After a split decision, the Fawcett Fire Department will get a new $550,000 home after Westlock County councillors finally agreed to fund the project.
Councillors voted 4-3 at their Sept. 13 meeting to award the $513,300 tender for the design and build of the new fire hall to E&D Kuzyk Konstruction Ltd — the lowest of four tenders received.
Fawcett-area Coun. Dennis Primeau said despite the project coming in over budget, it was time for the municipality to finally move ahead.
“I guess when you put it over the long term it’s not going to be overwhelming. We’ve talked about this for a long time, maybe we need to move ahead with it,” Primeau said.
“I don’t like the idea that we’re always coming in over [budget]. We’ve made a lot of blunders here, but we’re probably at a time and point where we have to move ahead.”
At the same time, council also approved a seven per cent contingency allowance of $36,500, bringing the total project cost to $550,000.
The municipality will borrow $470,000 to complete the hall, while the remaining $80,000 will come from the county’s fire hall reserve account.
In the 2016 capital budget, council had allocated $425,000 for the project.
Reeve Don Savage said some councillors view fire hall funding differently, but ultimately it’s a requirement of the county under the Municipal Government Act to provide fire protection.
“I believe the four votes that went for the fire hall just wanted it to go ahead already, it’s just so much procrastination,” Savage explained.
“It’s just time to do it, in my opinion. The people deserve a fire hall there and they’ve just got nothing.”
Fawcett Fire Department chief Roy Forbes says the request for a new hall dates back nearly 20 years and he’s pleased to finally get the news.
“We have no room in our old one and we just need a bigger hall,” he said. “It’s been a long time. We started asking a lot of years ago.”
Interim county CAO Pat Vincent said costs had inevitably risen in the two years since the quote was received and after council decided to increase the size of the building.
“I would submit to yourselves it’s fairly good value for the dollar and that we can explain that rationally to our taxpayers,” Vincent said.
“They would see it’s not a frivolous expenditure, or that council’s doing something on an ad hoc basis.
“Unfortunately council led themselves into a trap taking a number that’s two years old and bringing it forward to this year’s budget and trying to stay within that.”
Coun. Ray Marquette, however, was vocal that council should stick to the budget.
“I think we’ve got to scale the building back. We did agree on $425,000, now it’s $550,000, that’s a pile more money,” said Marquette.
“They need a building, I agree. I don’t think they need the Taj Mahal.
“For once, we have to stand our ground … we have to stay within our budget sometime.”
Coun. Bud Massey noted the extra space was needed to allow the department to store equipment that’s currently sitting outside.
The new hall has an estimated completion date of September 2017.
