He asked them acknowledging that the project has put the municipality and council in an “uncomfortable” situation—a situation that has had the community questioning the municipality’s competency and transparency.
The library has been a hot topic in the community for nearly a year. The last reported budget increase was in July, when the project reached $8.5 million—a million dollars over its original budget.
The increases were the cause of attempting to upgrade and expand an old building to make it new.
Until the last few weeks, there had been a shroud of silence around the library project for months. But then council received a third party review, May 7, that says the air and vapour barriers installed on the old library roof are inferior in material and articulation, and that to rectify the issue, the roof must be removed.
Council’s silence up to this point was to protect the municipality as the architect, builder and municipality came to an agreement on the issues with the building. Some silence will continue as the liability for those issues is sorted out in the weeks and months to come.
To answer the mayor’s questions, Heather Bretz of Stantec said it’s difficult to give advice because with every project there are surprises.
“There was some unknowns that no one could have anticipated,” she said. “Every city and every construction project does run into those unknowns.
“There is always risk with construction and that’s unavoidable.”
Although that likely wasn’t the answer Ireland was looking for, at least he asked the question.
It seems that’s what the municipality is trying to do these days, ask the questions that matter. The organization might not be getting all the answers it wants, but it’s seeking them out.
It’s asking the community how it wants to be engaged in the future, so a comprehensive Public Engagement Policy can be developed to benefit Jasperites from all walks of life.
It’s reviewing how it provides services and asking how to do that better. It asked staff, council, Parks Canada and community groups how it can improve and now a comprehensive services and structural review is complete and available to the public for review.
Not everything in the review is complimentary or flattering, but now that it’s complete, the municipality can continue asking questions and continue to improve the way it does business.
At 12 years old, the Municipality of Jasper is in its infancy, and there’s no denying there have been plenty of growing pains along the way, but at least today’s council and administration are asking the questions that need to be asked and opening their ears to the answers.
Jasper has much to gain from such an approach and such a willingness to grow.
