Georgina green lights project management firm for MURC despite objections

Yorkregion.com
September 20, 2018
Heidi Reidner

Council voted unanimously last week to award Mississauga-based Colliers Project Leaders Inc. a $543,653, five-year contract to manage the Multi-Use Recreational Complex project despite objections from residents, who want the brakes put on process for the $35-million facility.

“Why are we in a rush to award this contract when it may not be necessary?” Jackson’s Point resident Cliff Williams asked in one of many deputations to council regarding the matter Sept. 12.

Williams said it makes more sense to wait for discussions with the YMCA of Greater Toronto to determine what would be feasible under a potential partnership with the town regarding the facility.

He also says the town should wait until after the Oct. 22 municipal election so the new council would be in place to explore various options.

That would allow for more meaningful engagement with both the public and the YMCA, which has been a major bone of contention for residents critical of the town’s process to date.

They charge the town is spending money as if the project is a done deal while most taxpayers do not want to fund the Multi-Use Recreational Complex (MURC).

In addition, they question why council would spend millions of taxpayer funds, then create a $600,000 per year projected deficit, if there is an alternative option, such as the YMCA, which could build, own and staff the facility.

The town’s manager of capital initiatives, Terry Alyman, said awarding the contract is the next “sequential step” in a five-year process, with Colliers acting as “quarterback” to a whole host of elements from predesign work to post construction.

He said the town could potentially “recoup” the project management fee depending upon the dynamics within the project and nature of any agreement with the YMCA.

Without the benefit of an actual discussion on the matter, however, it would be difficult to answer definitively if the town would save half a million dollars by letting the YMCA manage the project under a partnership, he added.

“We know in general that the YMCA is not able to project manage, build and operate a YMCA facility or otherwise they would be here currently. When they approach a municipality in partnership capacity, that capacity is to leverage municipal funding to the greatest extent possible,” he said.

Even if the YMCA were to assume project management, there would be “expected recoveries,” he added.

Alyman said public engagement regarding the MURC project is addressed through the 2014 Recreational Facility Needs Study and consultations that will be held once a primary design consultant is hired next year.

“What’s clearly established, at this point, is the town’s need for an aquatic facility, gymnasium, a youth centre, seniors centre and library branch. Those are the elements, but what shape and form and how they work together will be considered during that process.”

Colliers will manage the MURC project from September 2018 until June of 2022, which is one year past the projected opening of the facility.

That is tentatively scheduled for June 2021.

Under the town’s current timeline, June 2020 is the anticipated construction date.

Hiring a project manager for the MURC “lays the foundation” for the next council so it can “hit the ground running”, Mayor Margaret Quirk said, adding the move does not preclude discussions with the YMCA.

Taking the lead on project management rather than leaving it to a third party is a prudent move for the town, Ward 4 Coun. Frank Sebo said.

“The bottom line is, it is still a municipal facility.”

The $543,653 is covered under the $2 million allocated under the project's capital budget in 2017. The remaining funds will go to architectural and design costs that will be tendered at a future date.