Library.
It’s just a word, but when spoken in Jasper, it comes with a knowing nod. It elicits frustration, concern and, more often than not, snarky remarks.
With a schedule for completion that will see the project finished nearly three years late and more than a million dollars over budget, it’s hard to blame the community for being cynical.
The allure of a brand new, state-of-the-art building, blending old and new, wore off years ago—likely around the same time the contractors botched the roof.
At this point, the building is nothing more than a joke.
Contractors working on the Jasper Joint School Facility—a project that began a year after the library—wagered bets that they’d get their job done first. And presumably, last September, someone won a good amount money when the facility opened its doors for the first day of school, while the library sat unfinished, covered in massive tarps. That is, of course, if anyone was naive enough to take the bet.
It’s almost humourous how far off track this project has strayed. Every element of the building has had issues, from the roof to the walls, floors, windows and stairs. For the past year, contractors appear to have been doing more to remedy their own errors than to actually move forward with construction of the building.
With the comedy of errors that have plagued the project from the beginning, at this point, even we can’t hide our cynicism.
Last week, after it was announced the project would again be delayed, we posed the question to our readers: “When do you think the library will be done?”
Initially, we gave three possible answers. The first was Sept. 28—the day the municipality hopes it will be completed, to allow for a Culture Days event. The second, Oct. 2, the new date provided by the contractors; the third, 2016.
But, after all that has happened in the last three years, even we weren’t sure 2016 was reasonable, so for good measure, we also gave our readers a fourth option: 2018.
And as it turns out, the community is equally as cynical as we are: 60 per cent of respondents chose 2018, while 36 per cent chose 2016 and only four per cent chose Oct. 2.
There were zero votes for Sept. 28.
So, the wagers continue to roll in and the dates continue to extend.
Perhaps by the time it’s done, we’ll all be rich.
