City hall may open in time for new council
By Shara JJ Cooper
City hall is expected to be open for the inaugural meeting of the new city council, later this year. The municipal election will be held Nov. 15 and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Doug Allin says the new council should be able to hold their first meeting in the updated building.
Allin updated city councillors at their regular meeting, April 28, and asked them to approve the final layout proposal and finishing touches for city hall.
He said that the City has been dealing with the insurance company who were “trying to give us less value” than was required by the upgrades and repairs. For example, the insurance company was offering $60,000 for a mechanical project that the mechanical engineer estimated would cost $160,000.
“We’ve been working on those challenges there,” said Allin.
There is good news, they are able to upgrade city hall and bring it up to code with proper insulation.
“That will increase the R-Value,” said Allin, adding that it will also take more time as the old insulation will have to be ripped out of the walls on the upper and lower floors as well. All of the City’s records and the archives, which are stored in the basement, will need to be moved into storage during the process.
“It’s a big undertaking,” said Allin, at the meeting.
City council approved the motion made by Allin to move forward with the final layout and finishing touches. He also noted that they had put the designs out to the public, but the only feedback they received was from Les Johnson of GFTV during a meeting.
“That was out there for about three weeks,” said Allin.
Grand Forks councillors have also been asked to talk to other municipalities at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) about the fire and city hall repairs so that other municipalities can protect themselves.
