Wine and Art Tour

During the February 21st South Dundas council meeting, Recreation Program Coordinator Ben Macpherson recommended that council accept the recently created Charter for Active Living as a living document.

Macpherson told council that the document, created by Macpherson and Stephanie Caissie of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit, “would be an excellent opportunity to show a commitment to the health of the residents of South Dundas.”

“It would also,” he pointed out, “serve to show individuals, families, businesses and organizations looking to move into the community that the township of South Dundas is dedicated to providing their residents with every opportunity to be active and healthy.”

The charter, Macpherson said, “would clear a path to where we want to take recreation here in South Dundas.”

The charter’s stated goal: “The Township of South Dundas will improve the physical and mental well-being of its residents by encouraging families and individuals to integrate active living in their everyday life as they learn, work and play through continued education, promotion of healthy living and accessible programming.”

Deputy-Mayor Jim Locke said, “I certainly think it’s a good move.”

“It’s a good document,” said Councillor Archie Mellan, “it might inspire me to get up and get active.”

Mayor Steven Byvelds added, “I certainly concur with council. I think it links hand in hand with where we want to go as a society, which is health prevention.”

The South Dundas Charter for Active Living is printed in full in the spring/summer edition of the South Dundas Recreation Guide.

At the moment, Macpherson is looking for members of the community to form a working group for the official launch of the South Dundas Charter for Active Living, which is expected to take place sometime in late spring, possibly May.

[…]

At the May 1st South Dundas council meeting, manager of public works Hugh Garlough recommended that council accept seven tenders, each achieved through a joint tender process with the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.

The tenders included are:

• Canada Culvert for corrugated steel pipe at a cost of $6,002.76

• Maximum Signs for signs at a cost of $212.40

• Crossroads Pavement Marking for specialty pavement marking at a cost “to be determined”

• Road Last Asphalt & Sealing Maintenance Inc. for crack sealing at a cost of $18,900

• HWB Bruce Sales Inc. for blades and cutting edges at a cost of $1,298.02

• UCC Industries International Inc for perforated tubing sign posts at a cost of $1,421.25

• Denchem for dust suppressant at a cost of $64,098

Garlough told council that “the roads department feel we get a better price by tendering as a group.”

He informed council that the amounts are already accounted for in the 2012 budget. 

Quietly and without comment, council unanimously agreed to the recommendation.

[…]

 South Dundas council met with the project managers and the contractor who will be renovating the former Morrisburg Collegiate Institute November 27, at a special council meeting to better pin down the cost of the renovation of the old high school.

From the new information and small project changes outlined in a post-tender addendum document that the project team has been preparing over the last couple of months, council now knows that the cost of the renovation project will be $4,093,882.

The team has been working to find savings within the project originally tendered at $3.8 million.

They identified areas of savings through small structural changes, such as keeping an existing stairwell, the use of metal siding on a small portion of the building and changing the elevator specifications.

The document also reflected changes to the project made by council that will add costs.

Council decided that they want the brick on the entire building re-pointed for the sake of both longevity and appearance, which is an added expense.

The project managers and contractor were asked to provide council with a more accurate cost estimate for abatement costs, and within the context of that work they found some added project expenses.

“We didn’t expect the abatement costs to be that high,” said Ron Rivet of True North Group, the project managers. 

“Asbestos was the least of our worries,” he said, explaining that almost $150,000 of abatement costs will have to be spent on mitigation measures for the lead paint, which is throughout the building.

The abatement costs for the asbestos in the building will be about $34,000.

Whether the building is renovated or demolished, the municipality is on the hook for the abatement costs.

“Actually, if you demolished the building it would be a much higher cost,” said Dick Markell, president of Bourgon Construction, the contractor hired to renovate the building. He estimated that in the case of demolition, the abatement costs would likely triple.

“What you will have when we are done is a building that is pretty close to new, and in some ways better than new,” said Markell explaining, “New buildings are not designed and built like this building was built.” According to Markell, the structure of this building is much like that of a hospital.

Once Bourgon Construction gets the official go ahead from council, likely in the form of a resolution at the December 3 council meeting, they expect the project to be complete in nine to 10 months.

“The structure’s up, so the hard part is done,” said Markell. “I’m hoping to get in the ground before Christmas. Getting the services in before the frost gives us a huge jump on the project.”

The contractor was asked about the handling of hazardous material, in close proximity to a public school.

“Anything that is air borne is tarped. We have industry standards that we have to follow,” said Markell. 

“Bourgon has an excellent safety record. That’s one of the reasons we chose them for this project,” said Rivet.

[…]