Cache Bay concerns irrelevant after premature awarding of rink project

Community upset that they will lose basketball courts but any changes now could be costly for the city.

Were going to go from an asset that has 9 months of use to an asset that will have only 3 months of use. - Councillor Roch St-Louis

Last night, council continued their discussion of the Cache Bay outdoor rink project. Three weeks ago, council was notified of the bids for the project with two options presented.

Either to build two ice surfaces similar to what is there presently (Option B) or build one larger surface (Option A).

Cache Bay Councillor Roch St-Louis asked that he be given the opportunity to discuss the options in a public meeting with community members before awarding the contract.

Council was in agreement to delay the decision but the mayor along with councillor Kris Rivard proposed that the contract be awarded at the April 16th meeting. This short-sided decision may now pose a legal challenge for the municipality.

St-Louis notified council that over 50 residents participated in the public consultation and that the consensus was neither Option A nor Option B.

St-Louis told council that both options are completely stripping the currently usable basketball court.

In order to reduce the cost of the project from the 2023 budget, staff had redesigned the rinks to be built on a gravel base rather than pavement.

He said that Cache Bay will essentially lose a year-round recreational asset in exchange for a 3-month recreational asset.

St-Louis asked if, at the very least, the project could be moved beside the existing rink so that the current pavement could continue to be used as a basketball court.

The CAO informed council that, because they had voted to award the contract on April 16th, their hands were now tied. He told council that “we are now on the hook for either for option A or option b… Any variation of that could cost this municipality quite a bit of money. “

He said, that in his opinion, public consultation should have been done before going to tender. This obviously was never attempted. Most residents in Cache Bay were completely unaware that the new project did not include pavement.

April 16th Meeting

At the April 16th meeting, the CAO had recommended that any resolution for the project include a clause stating that it was pending approval. He also suggested that the resolution could simply be deferred. Unfortunately, council opted for neither and awarded the contract even though they were under no obligation to do so.

Two Pads on Gravel

Councillors Daniel Gagne and Kris Rivard proposed that they choose to go with Option A and build a single rink. This would lead to some savings that could be applied to a paving the pad eventually. But councillor St-Louis stated that the residents’ preference would be to maintain two pads.

When it came to a vote, 5 councillors agreed with Option B, so council proceeded with this option.

The lowest bid on Option B was $201,775 which is under the budgeted line for this project of $205,000 but still significantly higher than what was first budgeted for last year ($137,700).

Construction is to begin shortly with the removal of the existing pavement meaning basketball users will not be able to play this summer.

The West Nip Voice is a regular newsletter covering issues in West Nipissing and the surrounding area. Please consider becoming a subscriber.