The facilities department of the Town of Canmore is not quite meeting expectations for repair of the municipality’s tens of millions of dollars worth of structures and buildings or keeping up with the number of new projects approved by council in this year’s capital budget.
The Town of Canmore’s facilities department is responsible for the project management of operational and capital projects each year and maintains 42 buildings; over 20 sites over a total 330,000 square feet that are valued at more than $160 million, with a staff of 25 full-time equivalent positions.
But this year, the department has struggled to deliver on capital projects and administration is recommending a cut of $90,000 to the department’s regular annual contracted services budget next year for smaller repair projects because it does not have the capacity to complete the work at this time.
One of the main reasons for the department’s struggle to deliver on capital projects has been the fact it has had staffing issues – including the quick departure early this year of a project manager hired at the end of 2015 to oversee the capital budget list – according to CAO Lisa de Soto.
De Soto told the finance committee in September the position was actually filled last year, but the person who took the job soon gave their notice.
“Facilities hired a dedicated project manager last year,” deSoto said. “But they resigned early in 2016. They were hired to deliver capital projects. We do have a new project manager hired and starting on all these projects.”
The issue came up because a progress report on 2016-approved capital projects was presented to council. For the facilities department, of 12 projects approved in the capital budget for completion this year, only two have been completed and the rest are delayed due to “staff turnover.”
In total, 10 projects the facilities department’s project manager was supposed to oversee have been delayed due to turnover, according to the staff report presented in September.
The report stated the projects have not yet been started, but are planned to be initiated before the end of the year, with completion expected in 2017.
Those projects include a HAZMAT study ($50,000); server room relocation ($200,000); Rec Centre renovation design work ($915,000); Civic Centre mechanical system replacement ($40,000); a power upgrade to the downtown visitor information centre ($30,000); improved access to the waterslide at Elevation Place ($40,000); storage improvement at the fire hall ($8,000); an exterior restoration of the Civic Centre ($45,000); Union Hall safety upgrades ($20,000) and public works priority items ($220,000).
Three of them, however, had to be included in the 2017 capital budget because they have not been initiated yet in 2016 – the public works building project, tourism building and Elevation Place slide access.
Meanwhile, the 2017 operating budget proposed cuts to the facilities budget for repair and maintenance as well – also the result of a lack of resources in the department. De Soto explained at the Nov. 8 finance committee meeting the department has not been historically spending the amount allocated.
“Typically, we have not been spending that budget,” she said.
Fark, who oversees the facilities department, said administration’s concern about being able to deliver on projects has been over having sufficient resources to oversee all the contracted suppliers needed to deliver on repairs.
Fark said the department in 2017 would focus on prioritizing repair projects to do more crucial work first and have facility technicians manage the contracted work, of which there is still a $733,000 budget proposed, even with a $90,000 cut proposed.
“From an occupational health and safety perspective, we are required to outsource this work to qualified professionals,” he added.
Repair and maintenance projects that are considered in the operational budget are those that are below $10,000 – otherwise they are considered a capital project.
The department has completed several major projects in 2016 for the capital plan, including demolition of a house on Ninth Street behind artsPlace to create more parking, and the decommissioning of the kennel at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Work to repair a vapour barrier deficiency with the construction company that built Elevation Place, however, remains an ongoing project for the department despite an initial project time estimate of six weeks earlier this summer.
The department has completed the deficiency work with the general contractor that constructed artsPlace, completed redevelopment of the pool at the Rec Centre and reconstructed the fire hall after its offices were damaged in a fire.
In 2017, the capital budget proposes eight facilities projects, including replacing a floor cleaner at the Rec Centre ($15,000); a portable washroom ($90,000); replacement of a washer and dryer at the Fire Hall ($15,000); a spatial needs design for the Rec Centre ($20,000); spatial needs implementation for the Public Works building ($55,000); installation of solar power at the Civic Centre ($190,000) and additional cold storage at the Rec Centre ($15,000).
The biggest project by far expected in the next five years by the department is a $10.3 million lifecycle maintenance project proposed for the Rec Centre in 2018.
