Recommended facility upgrades come with $100 million price tag

News — 25 August 2010

The City of Dryden is looking at a price tag of almost $100 million dollars over the next twenty years to complete the proposed Corporate Facilities Master Plan.

Nick Coucill of Stantec Consulting made a presentation to mayor and council at the August 23 regular council meeting to outline the results of the investigations on each city facility.

The Public Works facility came back with the highest percentage of challenges and a recommendation by the Coucill to replace the entire structure with a new one, on a larger piece of land. This undertaking would come with a price tag of approximately $23 million.

The current site for Public Works is housed on approximately nine acres of land, with the recommended size being between twelve and fifteen acres.

Other areas of concern are the DMTS retail and warehouse facilities, as well as the recreation centre. Although the consultants like the space and location of the current recreation facility, they suggest that the buildings condition is in desperate need of repair, and will cost the city much more than its worth to maintain over the next twenty years.

The majority of the other city structures were in acceptable condition, including the childcare centre, the library and the museum. Some renovations were recommended to City Hall to bring the space up to a more usable environment, with some movement of offices within the building.

Stantec has recommended purchasing the Learning Centre on the corner of Duke and Earl to help facilitate the space necessities for the City of Dryden. The consultants plans would be to move the DMTS retail as well as the City Building and Planning departments to the first floor of the Learning Centre, with the Dryden Development Corporation taking up residence on the second floor.

Although the price tag is steep, council agrees that some changes need to made in the following years.

By Ally Dunham

Related News

Council votes to retain DMTS

By Ally Dunham City council voted 6-1 in favour of a resolution to support a Growth and Retain Strategy created behind closed doors for Dryden Municipal Telephone System (DMTS) and Dryden ...

DMTS seeks board

Dryden Municipal Telephone System (DMTS) feels it’s time to add some assistance to running its day-to-day operations. DMTS and City managers went to council on August 9, 2010 to recommend the ...

Fractured: City council struggling to find common ground on issues

By Chris Marchand In his 11 years on Dryden City Council, Brian Collins says he has never experienced a level of tension anywhere close to what he feels in council chambers ...

To the editor:

City councillor Mike Wood, announced his resignation at a Dec. 19 meeting of city council. Observer File photo

Mike Wood resigns from Dryden City Council

By Ally Dunham Councillor Mike Wood announced his official resignation from the city board at the Regular Meeting of Council on Dec. 19. January 21, 2012 will mark the end of his ...

Is it none of your business?

So this week’s hot-button poll issue was a bit of a stunt on our part. Continually touted as a local taxpayer asset, I’ve always had a great deal of trouble with ...

OBSERVER POLL: Should the city sell DMTS?

EDITORIAL Is it none of your business? So this week’s hot-button poll issue was a bit of a stunt on our part. Continually touted as a local taxpayer asset, I’ve always had a ...

DMTS names Hoey interim CEO

Over the past six weeks, Acting City Manager Linda McNaughton and the DMTS Management Team have worked diligently with Eamon Hoey and Ron Pickett of Hoey Associates Management Consultants Inc. on an ...

City launches DMTS operational review

City of Dryden Mayor Craig Nuttall says the city is hiring a firm to launch a complete operational review of the Dryden Telephone department.“With the telephone now, there’s so much ...

The Kenora District Municipal Association staged its annual general meeting in Sioux Lookout, Feb. 2-4. Photo by Chris Marchand

First Nations relations important theme at KDMA meeting

By Chris Marchand Woven throughout last week’s Kenora District Municipal Association annual general meeting was the theme of creating social and economic dividends through closer ties between the region’s native and ...