Council approves location and concept for town hall

Jeff Helsdon, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After discussing several concepts and locations in the past 18 months, Tillsonburg council settled on renovating the existing Customer Service Centre at 10 Lisgar Ave for a new town hall at Monday’s meeting.

Total estimated cost is $5.69 million, with an upside limit of $6 million. Council passed a motion to direct staff to execute an agreement with Paulsan Construction of Brantford to complete the project.

The project will be completed without increasing taxes.

“It does not affect the levy. This has been going on since 2016, and it’s time,” Mayor Deb Gilvesy said after the decision was made.

The road to reach this goal has been a long one that started nearly a decade ago, with recent efforts intensifying. A committee to look at a new town hall was formed during the last term of council. More recently, this council approved demolition of the existing building at 10 Lisgar Ave and the construction of a new building that could cost as much as $18 million in July 2024. However, a month later, when complications were found with building a new two-storey structure on the site, the search was on for an alternative location.

Town-owned property on Harvey Street and the former Peavey Mart store were considered before council asked for options to renovate the existing Customer Service Centre last August. A motion was also passed that construction of a new town hall wouldn’t commence until the sale of existing town assets covered half of the costs.

After receiving direction from council at the Aug. 11 meeting, staff looked into possible renovations to the existing Customer Service Centre. It was determined a design-build contract was the best way to move forward. Four design-build contractors from Tillsonburg and area were approached to submit bids. Senior town staff reviewed the bids and determined the proposal from Paulsan Construction was the best. The criteria used to evaluate the proposals included the contractor’s experience, design and innovation, and schedule and cost.

The first phase of the project is to convert the rear bay into office space to accommodate town staff currently working at 55 Brock Street East. The estimated budget for the first phase, expected to take eight months, is $1.1 million and includes renovations, furnishings, relocation costs, and IT.

Phase two is larger, will take 14 months and cost $3.06 million. It will involve transforming the front bay and mezzanine area of the existing Customer Service Centre into council chambers, offices, public washrooms, a new public entrance and a customer service counter. The existing customer service entrance will be removed.

The third phase encompasses renovating existing offices. It will take about four months and cost $412,370.

As part of the investigation, staff looked at the $3.57 million in capital upgrades planned for the Customer Service Centre over the next 10 years. Some of these expenditures, such as flooring, will be addressed during the renovations. Other items, such as HVAC, roofing, and windows, will be done during the renovations. This will result in a net savings of $1.4 million over the original capital upgrades cost, and is included in the $5.69 million price.

The report also identified the possibility of future expansion by closing PUC alley and, to a small degree, towards Lisgar Ave.

During the presentation at Monday’s meeting, it was emphasized council should move ahead with this project to bring staff in one location, create better efficiency as well as take advantage of the current conditions with a downturn in construction and favourable market conditions.

Explaining the financing, Director of Finance/Treasurer Renato Pullia said $3.2 million of the cost would be put into a 30-year debenture. The resulting annual payments would be less than the rent the town paid for the former offices in the mall, which were still carried forward in the budget.

“Therefore, the cost of the debt would be undertaken in the existing budgeted amount without an impact to taxation,” he said. “It is hoped though that additional land sales could be able to further reduce the amount of debt taken on the project.”

Coun. Pete Luciani, who was on the building committee during the last term of council, said, “It’s nice to see this project moving forward, and moving forward quickly. It looks like a great solution. One of my concerns when I first read the report was room for expansion, but it’s nice we have scope and an option to close the alley if we want to expand out.”

Deputy Mayor Dave Beres questioned whether the debenture was open and if further money could be paid down on it from future land sales.

Pullia answered that once the debenture is issued, it’s locked in. He explained potential land sales would be identified before the debenture is issued.