Municipal officials are expressing concern about the cloud of misinformation that has enveloped the Chatham-Kent Community Hub project.
CK Mayor Darrin Canniff, CAO Michael Duben, Chief Financial Officer Gord Quinton, and lead architect Dan Amicone spoke to members of the media at the Civic Centre on Wednesday, to outline a recently released municipal report that breaks down the cost assessments for the Hub project.
During the meeting, Quinton pushed back against ongoing efforts to share false statements and misinformation regarding the cost of the project.
“I’ve been falsely quoted on an anti-hub website by [area resident] John Cryderman saying that I support… staying at this Civic Centre. John sent that out to the media and various residents last week,” said Quinton. “The quote was actually related to a past report of January 13, 2020 where administration, including myself, highly recommended an $18.1 million renovation to the current Civic Centre. [This was] before the Sears building was available and before council directed us to investigate that.”
The new municipal report estimates the total cost of the Community Hub project at just under $53 million, which would be fully funded through existing municipal infrastructure reserves and a debenture with no impact on property taxes.
“As CFO, I recommend it, because it can be afforded entirely within current budgets with no tax increases,” said Quinton. “We have planned ahead for the replacement of aging assets… So there are no tax increases because of this construction project and there’s no closures of other rural infrastructure because of this project either.”
A member of Chatham-Kent Council has also spoken out about misinformation but claims it’s those in favour of the Hub who are providing false statements.
“Strip away some of the rhetoric and misinformation continuously spread by some of the proponents of this unnecessary move and the bottom line is just that we cannot afford this,” Ward 6 Councillor Alysson Storey said in a now-edited post on her social media accounts
When asked about her online comments, Storey told CKXS News that the spread of misinformation is always “dangerous.”
“As a councillor, I want to make sure accurate information is available so I make sure everything I share publicly comes right from a council report,” she said.
However, Storey claimed that several reports shared by CK administration have continuously spread misinformation.
“There are items that do not reflect the reality of the cost, that continue to be used in these documents,” Storey said. “I think one of the biggest pieces of misinformation that has continued to be shared is the $37 million for the Civic Centre [renovations].”
As part of the detailed design report released on Wednesday, administration completed a high-level cost comparison of the Hub project, and renovating the existing Civic Centre, museum and library buildings. According to the report, completing the necessary lifecycle renovations to the current Civic Centre would cost an estimated $37 million.
Quinton said the numbers provided in the report are factual and have been independently verified by cost accountants.
“The CK Community Hub project has been fully costed, it’s financially sound, and it’s for the benefit of all residents across Chatham-Kent,” said Quinton.
Storey, whose grandfather was the architectural designer for the Civic Centre in the 1970s, said there are “differences of opinion on who is spreading information” about the project.
Mayor Canniff told reporters on Wednesday that the spread of misinformation by municipal officials is “not acceptable.”
“It’s very concerning for me that [some members of] council are stepping up and undermining the process. We should all be objective with what we’re looking at and looking to say ‘what’s best for the public,'” said Canniff. “We just need to focus on the facts and, certainly, we are going to work very hard to make sure the community knows the exact facts of this.”
CK administration will present the Community Hub report to council during its next meeting on May 12 with a recommendation to move to the next phase of the project. The full report can be viewed on the Let’s Talk Chatham-Kent website by clicking here.