Council took a moment to thank the municipality’s chief administrative officer for his persistence and patience with the long overdue library and cultural centre, Nov. 3, despite news of further delays.
“As frustrating as this project has been and as disappointing as it is that we continue to delay, Mr. Fercho, you inherited a very troubling situation and you’ve brought us a long way, so thank you,” said Coun. Dwain Wacko.
“I have to echo that,” said Coun. Gilbert Wall. “I admire your patience.”
Mark Fercho has been Jasper’s chief administrative officer since July of 2014—starting his job 33 months after construction began on the beleaguered expansion and renovation project and 19 months after the building was originally slated for completion.
When he arrived, he was saddled with the job of working with the contractor and architect to get the job done once and for all.
After years of construction errors and unforeseen issues, and the resulting delays, last June, the municipality and contractor agreed on Oct. 2 as the building’s new completion date, replacing the previous date of Sept. 1.
But Oct. 2, like many other completion dates before it, came and went and the building remains under construction one month later.
On Nov. 3, Fercho reported that there are still three projects holding up the project—the same three that were causing delays in October.
The projects include reinstalling the glass vestibule at the entrance of the building, inspecting, approving and installing new stair treads and railings along staircases and installing wood flooring in the entranceway of the heritage building—the former home of the library and the heart of the entire expansion project.
All three projects need to be completed before the building’s startup and commissioning can begin and municipal staff can start training on the building’s mechanical systems.
“We’re working closely with the architect and contractors on each of the delayed projects,” said Fercho, noting that the flooring in the heritage building entranceway should be installed this week.
“The new design and installation needed to be approved for warranty,” he said, explaining the delay. “That has finally been done and I have a note from Delnor this morning that the wood floor will now commence installation.”
There has also been progress on the stair treads, which require inspection and approval before they can be installed. So far, the ones that have arrived on site have all passed their inspections, however, the contractor is still waiting on one final shipment to arrive.
If the remaining treads, which consist of a metal bottom and concrete top, don’t pass, they will have to be sent back to the manufacturer and new ones will have to be made.
Once the stair treads are in, next comes the railings for the interior and exterior of the building.
However, that’s a project that might see further delays, as the railing contractor that was hired for the job was let go.
“The contractor was on site, measured the new staircases and all the areas that required railings, but the timeline to have those manufactured and brought to Jasper and installed was longer than what we would have liked. It was probably within three months, versus trying to get this building completed, so Delnor has released that contractor,” said Fercho. “So now we’re looking for another contractor that can meet the contract spec for quality and timeliness to get them on site.”
The final project holding up the building’s completion is the glass vestibule at the entrance of the building.
The contractor is currently waiting on a gasket that’s required for the installation of the glass wall. Fercho said it should arrive this week, allowing Delnor to install the wall and finally remove the orange tarps that have been draped over the building for months.
“That’s our main goal right now is these three items,” said Fercho, noting that once they’re completed, the final cleaning, commissioning and startup can finally take place, and once the building’s air testing is completed as part of the startup procedures, tenants of the library and cultural centre will be allowed to start moving into the building.
“We’d like to target having that completed within the next month, so that [tenants] can move in in December and then have the building fully operational in January.
“That’s the big scale goal and, as far as I can tell as of today, I think we’re still able to achieve that,” he said.
Nicole Veerman
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