At its regular meeting June 8, Peace River town council discussed design changes to the new Town Hall building that will eventually undergo renovations.
“There was a comment about wanting the (Peace River) Chamber of Commerce in the building,” said director of infrastructure and development Pat Fisher.
“This is a significant amount of rework if we were going to make that happen.”
Fisher added in order to fit the chamber into the new building, it would require some rework of the current designs. Fisher recommended to not add the chamber as it would kneecap the ability for the Town to grow in the facility if temporary positions were hired or projects were taken on that required additional office space.
Councillor Orren Ford questioned whether adding the chamber into the building would drive up the costs of the building renovations. Fisher confirmed it would likely increase the renovation expenses because they would require individual access to their own section of the building.
As a result, council decided to not add space for the chamber.
Fisher also asked council to determine whether or not there were items proposed on the design that should be eliminated. A question was posed about the 11 proposed bathrooms in the new facility.
“In the previous report where this topic was brought forward, we could easily take out the bathroom that is connected to the CAO boardroom and we could also take out the two bathrooms that are connected to the staff lounge and council area connected to the council chamber,” said Interim CAO Kayla Parsons.
“We see some significant benefit to council to having their own washroom that is a little segregated, if there is a contentious issue going on and you need to take your break, you don’t need to go out to the public washrooms when that is happening.”
Parsons added the number of washrooms could be cut down if council decided.
“It just seemed like a lot to me and the cost of bathrooms, for example, the CAO washroom, that bathroom from beginning to end could cost us close to $50,000 for one bathroom,” said Councillor Brad Carr.
Ford asked if the washrooms were eliminated, how much money would be saved.
Fisher replied the total cost budget for bathroom renovations was $10,000, so eliminating the three washrooms would save approximately $30,000.
Council decided to reduce the number of private bathrooms for council and staff lounge to one instead of two.
“We have voted to proceed with finishing the plans (based on discussions during council meeting) and that will give us an accurate quote for if we go ahead (with renovations),” explained Mayor Shelly Shannon.
The new town hall building was purchased in late summer 2024 to allow the Town of Peace River to move its municipal operations to a facility that would improve accessibility and functionality.
Emily Plihal
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