A plan by the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority to spend $3 million on a renovation to its office building near Owen Sound has raised eyebrows around the Grey Highlands council table.
At its meeting on Dec. 18, Grey Highlands council received a presentation from authority representative Gloria Dangerfield about plans to renovate the authority’s administrative centre located in Georgian Bluffs just outside of Owen Sound.
“We are in great need of an update to our administrative centre,” Dangerfield explained to council. “The way we use the building has evolved greatly.”
The current building was built in the mid-1970s and is not fully accessible. It also is an open-concept split-level building, which has created difficulties for authority staff to hold private meetings.
The authority has been working on renovation plans for the building since 2018. It is planning to spend approximately $3 million on an update to the building ($2.6 million for construction and $400,000 for other items like new furniture and equipment). The initial cost of the project was $3.6 million for construction, but that authority’s board of directors found that number to be too high and made changes to reduce the cost of construction.
The authority has $800,000 - $900,000 in reserve for the project and the remainder would have to be amortized over 15 years.
Grey Highlands would face a $15,000 a year increase to its conservation authority levy to pay its share of the project.
Goals of the renovation project include:
- Making the building fully accessible.
- Improve work and meeting space
- An improved public entrance for the building, with a small addition of less than 500 square feet
- Make the building more energy efficient
- Address current issues with the roof and the skylight
“We do need this renovation. It’s past due,” said Dangerfield.
With Grey Highlands facing a tough budget year in 2025, the timing of the project raised eyebrows around the council table.
Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen asked if the conservation authority required permission from member municipalities to proceed with the project. Nielsen noted that, under new provincial rules governing conservation authorities, municipalities had the option to opt out of conservation authority programs/services not deemed mandatory.
“Does that option exist? Or does this get incorporated into the budget and it’s: “thank you very much for your participation”?” Nielsen asked.
CAO Karen Govan explained that the building renovation would be treated the same as any other conservation authority capital item. Coun. Paul Allen agreed.
“This is like when Grey Sauble buys vehicles. We don’t get to vote whether they buy a vehicle or not,” said Allen. “I’m glad they shaved a million dollars off (the price).”
Coun. Dan Wickens said he found the project “troubling.”
“If they decided to spend $20 million on a building, we’d be obliged to pay for it,” he said.
Coun. Nadia Dubyk, who represents Grey Highlands on the authority’s board of directors, said a lot of due diligence had been done on the project.
“This is not taken lightly. We know this is an additional ask for all our municipalities,” said Dubyk.
Council made no decision on the matter at the meeting. The draft 2025 budget for the conservation authority will come to its board of directors for approval on Jan. 22, 2025.
