Council temporarily defers quick repair to complex entrance

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Although Tillsonburg council approved the principle of repairing the concrete damage that resulted in the closure of the north entrance of the Tillsonburg Community Centre, the issue was deferred to allow for possibly fixing the stairs at the same time.

Director of Recreation, Culture and Parks Andrea Greenway told council staff tried to complete repairs following a lot of heaving in the concrete over the winter, but were unable to successfully complete the work. As a result, the north entrance was closed due to safety concerns. She suggested using $15,000 of unused funding from the Community Arena awning, which came in under budget, to fund the repairs.

“We need to move forward, preferably this year, because this entrance is closed,” she said.

Deputy Mayor Dave Beres asked how quickly the repairs could be completed, and was told it should be able to be completed fairly quickly.

Mayor Deb Gilvesy asked if the steps to that area, which she described as narrow, steep, and dangerous, could be repaired using the remaining unused funding from the awning repair.

Greenway noted that this would increase the project's costs.

Gilvesy said there is more unused funding available, so there possibly wouldn’t be a budget impact, and it’s more efficient to have the contractor fix the stairs while working on-site.

Coun. Bob Parsons raised the idea of deferring the topic so a new estimate could be created.

Coun. Kelly Spencer asked whether this could be looked into.

Greenway responded it will depend on the cost. She said she would need to talk to the building department to see what needs to be done to make the stairs safe and to meet code.

Beres countered that if the motion was deferred, the work wouldn’t get done, as there is only one council meeting in July.

Gilvesy committed to a quick special meeting of council to deal with the topic, even if it’s via Zoom.

The final action on the item was to defer it until the next council meeting.