The Town of Peace is thrilled to announce the purchase of a new Town Hall building, marking a significant step towards enhancing the accessibility, fiscal efficiency, and overall functionality of our municipal services.
Some of you may not know that the current Town Hall was originally built as a bank! The Town took it over as our municipal office 50 years ago – and a lot has changed since then. Over the past five decades, the building was retrofitted to meet the needs of municipal government as much as possible, with many obstacles throughout the years.
Anyone who has come to visit us, or has sat in the gallery at one of our Council Meetings, knows the building can be a bit of a maze. There are numerous barriers to entry and to accessibility, and our departments have been inefficiently siloed for many years. We have managed to make it work for a long time, and have proudly called this building home, despite those challenges. However, it’s just not working anymore.
Accessibility
There is a complete lack of accessibility at the current Town Hall building, which does not provide barrier-free access and washroom accommodation. We have heard from residents in the past of their challenges, and frustration, in not being able to access the Town Hall building with their wheelchairs or other adaptive devices. Right now, for example, somebody in a wheelchair cannot physically access Council Chambers to attend Council Meetings in-person. This is wrong.
It is our duty to ensure we serve all residents to the fullest extent, regardless of ability. It is also a Provincial requirement for our Town Hall building to have “reasonable access to facilities for seniors and people with disabilities so that the same opportunities exist for everyone.” Our current building does not meet that standard.
Unfortunately, the cost to retrofit the current building to accommodate these needs would be significant. Estimates show that just the first couple of stages of increasing accessibility would cost over $650,000, and that many more upgrades would still be needed after that point, requiring significantly more investment, still. The new building is already accessible, meaning we can welcome all residents through our doors with open arms, including those with disabilities. The new building, located on Main Street, already has an elevator and is set up to accommodate all resident needs.
Emergency Preparedness
Importantly, the new building will host a dedicated and robust Emergency Coordination Centre (ECC), better preparing us to respond swiftly and effectively to any crises that arise. This is not the case in the existing building. Currently, Council Chambers are used as a less-than-ideal ECC. Chambers are not set up to accommodate an ECC appropriately, and using Council Chambers means that our elected officials are unable to access their Chambers throughout a crisis.
The new building’s dedicated ECC space is crucial for our community, given the increasing demand for coordinated responses to local and regional emergencies. As municipalities throughout Alberta have faced significant events over the past couple of years, including sizable wildfires and floods, this new building will ensure we are well situated to coordinate local emergency management efforts at a moment’s notice.
Civic Engagement
Right now, because of security issues with the current Town Hall building, the only place residents can access openly on an ongoing basis is the front counter area. This is, of course, less than ideal, as it means that staff are not always readily available or accessible to you, our residents, as you stop in. The new building will ensure faster and more efficient access to resources by our residents, as you stop in for any number of reasons.
The current customer service area is also notably tight, resulting in issues when multiple residents come in to see us at the same time. It also creates issues with privacy, with few spaces to have confidential conversations in, and little soundproofing to provide the level of confidentiality required. It is quite common that residents stop in to discuss difficult topics, often disclosing personal information on issues such as tax arrears, deficient water bills, cemetery burials, and more. It is so important to us that we can afford those residents an appropriate level of privacy in these instances, and the new building allows us to do that.
Additional Considerations
There are a number of other considerations that were incorporated and presented to Council in their decision-making process, including:
- Privacy and Security: There is limited to no security measures in place at the current Town Hall building, including that there is no way to restrict access to the upper levels from front reception; that there are no secondary exits from some areas, as is required (including the front lobby meeting room); and more.
- Design and Space: While we have done the best with what we have, the Town has changed a lot over the past 50 years, and the current building has not been able to accommodate those needs, with numerous segregated areas across different floors, a lack of security, and disruptions to operational efficiency and effectiveness.The new building is fully accessible to the public, with barrier-free access to all functional areas and accessible washrooms. There is appropriate space for Town Administration to work effectively, for residents to come in with a functional front reception area, and for Council Meetings to take place in a fully accessible space. There will be adequate meeting rooms and training facilities, and a dedicated space for an ECC.
With its central location, it was important to us that we remain in Peace River’s downtown core, which played into the decision to move to the new building on Main Street, just down the road from where we are now.
Decision-making & Funding
Council voted in favour of purchasing the new building after reviewing a number of potential considerations put before them, ensuring that all options were on the table. This included the potential of renovating the current building, constructing a new building, and purchasing and renovating a new building, as outlined below:
- Estimated total cost of renovating the current building: $2.48 million
- Estimated total cost of building a new facility on Main Street: $9.8 million
- Estimated total cost of purchasing an existing building on Main Street: $1.05 million +renovations
In consideration of the above cost projections, and numerous other factors related to building use and amenities (ie. accessibility, emergency preparedness, civic engagement, customer service, privacy, security, etc.), Council opted to go with Option 3: the purchase and renovation of an existing building on Main Street.
Funding avenues are to include a combination of cash, grants, and short-term debt.
The Town takes possession of the new building on July 31, 2024, with plans to move in currently scheduled for early-2025. Information will be updated on a dedicated landing page, below, as the process progresses: