By Sheldon Spackman

Capital Improvements

Council approves washroom renovations for downtown library

Feb 19, 2021 | 1:11 PM

Red Deer city council has authorized the addition of washroom renovations to the downtown library’s current HVAC project.

The approval given on Tuesday allows for any unspent grant money from the City of Red Deer earmarked for the project, to be allocated towards the washroom renovations.

In 2020, council approved a capital request of $350,000 to complete the much needed HVAC replacement at the downtown branch.

Then, in early 2021, RDPL received notification that they were successful in receiving $307,316 in Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grants from the Alberta government towards the project. Because of this grant, a portion of funds provided from the City of Red Deer for the project are expected to remain unspent.

According to city officials, the washroom renovations can still be completed within the already approved capital grant from the City.

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However, per terms of the 2020 Capital Agreement, the library would be required to return the approximately $240,000 of all unspent funds from the HVAC and washroom renovation project to the City of Red Deer.

Sarah Tittemore, General Manager of Community Services at the City of Red Deer, notes the library’s HVAC project is not yet complete.

“They’re just asking to redirect any unspent dollars from the HVAC project to the downtown washrooms,” she explains. “So it’s not a complete change in scope, it’s an addition to the scope to add the washrooms in. So there is still some cost to come in on the HVAC and that’s why the amount has that variance.”

Officials say RDPL has identified their public washrooms at the downtown branch as a priority to be upgraded, modernized, and made more accessible for all users of the library. In order to do this, however, a change in scope approval from council was required.

The washroom renovations are expected to make their facilities more user friendly with increased accessibility, and include the application of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles, while addressing plumbing and sewer issues as well.

“They (RDPL) want to address first and foremost, the plumbing issues that are happening there, and then of course, proceed with renovations of fixtures, faucets and any other CPTED requirements that are required in that area,” remarks Tittemore. “That said, they believe the project will be much more than the $240,000 that remains, and they have intention to apply for grants for that.”

As a clause of the Capital Agreement between the City and RDPL, the library is expected to use its best reasonable efforts to apply for applicable grants from other sources to offset the capital construction costs to the City of Red Deer.

City officials say RDPL has previously been extremely successful in finding and obtaining additional funding sources outside of the City of Red Deer to help offset the costs of their capital projects, primarily through provincial and federal grants.