Council likely to proceed with library project

On the heels of a recommendation made earlier this week by the Community Services executive committee to award the tender to Aurora Construction for the building of the new Fort Frances Public Library and Technology, town council will make the final vote at its regular meeting this coming Monday (June 22).
As reported in Monday’s Daily Bulletin, a much-anticipated funding announcement from the provincial and federal government for more than $1.967 million came through Friday afternoon.

Then on Monday afternoon, the town received official word it also will be getting $170,000 from FedNor to purchase equipment for the technology centre portion of the project.
Combined with the $1.6 million from the Ministry of Culture, $437,692 from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, and more than $850,000 in pledges to the local “Building for the Future” fundraising campaign, some $5 million has been contributed to the project thus far—and town and library officials alike are thrilled.
“I am definitely looking forward to starting that construction very, very soon,” library board chair Joyce Cunningham said Monday afternoon.
“I am hoping we can start by the middle of July,” she noted. “What has to happen now is council will have this on next Monday’s agenda, and the decision will be made whether or not to award the contract.
“As soon as that happens, there’s nothing holding us back.”
Cunningham said Community Services manager George Bell, project manager Brian Avis, and architect John Knox have been in contact with each other this week to discuss the project, and that the library building committee was to meet today to go over the project budget once again to make sure everything is in line for next Monday’s council meeting.
The most recent budget for the project was about $4.7 million. However, the plans for the library at that price tag had certain optional elements (or “alternates”) removed to keep the price down, such as a paved parking lot and metal roofing.
Now that more money is available for the project, the building committee can put these alternates back in, tie up all the details, and be able to present a “neat, tidy package” for council approval Monday, said Cunningham.
Cunningham said the good news about the funding has spread fast, both in the Ontario library community and among local residents, adding people have been congratulatory—and eager to see a ground-breaking ceremony.
“The people I have met on the street, their question now is: ‘How soon can you start?’” she remarked.
“We’re just ecstatic We’re ready to dig,” echoed chief librarian Margaret Sedgwick. “We couldn’t be happier.
“We’re amazed we got more than we applied for. . . . We’re going to have the library that we need, the space we need,” she stressed.
Mark Kowalchuk, who served as chair of the “Building for the Future” campaign, noted the role of the community’s support in getting the “Building Canada” funds cannot be understated.
“As I understood at the time that the grant was applied for with almost full support of council, the $850,000 raised by the volunteers of the fundraising committee went a long way to meet the community’s portion required for the grant application,” he noted.
“The extremely strong response by citizens of the community and outside the community, along with corporate and service club donations, helped us surpass our goal of $750,000,” added Kowalchuk.
“I am pleased that the $850,000 in donations helped the community meet the criteria for the grant, and that the province and federal governments believed so strongly in our community and in the benefits that this technology centre and library project will provide to the town for decades to come.
“To all those donors who helped us meet and surpass the goal, I extend my heartfelt appreciation,” Kowalchuk said. “It was your support throughout the campaign that kept our efforts moving along and helped to buoy us up in our low times.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Roy Avis said Friday he was “very, very ecstatic” to learn of the announcement.
“It is a real plus for us,” he enthused. “We’ll be able to build that facility without even using any of the town money, it looks like.
“That’s what I like to see.
“I think now we will probably see it moving ahead,” the mayor added. “When you see it’s going to be built with senior government money, it’s a real plus for us.
“You have to thank the Harper government and the McGuinty government for giving us that type of funding.”
Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft said he was confident the project will proceed this summer.
“I am very optimistic,” he remarked. “We are very fortunate the construction company, Aurora Construction, held the contract and held the quote for an additional six weeks.
“With this grant coming forward, in my world, it’s a straight-ahead ‘go.’ I can’t see anything holding it up.
“I am very optimistic it will pass unanimously at council Monday,” added Coun. Wiedenhoeft. “I think I would be disappointed if it didn’t.”
Coun. Wiedenhoeft noted some members of council have been hesitant to go forward with the new library, expressing concern over its size and future operating costs.
But he believes the library board will try to keep the operating costs under control, as it has stated it would, and also pointed out the new facility has been designed to be more energy-efficient.
As well, because of workflow efficiencies (such as being a single-level building and having self-checkout), there will be a reduction of .5 library staff.
Coun. Wiedenhoeft also said he’s very happy the new facility will be able to be built without any significant cutbacks (i.e., cheaper building materials, an asphalt roof, etc.) that could prove costly in the long run.
“I am thrilled with it,” said Coun. Andrew Hallikas yesterday. “I was in Toronto for a week, and just got back and heard. I was so excited, so pleased. Just think about it—Fort Frances is going to get a brand new, state-of-the-art library and tech centre that’s going to benefit not just Fort Frances but the surrounding area, as well.
“In tough economic times, libraries are the place to go. But it’s not just about the present, but the future. I am really pumped,” he remarked, adding the provincial and federal support, as well as that of the community, is enabling the town to “complete this dream that so many people have had for so many years.”
Other funding
Fort Frances also got a shot-in-the-arm from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, with funds to help pay for the water and sanitary sewer portion of the reconstruction work currently going on at Nelson Street, Portage Avenue, and Victoria Avenue (commonly referred to the as the biomass roads project).
The federal and provincial governments each will pay $571,365—for a total of $1,114,730—towards the $1,714,095 project.
The town will pay the remaining one-third of the cost.
“It’s very good news for the Town of Fort Frances,” said Mayor Avis, adding the town already had built that project into its 2009 budget, meaning the new funding will free up some of the previously budgeted money to do another project or benefit future budgets.
“I think we have to thank the senior levels of government,” he added. “Even though it’s a third, a third, a third, when you’re running infrastructure programs like this, if you can jump on board, it’s a real asset because you save the taxpayers money in the long-run.”
“It’s a good thing,” Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig said of the funding. “I am pretty excited about it.”
Coun. Wiedenhoeft stressed that McCaig and town managers George Bell and Doug Brown should be credited for submitting the applications for the library and infrastructure projects. “Those things just aren’t automatic—the applications have to be precise, they have to be quality applications—and those guys did a tremendous job,” he remarked.
Residents of Rainy River, Emo, La Vallee, Alberton, Morley, and Dawson also will benefit from the federal and provincial infrastructure funding announced Friday (see story in the District Living section of today’s Times for a list of those projects).