NORTH BATTLEFORD - North Battleford council has awarded the contract for the permanent renovation of the new permanent city council chambers at Don Ross Centre.
LV Schell Construction has been awarded the contract for the permanent Council Chambers renovation project up to and in amount of $300,000 plus PST of $16,981.
According to a city memo, the proposed design for the new council chambers had been developed by administration and by North Node Architecture, Inc. who had been awarded the design work last year. Only one local contractor pre-qualified and submitted interest in the project, that being LV Schell.
Council had already moved council meetings to Room 107 of Don Ross Centre as of April, 2022. Room 107 previously served as a general meeting room, and was upgraded to accommodate council meetings in that space. However, it wasn’t a full renovation into a council chamber.
Previously, council staged their meetings either virtually on Zoom, or at the Chapel Gallery throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Meetings had been held in the former council chambers on the upper floor at City Hall until the pandemic outbreak in March, 2020.
The plan is for LV Schell to complete renovations on the new Don Ross council chamber in fall 2023, and for meetings to relocate back to its old City Hall council chamber location for about three months during that time while construction is under way at Room 107.
While the tender award was approved by council Monday, it was not unanimous. Councillor Bill Ironstand announced he would be voting against, saying “we are doing adequate business with what we have.”
“This was one of our highest tax seasons on our community,” said Ironstand. “I understand that we did discuss this multiple times, but I will not be supporting this tonight.”
