South Bruce Peninsula has chosen a contractor to build its next Town Hall.
The nearly $9.8 million contract to convert the former Wiarton Foodland into a new town hall was given to Allan Hastings Limited, which came in at the lowest quote of eight potential bids.
Though their bid initially came in $1.7 million over the projected estimate CAO Bill Jones said he met with the contractor and was able to come to an agreement that reduced the number.
Council members were concerned at some of the reductions listed, including acoustic wall treatments and a moveable partition wall in council chambers, but Jones said those just represented savings.
"I'm happy to report on both issues, it's not there's going to be any less of an acoustic treament or that there won't be a partition wall," he told council. "What happened was the contractor came to the table and said that some of the things that the architect had used as estimates for the allowances for those items, he was able to find more reasonable alteratives. They still exist, they're still going to be good products, he's just helping us find ways to make savings and still carry on."
Other notable savings include using asphalt instead of paving stones for the parking lot ($350,000) and reudcing the project's contingency fund ($300,000).
Mayor Jay Kirkland said the building would be a point of pride for residents.
"It is an exciting adventure. It's needed, it's needed for staff, it's needed for our community," said Kirkland. "I do believe people are proud of Town Hall and this Town Hall needs a lot of work to make it to that level. We're going into an adventure here that's going to make our taxpayers proud to live, belong and prosper in South Bruce Peninsula."
Town staff will only need a portion of the space, so council is still looking for a tenant for the other portion of the building, occupying nearly 10,000 square feet. In order to keep taxes lower, council reminded the public its looking for a municipal service that can break-even so that it's not impacting operational costs.
Jones shared that the town had "one very interested client" that was looking to take all of the remaining space. A presentation to council could be coming this year.
The project is expected to be completed by January of next year.
