Elliot Lake's CAO Dan Gagnon told members of Elliot Lake City Council at their Monday night meeting the city has so far has spent about $75,000 more than budgeted this year to pay for removal of snow and ice from the tops of city-owned buildings.
He said, as of this week, most of the cleanup job has been completed. It was undertaken as a precaution in the wake of the February roof collapse of most of the north wing of the city-owned Lester B. Pearson Community Centre on Highway 108.
An investigation revealed the event was caused by a heavy buildup of rooftop snow and ice this winter. It caused extensive structural and property damage and resulted in personal injuries which were suffered by one woman who was in the Centre at the time of the collapse.
Mr. Gagnon said only an Ontario Ministry of Labour-approved insurance inspector was allowed inside the affected part of the Communty Centre building last week to inspect it so the Insurance industry can prepare its report.
The building is insured by the City of Elliot Lake for $9,000,000.
Gagnon told Council the Elliot Lake Miners' museum in the lower level of the centre remains mainly intact. He added some heating has been restored in the community centre to mitigate against further damage in the affected areas of the building. As well, the centre's roof drains are operating properly.
On another topic, Coun. Ed Pearce asked Gagnon to clarify the City's plans to remove the surface ice from the City-owned Centennial Arena to facilitate a structural assessment of the building. That needs to be done to determine what repairs are needed to the structure, which was built in 1967. To do that the arena must be kept off-limits to the public as the assessment continues.
Centennial Arena is the home of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's Elliot Lake Junior Wildcats. The Wildcats were forced to scramble when they had to play their quarter final playoff series against the Blind River Beavers in the Blind River Community Centre Arena this month, after they were shut out of their home rink by weather related events.
Coun. Pearce told the CAO he was concerned about the impact of the forced arena closure on Elliot Lake's minor hockey program, the Junior Wildcats and the remaining 2019 program for the Elliot Lake Figure Skating Club.
Pearce said he hoped the CAO's sentiments that the recent melting trend could speed up the process of carrying out inspection of Centennial Arena roof beams and trusses, would come to fruition.
"I believe cold weather will continue and we will not get any help there," he added.
Gagnon said the City is trying to get two more years' service out of the arena.
Coun. Sandy Finamore told her council colleagues they need to make sure money is routed to the emergency work fast and doesn't get bogged down in the committee process at city hall.
Gagnon told councillors the city will need to allocate about $100,000 in this year's city budget (2019) to pay for the weather-related emergency costs which have landed in Elliot Lake's lap.
It's all being dealt with as the City puts together its spending program in the upcoming Elliot Lake 2019 budget process, set to get underway in April.
The CAO also staid this season's winter street, sidewalk and parking lot snow removal budget is up by about 65 per cent over the same period last year.