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Curling Club renovations - “if you take the roof off, you have to fix it” says Mayor

McCarrick said the districts only other option was “to take the building down.”
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TYSON WHITNEY PHOTO Renovations done on the Fort Rupert Curling Club came in at $260,000.

The Fort Rupert Curling Club has a brand new roof and the estimated final cost for the entire project came in at $260,000.

While the cost ballooned from an earlier quote of $130,600, Chief Administrative Officer Allison McCarrick said once the roof was torn off they found an area “where there must have been some work done in the past, and it wasn’t structurally sound. When they (contractors) looked at it, there were some large beams that had to be put in from one end of the rink to the other end.”

She added extra money was also spent on things like “flashing, and inside there was some interior work that we had done by Parrs Construction, and plus they put lights in the lounge area — we also had the place cleaned up, because there was a lot of grit and dirt in the building. By the time that was all done we were up to $240,000, but the structural support was what cost the most money and the time it took to put it in was significant.”

McCarrick said the districts only other option was “to take the building down — and if you liken it to an infrastructure like our current pool, it would cost $560,000 to demolish it.”

She added the district has a lot of infrastructure that’s currently aging, and “it’s important for council to make Port Hardy a very social place to live, recreational activities are a big part of that.”

The district used money from the General Capital Reserve Fund to pay for the curling club’s renovations.

McCarrick said they were “very lucky to have sold the Seaplane Base, so we did have a little bit of money tucked away there… over the years, if there’s a surplus, then that money also goes into the fund.”

Port Hardy Mayor Hank Bood remarked at the district’s last council meeting that while the project obviously went over budget, “when you take the roof off you have to fix it.”

He stated later in a subsequent interview that council and staff have “worked hard to put this town in a pretty good financial position, and every now and again when you’re working on things, there’s a really big surprise you don’t see coming. I’ve been in that curling club a lot, and I was totally in favour of it (the repairs).”

Bood added that in hindsight, “we should have done this years ago… I’m really happy with the trend going on at the curling club right now. Membership is going up, young people with young families are coming out to play, and it’s a very optimistic scenario this town is moving toward.”

The Curling Club Society has made applications to the Gaming Commission for monetary assistance.

“Announcements for the grant will be made at the end of December,” said McCarrick, adding the grant is for money “up to $100,000, which would then be paid back to district.”



Tyson Whitney

About the Author: Tyson Whitney

I have been working in the community newspaper business for nearly a decade, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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