THUNDER BAY – The next phase of the Centennial Conservatory renewal needs ratification by council.
Monday saw councillors vote overwhelmingly in favour of a recommendation to award the contract to MBuilds Limited Partnership up to the amount of over $7.7 million.
At-large Coun. Mark Bentz opposed the recommendation, and warned his colleagues about future projects and how much they could end up costing Thunder Bay to build.
“We have big projects coming up like the multi-use indoor turf facility that could cost as much as $40 million and the new police station that could have a price tag of $80 million,” Bentz said.
“We cannot work in a silo here and be okay with a 55 per cent increase in the numbers that we received not even 12 months ago. I wish we had a more global holistic view to the report and consider the financial situation of the corporation.”
Bentz questioned city staff and whether they would still recommend going down this road, knowing of the increased costs.
Kerri Marshall, the city’s general manager of infrastructure, development and operations said: “Yes, administration would be recommending the renewal of this facility.
“Council determined during their program and service review that the Conservatory was something that they would like to keep. Certainly, it is not in a good state at the moment but there has been significant investment to date with respect to the greenhouse facility and we're moving into the next phase of work.”
Bentz argued that he’s not sure the support would have been there had they been made aware of the added costs and the financial situation that the city faces.
Northwood Coun. Dominic Pasqualino also had concerns regarding the added cost but noted that this is the time for action on this file.
“I believe it’s important that this get done as soon as possible, and ensure that whatever the cost is that we make the best use of taxpayers' money,” he added.
“We can debate forever as to why prices have gone up but I don’t believe that we have a choice at this point to do anything different. Any delays would add to the price of this.”
At-large Coun. Shelby Ch’ng also wasn’t interested in going back to the community within a couple of weeks, which is a suggestion that Coun. Bentz raised.
“We had four separate citizen satisfaction surveys (2015, 2017, 2019, 2023) that all identified the Conservatory as a priority. We also had the program service review which took over a year and a half to complete and cost $125,000, which said the Conservatory must be invested in,” Ch’ng noted.
“I'm not afraid to say I'm a cheerleader for this project - in fact, I’m probably one of the biggest cheerleaders for this project. Do I understand the cost? Absolutely. You can have pom poms and understand costs at the same time.”
Ch’ng added that continuing to delay the work doesn’t make sense and will lose council further credibility with the community.
Current River Coun. Andrew Foulds, who was chairing the meeting, stressed “perspective” when it comes to looking at the price tag of the next phase.
“The price has gone up but we have captured over a third of the cost through external funding,” Foulds told council.
“I heard loud and clear that this is a project that the community wanted.
“I'm not happy that it's over. I wish it was right on target, I’m sure we all do. But this is a worthy project.”
The ratification of this decision will happen in two weeks.
The whole renewal is scheduled to be completed ahead of the grand re-opening in the fall of 2025.
