The latest notes on what the City of Prince Rupert may have in mind towards its plans to turn the former MacCarthy Motors auto dealership into a new Operations Department facility were provided to Council on Monday evening.
Director of Operations Richard Pucci took the council membership through the progress towards the location. Presenting a report that outlined some past history and introducing what seems to be a move towards making a purchase of the building at Portage and Saskatoon in the city's Yellowed Centre area.
As we outlined on Monday, Mr. Pucci's report which is available as part of the Council Agenda for the session, noted of the growing issues with the current Wantage Road location for the city's work crews and how the vacant auto dealership may offer up a good value for the community towards a new purpose.
The Director who was out of town with Mayor Pond and City Manager Robert Buchan, participated in Monday's Council session by remote connection, providing a snapshot of his report, bringing Council up to speed on what renovations are required towards making the facility ready for the Operations Department.
"So far we've completed a functional design assessment that determined what goes where in the building.
We have completed an RFP and are awarding the mezzanine to be put back in which will be for office space.
We are completing an HVAC review right now and designs are underway for a new lunchroom, washroom, locker room and first aid area.
So, early projections put the completion of this work in late 2023, at approximately five million dollars, and that's inclusive of the property purchase, but exclusive of the lease payments.
However, these costs could escalate a bit because of some uncertain times right now" -- City of Prince Rupert Director of Operations and Intergovernmental Relations Richard Pucci
The Director of Operations snapshot of the progress for the facility, did spark a few questions from the council membership with Councillor Adey, who had made the previous request for the report, taking the lead on the topic.
"I guess I would like to acknowledge the place from which the original inquiry came from in the public and that was a pretty generic basic interest of taxpayers and really they want to know that this is an arrangement that is in the best interests of the taxpayer compared to alternatives.
And you've talked about the possibility of about seven million dollars to build a new one from scratch and in this case you've got a projection of five million dollars which includes the purchase price, but does not include the lease.
And one of the questions that I was asked was well is how much are we paying in the lease, and there's been a number of different numbers thrown out there as a month cost, I guess my first question is do we have a clear sense of what we are paying for the lease on a monthly basis."
The Director deferred an answer to the City Manager, noting he was unsure if the city was allowed to release that type of information publicly, Mr. Buchan outlined a need for a chance tor review the situation.
"I would have to take a look at the contract to see whether or not it's a confidentiality condition at this point, can we report back at the next meeting" -- City Manager Rob Buchan
Mr. Pucci did provide some background towards the five million dollar cost to date for the facility.
"The five million dollar is a combination of what we estimate what the renovation cost would be and the purchase price of the building which we have an understanding through a 2022 assessment, however the exact numbers I don't think we could release that assessment number."
Mr. Adey did note that he did what anyone in the public could do, looking up the assessment of the property through BC assessment, observing that its value was set at 1.5 million, the Councillor commenting that he hoped there would be some reference towards that when the city looks to what a purchase price might be.
In reply Mr. Pucci noted that the City would be looking to getting a proper assessment of the facility, conducted by a certified appraiser to look at the purchase price.
Councillor Cunningham had a question related to the improvements that the city has planned for the facility.
"I too have had a lot of question about this and one question that keeps coming up is the improvements that were putting in there, adding to the value of the building and is it going to be, when we do purchase it, is that going to be taken into consideration and deducted from the actual assessment at that particular time, or will that assessment not reflect those improvements.
Because if we're going to spend half a million dollars renovating a building and then have to buy it later and thats going to put the assessment up, where is that going to be, is that going to be be something that we're going to be discussing when we do purchase it"
The Director of Operations offered some reassurance to the councillor that the assessed value would be that before any civic renovations take place.
"The assessment will be at the value of the building today, without improvements, so the improvements that the city makes on the building will not be part of the assessment"
The Full discussion can be reviewed from the City's Video Archive starting at the seven minute mark.
More notes on Monday's Council Session can be reviewed here.
A wider overview of Civic Operations planning can be explored here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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