WELLINGTON COUNTY — County council is proceeding with the next steps of two public works garage replacements – but not without pushback.
Approved at a Thursday morning meeting, a report on the replacements said staff are ready to hire an architect for the Brucedale and Erin public works garage replacements- recommending the committee retain Grinham Architects, as they were used for the county's last three garage replacement projects and have "a detailed understanding" of the community's needs.
While supported by most county councillors, Coun. Mary Lloyd and Coun. Diane Ballantyne voted against the motion, saying there are "more important" places for the county's money to go and suggesting the replacements be pushed back a couple of years.
The Erin garage is currently anticipated to cost $18.2 million and the Brucedale garage is scheduled to come in at $21.7 million.
"Not saying that a garage at some point in the future isn't needed for the working conditions of our staff as well as the betterment of road safety...but given the particular circumstances that we are now facing... (I think) it's something we should take a pause on and push off for a year or two." said Ballantyne.
Coun. James Seeley disagreed- saying the garages have gone through a lengthy review process and pulling the plug or delaying at the eleventh hour will only drive up costs.
"These employees need new facilities- the snow plows don't fit," said Seeley. "It's time to do (the garages) and unfortunately it's going to be expensive."
Commenting on how the current garages "pre-date the Beatles," Coun. Jeff Duncan said the high costs are worth it if the base service they provide to the county's road infrastructure is considered.
"The town of Erin is growing...the population is going to need those garages. We want to have infrastructure in place like we're doing with the Erin Library before the population arrives," said Duncan.
Coun. Chris White agreed, saying that, unlike other projects, where funding can be outsourced, the county is directly responsible for funding its infrastructure improvements.
"We are going to have to make some hard decisions even on the core services we're providing," said White. "There's going to be trade-offs, even with the bridges. So we need to be very careful where we go here."
Acknowledging her fellow county councillors points, Ballantyne said it's important to remember what the township values and what they believe a successful community looks like.
"I understand that the garages are old. I understand that the communities are growing. But I also would like to put forward that it's not the only need that we have and this is an awful lot of taxpayers' dollars," said Ballantyne.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
