In a unanimous vote, town council last night gave the official go-ahead for building the new Fort Frances Public Library and Technology Centre following a torrent of money from both the federal and provincial government for the project.
Council voted to accept a contract with Aurora Construction for $4,043,000.

“I just want to follow that up by saying how pleased I am that we’re finally able to award this tender,” Coun. Andrew Hallikas said during the committee of the whole meeting earlier yesterday.
“It’s really been a long haul and things have finally fallen our way, I think.
“When this project is complete, I think residents of Fort Frances will be very pleased and very proud of the library and technology centre that we’re going to have because of the vision of a number of people,” Coun. Hallikas added, thanking the library board, building committee, and all the people who spent “countless hours” getting this project to go forward.
A joint announcement June 12 by the federal government’s “Build Canada” fund and provincial government saw $1.967 million in funding earmarked for the library, which was followed by an additional $170,000 from FedNor three days later.
“The only change I made in that tender from the original tender was the inclusion of Glulam beams as opposed to timber trusses, and that was a recommendation from the contractor in order to save us some money, the cost of $170,000,” Community Services manager George Bell told council.
“This project includes all the parking requirements for the library and overflow parking for the Memorial Sports Centre,” he added. “A complete turnkey operation.
“We will not have to incur long-term debt or tap into library reserves if everything goes as planned,” Bell noted.
While Coun. Paul Ryan voted to support the project this time, he still expressed concern over the size, future operating costs, and viability of the library down the road.
“Maybe someday the library will be used for something else, I don’t know,” he remarked. “It’s an awful big building and I hope we can live in it, but I support it.”
After declaring the project “dead” when town council initially voted against going ahead with it back on April 13, library board chair Joyce Cunningham said her reaction to the project officially moving forward is one of relief and excitement.
“We’ve been on such an emotional roller-coaster for the last several years that it’s really hard to get control of what we feel right now, but excitement is coming,” she said.
“And we’re looking forward to that one full new building,” Cunningham added, thanking the community for both the financial and moral support for the new library over those years.
In other news from last night’s meeting, council voted to uphold the town’s bylaw concerning the height of front yard fences—even those meant to keep out deer.
Local residents Marie and Lynwood Anderson had asked council that they be allowed to keep up a deer fence originally constructed earlier this year to protect their gardens and shrubs.
The couple had received permission from the town earlier for the temporary fence, but on May 11 received a letter from the bylaw office stating there had been a concern raised over it, which is higher than the town’s height limit for front yard fences.
The Planning and Development executive committee was “somewhat divided on the issue” and unable to come up with a recommendation, leaving the decision with the committee of the whole.