Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Council Awards Tender

By a vote of 5 to 1 council awarded a tender to Norlon Builders London Ltd to build the Pyramid Center. Councillors Cunningham, Edney, Luna, Teahen and Symons voted for the motion, Councillor Osbourne opposed, Mayor Winter was on vacation in Arizona.

The notion of St Marys Council deciding the best contractor to build the pool and the ice rink was not discussed. Separate Contracts for Pool and Ice Rink outlines that project architect Bob Prince wanted to present council with bids for each of
the major elements of the Pyramid Recreation Centre.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Tenders

The tenders for the construction of the Pyramid Recreation Centre were announced today. The contractors and their bids were:
Norlon Builders (London) $11,672,607
Southside Group (London) 12,238,000
Melloul-Blamey Construction (Waterloo) 12,290,000
Reid & Deleye Contractors (Courtland) 12,417,762
K & L Construction (London) 12,502,177
M J Dixon Construction (Mississauga) 12,768,310
H.I.R.A. Ltd General Contractors (St Thomas) 13,577,101

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Cunningham Says LLP Opponents Narrow-Minded

In this week's St Marys Independent Jack Coddington writes he thinks 80% of St Marys, Ontario would vote against funding an indoor pool. Councillor Dave Cunningham opened the door to speculation on the extent of opposition to the Living Life Project at a March 28 council meeting.

In the April 5 issue of the Journal Argus Jennifer Leslie reported Councillor Cunningham as saying that in his contact with the public, he observed a 50/50 split for and against the Living Life Project. Cunningham went on to say 'People are somewhat narrow-minded and can't see the benefit of the pool'

Presumably Cunningham would include among the 'narrow-minded who can't see the benefit of the pool' the consultants St Marys Council hired to study the need and feasibility of a aquatics centre.

Monteith Brown Planning Consultants, The JF Group and MacLennon Jaunkalns Miller Architects found in their June 2005 report for St Marys Council that 'there is insufficient market demand to recommend that the Town build an indoor pool'.

The findings of the consultants can be read at ca.geocities.com/stopcouncil/mbpool.htm

Friday, June 09, 2006

$6,400 Per Household

There's a December 2004 letter from Herb & Dolores Richmond at pyramid.awardspace.com. Nothing special about the letter but
it does emphasize that ordinary St Marys Ontario citizens knew years ago that Councillor Gerry Teahen was on the wrong track with the St Marys Ontario Living Life Project.

The letter begins by saying 'We have to deal with our council. They are so one-sided that if they get their way we will never be out of debt with regards to the Living Life Project.' and ends with 'Please do not come to our home expecting a donation for the Living Life Project'

Since this letter was written Gerry Teahen has solved the problem of 'coming to homes for donations' by just adding the $16 million cost of the Living Life Project to the town's taxes for the next 20 years.

The cost to the St Marys Ontario ratepayers for the Living Life Project in round figures is quite easy to calculate. You divide LLP cost of $16,000,000 by 2500, the number of St Marys households.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Too Little Too Late From Bill Osbourne

J Queenan and Jeff Taylor have applauded St Marys Ontario Councillor Bill Osbourne for voting against the Pyramid Rec Centre (Living Life Project) but it should be noted that until recently Osbourne was one of its hardcore supporters. He did not just go along with St Marys Council he wrote opinion articles for St Marys newspapers advocating the LLP.

As early as June 9, 2004 he wrote a 'special to the Journal Argus' opinion piece. The article was about 1000 words and had the headline 'Why the CBHOF and Living Life Mission?'

He talked about the Living Life Mission Project being special event driven, that it would attract industry, bring in doctors and ended the long piece by quoting LLP Chair Rob Staffen.

While its good that Osbourne came to his senses it would have been better if it had happened a lot sooner.