Upgrades to the council chamber at the Orillia City Centre — improvements Mayor Steve Clarke earlier described as ‘an absolute must’ — are being shelved.
During the 2021 budget process, city councillors approved $492,000 for the project, which would help make the chamber “more accessible, able to provide the necessary AV technology to meet multiple meeting formats and reflect the progressive and professional nature of the city.” The work would also include painting and new furnishings.
During those deliberations, Clarke said the upgrades are “an absolute must,” adding “accessibility is something that must be addressed.”
However, a staff memo circulated to city councillors June 3 notes — for a variety of reasons — the price tag for the project has almost doubled, prompting staff to cancel the initiative.
This project was first identified during the 2019 budget process, when council approved a $40,000 design for upgrades. At that time, it was estimated a construction budget of $380,000 would be required to be approved during future budget deliberations as part of the city’s 10-year capital plan.
When COVID hit, the design portion of the project, which had begun, was put on hold.
In the summer of 2021, the project resumed. The city retained Ted Handy and Associates Inc. to lead the design concept and final design process.
Extensive consultation work with city staff and qualified consultants (architectural, electrical and technology) occurred to create a final design concept that would achieve the following objectives:
- Improve accessibility and public access to the council chamber;
- Achieve an inclusive atmosphere between the public and members of council;
- Improve layout and functionality of seating to support the first two objectives;
- Improve and upgrade necessary supporting audiovisual and technology requirements to enable virtual and/or hybrid meeting formats; and
- Refresh and modernize aspects of the chamber to reflect the city’s professional and progressive nature.
A budget of $492,000 — reflecting "an understanding of the project and pricing conditions in the summer of 2021"— was approved during the 2022 capital budget process.
On May 5, a request for tender was issued to five contractors, pre-qualified through a preceding procurement process, notes the staff memo to city councillors.
On May 26, the tender process closed, and bids were received. All submitted tenders dramatically exceeded the approved budget.
The overall project budget — which includes the $40,000 design funding originally allocated in 2019 and construction funding of $492,000 approved as part of the 2022 budget process — is $532,000.
Based on the tenders, staff said an additional $469,000 would be needed to complete the project, effectively doubling its estimated cost from just a year ago.
“As a result, staff are unable to recommend proceeding with the project at this time,” notes the memo.
Why has the price escalated so much, so rapidly?
“In discussions with Ted Handy, and supporting design sub-consultants, the industry is experiencing a challenge with construction budgets overall,” notes the memo.
It notes bid submissions are reportedly over by 30 to 40% at present.
“A combination of factors may be contributing to these overages, which includes inflation, limited availability of qualified contractors, labour shortages and supply chain disruptions,” the memo explains.
City staff tried to tap into other sources of funding. An application for Canada Community Revitalization funding was not successful and staff noted there are no other funding sources to tap into.
There was also not an appetite to scale back the project.
“A full review of the items included in the project scope has been completed by staff and the consulting team and there is not the ability to remove scope items or adjust to accommodate the project within the approved budget, while still ensuring the design objectives are achieved,” the memo explains.
On top of all that, through consultation with Rogers, the city has determined the current camera system used to broadcast in-person council meetings prior to COVID-19 is “beyond end of life.” There is no replacement plan for the camera system by Rogers (owned and operated by Rogers currently).
If an update to the council chamber’s audiovisual equipment and associated network and technology is required in 2022, “staff will work towards providing a solution that would be consistent” with the future design.
Additional project costs will be brought to a future budget process for consideration.
