The debate over the proposed renovations and transfer of the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre, the public library and the museum to the Old Sears building in downtown Chatham was reignited at Monday night's council meeting.
Ward 6 Councillor Alysson Storey firmly stood behind her motion calling for more financial oversight and transparency for the proposal, but she only managed to get one-third of it approved.
"Whatever is ultimately decided as we move forward, I believe if we receive this information along the way, that that will help us make informed decisions and fulfill our duties as councillors to ensure that we're spending our taxpayer dollars wisely and that the public is also aware," Storey said of her request for frequent updates and financial reports.
"My goal with this motion was not to debate the merits or anything like that, it was just to make sure that we're addressing some of the concerns brought forward by our residents," she added.
Storey's motion was ultimately broken down into three items.
The first called for a third-party consultant to be hired to independently verify any project-related costs. The second asked for monthly reports from municipal staff to Chatham-Kent Council detailing financial accounting and project updates. The final item requested that councillors have more time to look at any reports, financial or otherwise, ahead of public meetings.
Only the third item passed. It was a unanimous vote, 17-0. Chatham-Kent's Chief Administrative Officer, Michael Duben, agreed that staff would work to get any reports to councillors 9-14 days ahead of any public meetings, instead of 1-2 days.
The move was appreciated by many of the councillors who, despite any disagreements about the project itself, agreed that the scope of the project means there is plenty to digest and they could all use as much time as possible to sit with information.
The hiring of a third-party cost consultant was the most contentious part of the motion.
Councillor Brock McGregor was the first to question whether the move would be redundant. McGregor noted that the project already has two third-party firms on board that will closely monitor and report on finances.
"We have an architect firm that will be developing the cost estimates. You may recall, back in January we extended Nustadia's contract to include that subconsultant, their primary role will be to come up with estimates," said Edward Soldo, Chatham-Kent's general manager of infrastructure and engineering services. "Nustadia also plays a role. From a financial perspective, they'll be taking a review of those cost estimates that are provided and looking from it at a business case perspective."
Soldo added that there wouldn't just be a fee to hire another cost consultant, but that the municipality would also be required to pay for any meetings between the consultants to discuss financial matters.
Some councillors, including Ward 3's John Wright, thought the oversight could help keep ever-changing construction costs in line, but that portion of the motion failed with a vote of 6-12.
The piece of the motion asking for monthly updates ended up with a 9-9 tie, but it needed a majority to pass, so it also failed.
Administration explained during the meeting that monthly reports wouldn't make much sense, as the finances wouldn't change on a monthly basis.
"You're going to have the concept design, then a detailed design, then the outcome of the tender. That's it. There's no other financial information," Duben said.
A number of friendly amendments were offered, including changing the frequency of reporting to bi-monthly or "when new information became available", but Storey kept her original wording.
"I would have supported either one of those amendments," explained Councillor Marjorie Crew, adding that she couldn't vote in favour of the motion as it was written as she felt it was too restrictive.
"This project, as we know, has a lot of public scrutiny and a lot of public interest and if there's an opportunity to provide more information when we can, I would still like to put that forward," Storey said.
The concept design for the Old Sears building renovations is expected to come out in July.
