Information was not intentionally withheld as the Village of Telkwa tries to get approval to get up to a maximum $1,000,000 loan for a new municipal building.
Instead, said deputy mayor Rimas Zitkauskas, a sudden change in the timelines forced the council to act fast, which meant some information wasn’t ready when they had intended for it to be.
“We were planning on doing a full process of information meetings and holding a referendum or a public consultation to explain to people the decision we were making,” said Zitkauskas.
What forced their hand was the arrival of a previously commissioned report. Just as the municipal employees were moving files and equipment to the fire hall — their temporary location during the peaking river flows — the report returned, saying that the existing building held such horrors as multiple kinds of mold, and bug and mice infestations.
“What happened is that once we received those reports we couldn’t ask the staff to move back in to that building.”
Everyone went into overdrive figuring out what to do next.
Zitkauskas said that the Village did have an existing offer on the meat co-op building, but council had a condition that the sale would not go through until a full consultation process had taken place with the public.
Other considerations were building an entirely new building, or moving into the community hall. The community hall option would have required extensive renovations just for a temporary location, Zitkauskas said.
They even took a look at using Atco mobile trailers but that set up wouldn’t provide all the needs they have to operate the Village.
They decided to go with a short-term loan — they can borrow on a term of five years or less without the public’s approval — and go ahead on the meat co-op location at the corner of Highway 16 and Hankin Avenue.
“It was the best solution on a situation that was imposed on us,” he said.
The next step was to get the public’s consent on a maximum $1,000,000 loan amortized over 30 years.
He said the decision was made to go with the Alternative Approval Process because it’s a less costly and quicker way to get the approval through.
The time is the important factor. He said that if council could get the approval with the loan through the AAP, that would give them a chance to get renovations done at the building this construction season.
Under the AAP, 10 per cent of electors need to submit a form saying that they are not in favour of the loan. Unless that happens the loan is effectively approved.
There have been some criticisms of the council that information that the electorate need has not been available in a timely fashion. That includes information such as a proposed budget estimate and the building plans, both information that has since been made available.
But the lack of information early in the process was not a slight to the public.
“The staff time and the resources to do a proper information mail-out to the electorate, the timelines just weren’t there and the resources weren’t there,” he said.
Council also said at earlier meetings that information such as the building plans didn’t come to them as early as they expected.
If it comes to 10 per cent of people casting their vote in opposition, then the issue will move to a full referendum.
Zitkauskas is quick to point out that even though the proposed loan is up to a maximum of $1,000,000, they hope to actually borrow less than that in the end.
With the help of their newly hired grant writer —hired through funds provided through the Northern Development Initiative Trust — they will be after a variety of funding sources, including ‘green grants’ that will help tie into proposed energy saving renovations at the building.
The decision to buy the meat co-op’s former building does keep the Village in their sustainability goals and allows them to clean up that corner, something they’ve heard many people say should happen.
“I believe that when the population and the tax payers have a chance to review the information, they’ll understand the scope of the project is not just an expense of a million dollars but its an investment and will be a catalyst to move Telkwa forward.”