SOUTH DUNDAS – Working with an extremely tight timeline, the township council has agreed to sole source a contract to repair structural problems with the Morrisburg Arena.
The municipality had been the recipient of a $315,000 Ontario Trillium Foundation grant to replace the concrete slab at the 28 Ottawa Street arena.
But, during an architectural review, structural problems were uncovered with the concrete beams. The unexpected but needed repair has to be done first, before the slab can be replaced.
Facing a window of only a few weeks between the trade show (April 21-22) and the hockey season starting in September, council decided to fast-track the fix to the arena columns.
If not, the township would have had to hand back the $315,000 to the OTF.
In a recorded vote during the April 18, 2017 meeting, council voted 3-2 to hire Porter’s Historical Restorations Inc. to repair the columns and eaves troughs.
Couns. Marc St. Pierre and Bill Ewing were the dissenting votes.
The work, which is estimated to be around $75,000, was expected to start last week.
The contract to replace the slab will close on Monday (May 8).