The budget for the library and cultural centre increased to $9 million, July 15, and will most likely reach $9.5 million before the project is complete.
The latest increase was approved by council in a six to one vote, with Coun. Rico Damota in opposition. The project is now $1.5 million over budget and 18 months overdue.
The $500,000 increase was expected—although not welcomed—by council, as, in anticipation of this moment, the additional funds were included in the 2014 budget.
The municipality hopes to recover some of those funds during a mediation process following the building’s completion, but in the meantime it has to continue paying the bills in order for work to continue and the building to get done.
If the municipality were to stop making its payments, it would be in breach of its contract and the contractor would be free to walk away.
“It’s an awkward position to be in, in that we really would rather that the project be complete, however we need to continue to pay until it is complete and then the mediation process will result,” explained Peter Waterworth, chief administrative officer.
The mediation process will sort out which party is responsible for each of the overruns and delays.
For example, it has already been determined that the municipality is not liable for the cost of removing and replacing the insufficient roof that was installed in 2013. Those costs—about $250,000—will be borne by the architect (Stantec) and contractor (Delnor), as they were each responsible for a portion of the errors. What hasn’t been determined, though, is how much each party will pay.
“That will be part of the mediation process,” said Alice Lettner, director of finance.
Another issue that will be discussed is the need for extensive modifications to the mechanical room—which was originally poorly designed with a heating system that wouldn’t stand up to Jasper’s cold winters.
Those modifications, totalling about $400,000, came after a new architect joined the project and did a review of the entire building.
(The same architect was also responsible for discovering the issues on the roof.)
Further protested costs include a new building permit from Parks Canada, as the first one expired before the project could be completed. That permit came in around $35,000.
“We can definitely delineate that as something that was an additional cost,” said Lettner.
“There’s a lot of documentation that goes with all of this and there will be definite items that will fall to us and definite items that will fall to the other parties, but the amount is really indeterminate at this time.”
Also indeterminate is how long it will take to get the project completed.
At this point, Waterworth said he won’t even venture a guess, especially now that Craig Lemiski—the site superintendent who joined the project in January—has announced he will be leaving for a new job.
His last day is Friday, July 25.
After a site visit last week and after hearing of the latest budget increase, Coun. Gilbert Wall said he was “discouraged.”
“I’m so discouraged by what’s going on over there and I’m so discouraged by this conversation in here that I have a feeling right now that we should be setting an end game, a goal post, because this is continuous.
“By going through this process like we are, with no stop sign at the end, what’s to say that we’re not going to be here in nine months at $10.8 million and still looking for more money?”
In response, Lettner acknowledged that she’s asking council to “walk the plank” and she assured them that she’d do her best to keep the sharks at bay. But she couldn’t guarantee much more.
“In some ways, while I would like to say we’re loaning the money to our architect and our construction company to complete the project—because it will be coming back through mediation—I cannot guarantee that, and I can’t sit here and say that I am confident, absolutely 100 per cent certain, that $9.5 million is where it’s going to be, because I have been assured by people who should know more than I on this project that $8.5 should have been sufficient.
“So it is painful for all of us and, believe me, I am quite tired of reworking financial plans to finance this.”
The additional $500,000 that council approved last week will come from a Municipal Sustainability Initiative grant. But all future spending on the project will come from municipal reserves.
With the current outlook—and what’s approved in the 2014 budget—that means at least $500,000 will be taken from reserves before the project is completed. That will bring the total project budget to $9.5 million—$2 million over the budget council approved in 2011.
The increases have come gradually since construction began in November of that year. The first was $462,000 to cover the cost of asbestos abatement in the old library building, as well as the levelling of the building’s floors, and an increase to the project’s contingency fund in case of any other unforeseen projects.
The following summer, another increase came, bringing the total project budget up to $8.5 million—a million dollars over budget. Included in that round of expenses was the stabilization of an old chimney, additional structural framing, and increased permit costs.
Up until that point, all of the increases were related to the old library—a heritage building that, according to federal regulations, must be preserved and maintained as closely to its original form as possible.
It was about five months later that the next problem surfaced: mechanical issues. A new architect—the third to join the project—discovered the original drawings for the mechanical room were insufficient to withstand Jasper’s frigid winter temperatures, so the work that had been done had to be removed and redone in order for an appropriate heating system to be installed.
Then came the issues with the roof.
The removal of the cedar shakes and shingles, as well as the roof’s air barrier, was the result of a third-party report that noted the roof was inadequate, as it didn’t have a vapour barrier, and the air barrier that existed wasn’t tied into the walls.
Speaking of the walls, they were next in the long line of construction blunders that have plagued the building.
Although the walls were meant to be left as sealed architectural concrete, at some point down the line, they were covered with an additional layer of concrete that the municipality deemed unacceptable. To rectify the issue, the contractor had to grind the extra layer off the walls, setting the project back by a number of weeks.
There is now a dispute between the contractor and the municipality over who is liable for the costs associated with the remediation of the walls.
“That could go either way at this stage, so that’s actually why you can’t put a price on it. And that’s clearly a big ticket item, it’s weeks of work,” said Waterworth.
The most recent string of issues include uneven floors throughout the new building, windows without a proper design and the improper placement of joints for the stairs at the front and back of the building.
To remedy the floors, the contractor is now grinding down the areas that are out of spec. According to Waterworth, that work began two weeks ago.
As for the windows, a design was agreed upon, it just needs to make it through the manufacturer’s testing, in order to ensure it meets LEED standard. The results were expected to return from the manufactured last week.
A new design is also being drafted for the stairs. Once that is completed, new shop drawings will be created and approved, and work will begin to tear out the old joints and replace them.
“It looks like now is the opportunity to just get it fixed properly,” said Waterworth of the stairs.
Nicole Veerman
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