With potentially millions of dollars of taxpayer money being spent, Chatham-Kent officials want to make sure they get the proper reports and public feedback to make the best decision on the future of the Civic Centre.
The second of two planned public engagement sessions was held at the John D. Bradley Convention Centre last night. About 30 residents attended the session, along with two Chatham-Kent councillors—Rhonda Jubenville and Alysson Storey.
The Civic Centre houses a number of Chatham-Kent municipal departments, a fire station, and council chambers.
Five options have so far been outlined for the future of the Civic Centre, they include; maintaining the status quo and address repairs and requirements as they arise, renovate existing Civic Centre with an estimated cost of $30,000,000-$35,000,000, renovate the existing Civic Centre, Library Expansion, and Cultural Centre complex, total cost estimate $38,700,00-$45,800,000, build a new Civic Centre at a new location, estimated cost $56,000,000, purchase a portion of the DCC and relocate, estimated cost $50,000,000-$55,000,000.
An online survey with a series of yes-or-no questions about the location of the Civic Centre remains open, accepting submissions until the end of this week.
Chatham-Kent chief administrative officer Michael Duben said while Chatham-Kent is looking at gathering information and feedback on the five options, but based on public feedback and opinion, there could be other options added for council to consider.
Duben said council approved spending $2 million on gathering information to do their due diligence on the future of the Civic Centre, Cultural Centre and library. To date they have spent $300,000.
Duben said he doesn’t foresee getting funding from upper levels of government to help pay for whatever council decides to do, but said the municipality has healthy reserves to fund whatever option council decides to embark on.
“No matter what option is picked, none of these are free,” Duben said, noting that naming rights for the municipal buildings is a possibility in the future to bring in revenue.
Councillor Storey said she is getting a sense from the public that many people are having concerns about the cost of the project, which depending on which option is chosen, could be between $30-$60 million.
“There is no secret that we are facing a lot of major challenges across Chatham-Kent and these are a must-do type of issues versus nice-to-do’s,” Storey said. “We really need to make sure that the decisions we are making right now can benefit the community for decades to come.”
Chatham-Kent’s general manager of community development Bruce McCallister said a report to council will be up for discussion at the October 30th council meeting.
The report will also lay out the pros and cons of all the options available for council to decide for the future of the Civic Centre, Cultural Centre, and library.
McCallister said the public has so far made their opinions known, with close to 1,000 comments made online.
A stakeholder engagement session focusing on arts, culture, and the public library was held last week.
