland at the Tuesday (April 6) meeting of council. “It’s basically $600 a square foot to build this. That’s really a lot of money.”

The total cost of the project was expected by the town to come in around $300,000. However, the five contractors the town contacted about the restroom each bid somewhere between $618,600 and $778,776.

According to a town agenda item on the matter, “The need for additional public washroom facilities was identified as a high priority by council in 2008 and was added to the five-year capital plan. Parks Canada supported the project with a commitment of $100,00 from gate fee revenue.”

The restroom would have been located in the downtown core area and would have provided service for the many tourists. Currently, the only public washroom in Jasper is the one operated by The Friends of Jasper Society on Connaught Drive, some distance from central Jasper.

Jasper Director of Corporate and Legislative Services Vern Balding told council there seemed to be three explanations from contractors about why taking on the project would cost more than expected.

First, contractors were concerned that any labourers brought into town would have difficultly finding housing, which would raise transportation costs.

Second, because green spaces are at a premium in Jasper, building would require extra care and consideration which raises costs beyond normal.

Third, because Jasper is a tourist town and the restroom would be used considerably, extra work would be needed to make the electrics and plumbing tamper-proof.

Councillors did not seem convinced by these arguments.

“It is interesting how bids keep coming in over budget,” said Councillor Brenda Zinck.

Councillor Rico Damota said that he thought the high costs might show more suspicious motivations. Builders might feel that because Jasper is inside a National Park, they can take advantage of federal money.

Council had been scheduled to vote on the restroom tenders some two weeks into the future, but the news of the unexpectedly high tender prices put the axe to those plans.

“I can’t think of anything we would hear in the next two weeks that would make me change my mind,” said the mayor before voting to reject the bids.

Balding raised the possibility of a design-build contract for future tenders, which would allow a builder to develop their own plans for the restroom instead of following plans forwarded by a town appointed designer. Balding said that the design-build contract could save the town some money and possibly bring future costs closer to $300,000.

He also told council there was absolutely no possibility there would be more money coming from the federal government to pay for the restrooms.