The library and cultural centre’s uneven floors are holding up progress on the already overdue construction project.
As of the May 6 council meeting, contractors were still waiting for a company to come in to resurvey all of the floors—which were discovered to have significant variances earlier this year, when a survey showed that there wasn’t a single floor that met the acceptable plus-or-minus five millimetre standard within a 10-metre square.
Once the floors have been resurveyed, a new schedule will be presented to Peter Waterworth, the chief administrative officer for the town.
“It’s going to take seven to 10 weeks from the point at which it starts and we haven’t started yet,” said Waterworth of levelling the floors.
In the meantime, the contractors have been looking for a solution for another of the building’s problems: the operable windows that were without an adequate design. Waterworth said he thinks a solution has been found.
“Everybody at our level is happy, but the manufactures have to put it through a technical test and they’re in a queue to go through the technical test.
“So there are things that are going on concurrently, but there are still issues where we’re in significant debate, for example around how the stairs are going to be fixed.”
The stairs are another of the construction nightmares that have marred the library project.
When the issues with the floors and operable windows were discovered, it was also determined that the riser for the stairs at the front of the building had been improperly installed, so the stairs can’t sit squarely on top.
The project is more than a year late and a million dollars over budget, and last month council approved a capital budget that includes an additional million dollars for the project, bringing the total budget up to $9.5 million.
MOU receives unanimous support
Council voted in support of a memorandum of understanding with Parks Canada for the joint land use review the two organizations hope to undertake in the coming months.
The memorandum—which was written by Peter Waterworth, chief administrative officer for the municipality, and Cathy Jenkins, manager of municipal and realty services for Parks—is the first step toward an agreement between Parks and the municipality on how a review of land use planning and development will unfold.
The next step will be to agree on the terms of reference for the tender.
If both parties can agree on the terms, each will contribute $125,000 to the joint undertaking. As things stand, the municipality has $15,000 in its budget to cover its portion of the first stage of the project: a baseline analysis to inform the review and to promote a constructive dialogue between the municipality and Parks.
This stage will give the two parties a starting point for a discussion on how to streamline and provide an integrated development process that will provide clarity for citizens and staff. The review will also consider the possibility of jurisdictional change.
Vote on landfill capital budget
Council will vote on the proposed $640,000 capital budget for the West Yellowhead Regional Waste Management Authority at its May 20 meeting.
The Municipality of Jasper became a member of the authority Jan. 1, joining Yellowhead County, as well as the towns of Hinton and Edson, in the joint ownership of a long-term waste management facility.
The allocated budget funds are for site improvements, replacement of a scale, design of a new landfill cell and a contingency fund.
To join the authority, the municipality paid $244,000 into the authority’s capital reserves. It is from those reserves—which are replenished by the membership—that the projects in the capital budget will be funded.
As part of the authority’s annual budgeting process, the capital budget has to be approved by the councils representing its membership.
Prior to becoming a member, Jasper was already using the Hinton landfill, but it didn’t have a voice in its operation, nor did it receive the reduced tipping fee ($28/tonne as opposed to $46/tonne) that members enjoy.
According to Coun. Gilbert Wall, who attends the landfill authority meetings on behalf of council, Jasper is “well served” by being a member.
“If you look down the road, being a part of a conglomerate for waste management is absolutely the best way to go,” he said, noting that the cost of opening a new cell is a $1.6 million endeavour, while just a few short years ago it was half of that. “The budget line is going steeply uphill.
“I think we’re really well served by being a partner in the authority.”
RCMP update: increase in prisoners
Ninety prisoners have been held in Jasper’s cells since January. That’s an increase of 88 per cent over the same quarter last year.
The reason for the drastic increase is a change in direction at the Jasper RCMP detachment.
“My philosophy is, if they’re causing problems, deal with them early in the night,” said Corp. Ryan Gardiner, while presenting the RCMP’s quarterly stats to council. “If they’re too drunk to be in the bar, too drunk to be staggering around the streets causing problems, then they can stay at our place and we’ll look after them and make sure they get on their way in the morning without causing too much difficulty.”
Gardiner has been the acting sergeant since Sgt. Dave Maludzinski went on sick leave last year.
As well as changing the detachment’s approach to drunks on the street, he has also increased traffic enforcement within the town.
During his presentation, he said he thinks that increased visibility is the reason for the 31 per cent drop in car accidents so far this year.
“I think that increased presence went a long way. People see police, so they drive better.”
And it has also resulted in a large number of impaired driving charges—19 since January.
“Most impaired drivers are visiting from out of town. At the end of the year, there’s maybe a handful of locals that we’ve caught for impaired driving.”
Nicole Veerman
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