Weyburn city council approved the tender and plans for a $4.7 million new fleet building that will start construction this summer, to replace the 100-year-old roundhouse building that currently houses the City’s public works equipment. Council met on Monday evening in the council chambers for the first time in nearly three months.

Council approved the tender from Dura Construction of $3.61 million to construct the building, and with taxes, professional fees and a contingency fund, the total budget for the building is $4,747,425.

The City had originally budgeted $5 million for this project, so administrators are happy that this project will come in lower than expected.

To help pay for the new building, the City is receiving a grant of $1,562,328 through the Municipal Economic Enhancement Program from the provincial government, which provides per capita funding to municipalities to support infrastructure projects.

The balance of the funding will be self-financed, as the City will provide an internal loan of $3,185,097.

The roundhouse is over a century old and was used by the CP Railway as a locomotive shop, but it is now failing, with sections of the building blocked off as being unsafe for City employees. The City had determined in 2013 that the building was at the end of its lifespan.

The old building has 16,000 square feet of space, but the new building will be more than double that size with 33,578 sq.ft. of space, room to house 44 pieces of equipment.

The new fleet storage building is designed to allow for ease of access of equipment, and will include a dedicated work room, wash bay and open flex space for use as required. It will be a steel pre-engineered building with the option for expansion to handle 60 pieces of equipment, and is designed to stand for 50 years.

Construction will begin in July to the west of the fire hall-public works building, with completion slated for March of 2021.

• In other council business, there were also tenders approved for water-wastewater infrastructure projects, and for paving, to be done in the City this summer.

The projects include five hydrant replacements, five street valve replacements, six sewer service connection replacements, 15 manholes refurbished, and six catch basin repairs and installations.

The hydrant replacements, street valve replacements and manhole refurbishments was awarded to Jordan Excavating of Regina, the sewer service connections was awarded to Advanced Sewer Restoration of Weyburn, and the catch basin repairs will be done by Torrent Energy Services of Weyburn.

There are four paving projects set for this year, including repairs of First Avenue SE following a watermain installation; rehabilitation of the main runway at the Weyburn Airport; paving of the service road from Third Street in to the Soo Line Museum, and paving of trails in the Tatagwa Parkway.

The paving of First Avenue SE and the museum road was awarded to Genco Asphalt of Estevan, and ASL Paving was awarded the airport runway project and the trails paving.

• City council was given an update on the construction of the Weyburn Recreation and Culture Centre (WRCC), with project estimated to be at 65 per cent completed as of Monday.

According to Leisure Services director Andrew Crowe, the project remains on time and on budget, with little to no delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, other than a delay for some items from suppliers. The facility is on track for opening in September of 2021, along with the Legacy Park Elementary School.

Since the last update provided in March, a number of milestones have been achieved on the project, including the excavation and base work for the new outdoor rink, interior concrete slabs, masonry block wall inside and outside, the exterior wall panel, indoor synthetic floor base, and rough-ins for electrical equipment and mechanical equipment.

Crowe noted that the exterior metals are nearing completion, and coming up will be the exterior earth work, such as grading and rough landscaping; parking lot construction and paving; exterior building closed in, interior mechanical, electrical and HVAC installations, interior framing and wall installations and interior windows and other finishes.

The update included a number of items that the City took out of the construction contract, specifically related to some of the features of the WRCC.

These include the board package for the new outdoor rink, which is out for tender; the indoor play and climb equipment, the multi-sport simulator; spectator bleachers (which have been purchased); score clocks (which have been purchased); the multi-purpose room equipment purchase; pottery studio equipment (purchased); art gallery equipment, office furniture and building maintenance equipment, all to be purchased; sound and security components, and other miscellaneous equipment.