Another issue with the arena has sprung up but it didn't come as a huge surprise to Elliot Lake City Staff.
Sections of the sprinkler equipment recently had to be removed to facilitate replacement of columns in the Elliot Lake Centennial Arena and will need to be replaced but some of the fire suppression equipment was preserved.
“While the columns were being replaced this summer in the arena for the structural rehabilitation … the sprinklers were in the way of the columns,” city special projects manager Bill Goulding told council on Tuesday.
“Staff is trying to tease their way through, making sure that we get everything going as quickly as possible,” he said.
The topic, titled Arena Fire Suppression Repairs was a late-breaking item for the October 15th council meeting and was added to council's agenda on the afternoon of the meeting.
Information posted to the City’s website with the addendum included a staff report and an estimate for the repairs: $83,736.43 plus applicable taxes.
The estimate also informed, “If Any Additional Branch Lines Above Rink Are Required To Be Replaced Due To Corrosion and /or Blockages, An Additional Quote Will Be Provided, And Is Not Included In Above Quote.”
Staff requested an additional $10,000 for contingency expenses and recommended a sole-source purchase, allowing the work to begin as early as tomorrow, Monday, October 21. The repair work is expected to take six weeks.
During the debate, both council and staff commented that this work was necessary soon anyway.
By unanimous vote, all the councillors present approved the sole-source purchase and contingency allowance, to be “drawn from the City’s Buildings and Facilities Capital Reserve.”
Difficult for citizens to participate in the process
Each municipality determines how it will satisfy the Municipal Act requirements for accountability and transparency. Elliot Lake’s process is described in the City’s procedural by-law 16-06. Since 2006, it has received 11 amendments. The most recent consolidation was June 16, 2022.
The procedural by-law allows for citizen participation through a Public Input Session - a standing item on every council and committee agenda.
Citizens who wish to participate in the Public Input Session must register by noon of the meeting day for an up to 2-minute time slot. Council is frequently generous with the 2-minute allowance; most public inputs are longer than two minutes.
However, when an item appears as an addendum, it becomes impossible for citizens to register to speak to the item.
Consequently, items like the sole-sourced contract for fire suppression equipment on October 15 and the August 7 decision to spend $1 million on a level C estimate for substructure work with outriggers cannot receive public input. WRD described their level C estimate as plus or minus 25 per cent.
That August 7th meeting included a detailed and lengthy PowerPoint presentation including the explanation of a new method to address foundation issues using outriggers but it appeared on the agenda as an addendum after the public could register to comment on it.
Occupancy
On August 7, WRD's Dr. Dan Tingley told the council the outrigger approach offered the benefit of cost and time savings, over the previously planned approach to use screw piles exclusively.
“And this [outrigger system] seems to be a way to keep everybody happy in terms of public occupancy, mid / end of September,” he said.
'Different levels of occupancy'
At Tuesday's meeting, Goulding also told council work on the arena has reached a milestone.
"We are in receipt of a letter from WRD stating that the building is structurally sound as of last week and recommending that it's safe to go inside," he said.
This means it will be much easier to secure vendors to go do work like replace the sprinkler system.
But that doesn't mean it's ready to be used as an arena, yet.
"There's different levels of occupancy. WRD, a professional engineering firm has written a letter to us advising the city that the building is safe to enter and structurally sound."
"That's a big milestone. From there it's up to the city [that is] in charge of the enforcement of the building standards within its annexed area."
"[City of Elliot Lake] building officials then have to sign off on public occupancy, meaning that we can invite the public in to use the building as its intended."
"We're going through that process with building official staff this week to get the list of what exactly do we need to do to satisfy the criteria required to enter the building."
"By the end of the week, we should have a very clear understanding of the scope items required."
Interim CAO Rob deBortoli acknowledged "the frustrations that have been endured during this process in terms of people wanting to know when you can get in the arena."
"The reason we haven't come forward with a firm date is because we ourselves are unsure right now."
"We don't want to be making false - creating false hopes or promises. And we want to make sure that we know and fully understand what needs to be done there before we try to estimate a date where the facility will reopen," he added.