BARRHEAD - The County of Barrhead is trying to ease the burden of community groups that operate community halls.
This is why councillors awarded a maximum $16,000 contract to Jiffy Construction to conduct building condition assessments of the 14 community during their Oct. 17 meeting.
The funds will come from the Community Organizational Reserve.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun said during the municipality's public engagement sessions with community hall representatives, in a prelude to creating the municipality's Community Hall Strategy, community boards stated that they would like assistance in determining the overall health of their buildings, saying without the information, it is challenging to decide on whether the organization is still viable.
"One of the ways to find that information is through a building condition assessment report," Oyarzun said, adding they then started researching ways to get that information to the community hall boards. "What we want is for a company to do a high-level visual assessment and review to determine if there are any urgent repairs that are needed and what immediate upgrades are needed and give an estimated lifespan of the building and its major components and potential costs of the work."
To save costs to the county and the community hall associations, Oyarzun said public works staff and Barrhead Regional Fire Services (BRFS) could perform some of the work inspecting such things as mechanical and electrical systems and looking at features such as driveway approaches and baseball diamonds.
The county requested quotes from 13 local contracting and construction firms. Two replied: Jiffy Construction and Quattro Homes (QMS Ltd).
Jiffy Construction quoted $1,000 for the four small community halls and $1,200 for the 10 larger halls. QMS quoted a flat rate of $1,200 per hall, regardless of size. If all the halls opt in, Jiffy Construction's quote narrowly beat their competition by $800.
"There are a couple of community halls that are talking about potentially dissolving, so they might not want or need to participate," Oyarzun said.
Coun. Pau Properzi asked if the report(s) would be public, saying some community hall organizations are worried such reports could impact their insurance coverage.
Oyarzun said the reports would only be given to the community hall associations by request.
Council began working on a strategy to determine ways the municipality could assist county not-for-profit organizations in ensuring their community halls remain viable in the spring of 2022 after the Camp Creek community hall organization asked for help developing a strategy to replace their community hall following the sale of their property for $1.5 million to Pembina Pipelines.
The county is holding the funds for the organization for two years in an interest-bearing trust account, after which the funds, upon approval of the Camp Creek organization, can be used for a recreational purpose that benefits county residents.
If the Camp Creek organization does not approve of the plans for the funds, the county will return the money, including all interest.
