After hearing of the benefits to the aquaplex, town council voted in favour of a new roof.
A special meeting was held Sept. 19 at Hudson Green Nature and Activity Centre where town council heard from Colin Roggeveen, construction engineer with RPM Consulting.
This meeting was called after council tabled a request last week that saw the price jump to $630,000 from the estimated $370,000.
Roggeveen suggested the cost could actually be done for a total of $511,453 by Knights Roofing. This cost includes roofing construction and mechanical work at almost $450,000 as well as a 10 per cent contingency fund. The rest comes from the engineering fee to oversee the work.
This price showed a big difference over the quote provided the week before. Roggeveen first clarified that the original estimate of $370,000 was with a membrane — Duro Last — that has a warranty of one year. The caveat on that is it would not be certified by ARCA (Alberta Roofing Contractors Association), plus it isn’t the right type of membrane for this pool.
Coun. Carla Prediger asked about the warranty/reliability of the new roof and Roggeveen replied with the ARCA certification there is strong support from the agency to ensure issues get fixed.
This group ensures companies under its association follow a proper set of roof construction standards.
“It’s not a water shedding roof. It has a membrane system on it to protect it,” said Roggeveen of the state of the roof.
There is some blistering on the roof due to water being trapped and the roof blisters, which also adds to the replacement costs. “The older it gets the easier it is to blister.”
Along the edge of the roof, the insulation has completely failed with sediment and has become soft in areas, said Roggeveen.
With a new roof, these issues, among the many due to the aged roof, will be fixed. It will be sealed completely and the moisture barrier will be completely protected.
Roggeveen says the roof does not currently meet current building code standards.
Also sloped polyethylene will be placed along the edge to help with drainage. Add to that the new roof is going to be white – which helps reduce heat in the summer – and the insulation will help with cooling and heating costs in the winter.
“So now we’ll have a roof. Let’s talk about the rest of the building,” stated Mayor Rick Bonnett.
He says with this new roof having a relatively long life span, how does the actual building fair?
Roggeveen says there will need to be work done in several areas over the next five to 10 years. Full costs are unknown at this time.
“It’s an aging structure. There’s hasn’t been a lot of money put into it over the years,” said Colin of the maintenance, adding that it’s getting close to its age limit as a pool in the next 10 to 15 years.
The town could use the building for an alternate purpose but might not be investing in a pool. It would be investing into a building for a different use, offered Roggeveen.
Coun. Teri Underhill wanted to know about the guarantee of the November completion date as set in the request. She referred to inclement weather and pointed out the longer it takes the more expensive it gets.
If a contractor fails to do the work, the town is entitled to recover the damages, replied Roggeveen.
Coun. Loanna Gulka suggests the question that should be asked is, “What is council’s priority?”
“It’s my understanding that user-ship is up,” said Gulka.
“At this point we have a facility that’s up and running but needs some work,” added Coun. Marc Yaworski.
Prediger pointed out that council’s concern was about where the money is coming from.
Wes Amendt, director of community services, said the recommendation is to take the additional $140,000 needed to complete the work could come from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative funds not being used at the Ponoka Culture and Recreation Complex.
He says much of the work has been done there and the compressors at the arena, while about 18 years old, can last for about 30 years.
“Provided you continue your maintenance,” added Roggeveen.
“We’ve been going along and it’s purring just fine,” said Amendt of the newly rebuilt compressor.
Council voted unanimously to replace the aged roof. Construction is expected to start soon with a tentative schedule of substantial completion estimated at Nov. 17 and final completion set for Nov. 30.