Last Thursday afternoon (Nov. 16) at a special council meeting, the council received a report from Acting Director of Public Works, Bill Goulding, regarding an approval of $86,027 plus applicable taxes, for structure mitigation efforts at the Centennial Arena.
Goulding told the council, “We aren't 100% complete the canvas [full] inspection, so decided that we need to have [Wood Research and Design] reattend with two inspectors for a further week so that they can collect the remainder of the data required to move forward. They're planning on reattending on November 27.”
Goulding added: “That's the date of our next regularly scheduled council meeting. And so that's why it's on this special agenda to offer an approval to reattend.”
That information helps Elliot Lakers eliminate this as a possible reason the special meeting was called in such haste. ElliotLakeToday has reached out to the council for an explanation why the afternoon council meeting was called with one days' notice.
During the debate, Councillor Charles Flintoff asked, “I noticed on the extra charges, you have winter shoring design. So does that mean we’re going to be okay for the winter- to be in there working?”
Goulding: “In short, yes. So, right now, the scope on the winter shoring design is foreseeable enough that WRD could offer a price.” Goulding discussed other steps being taken to distribute load on the rink surface then added, “once they are able to run the complete complement of their data through their computer model, they’ll know specifically what further measures we will need to take and what criteria we need to abide by to make it through winter.”
“So, it may be a situation where we’re shovelling again this winter. It may not. It’s just based on how the numbers come out. It may be that we need to put a few more shoring towers in select places. It may not. But the charge that you see on the document is to do that consideration and to offer us specific instructions on what to do to make it okay,” he said.
Flintoff: “That was well explained. And again, staff sometimes don't get enough acknowledgement. But all your staff- I see them working there every time I drive by. It's been ‘everybody on board’ getting that done. So, I know it takes a lot. It's a lot on you, and great job.”
The councillors in attendance voted unanimously to approve the expenditure. Councillor Morrissette was unable to attend the hastily scheduled meeting and advised with regret.