Incensed residents northwest of Edmonton have asked the provincial government to step in with hopes of stopping construction of a new county administration building they call “grandiose” and a “Taj Mahal.” Janet French Published on: Edmonton Journal January 7, 2016
The $11.7 million, 27,500 square-foot building under construction just outside of Sangudo is badly needed to replace the existing leaking, cramped office, said Lac Ste. Anne county’s Mayor Bill Hegy.
“I wish (the county) would tone it down and make it something that’s reasonable,” said long-time county resident Alice Szybunka. “We’ve all endured enormous tax hikes. This is only going to be another blow. There’s only so much any of us can handle.”
About 43 Lac Ste. Anne county staff currently work in three different buildings in Sangudo, an unincorporated hamlet 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. With no storage space inside, the county’s records sit in three unheated storage containers.
A 2005 review found the main office building had “major structural flaws,” including an unsafe roof, leaking windows, mould, and an “unsanitary” sewage system, among others.
County resident Chris Yeoman agrees the county needs a new building. What she objects to is the size of the one under construction, and the process councillors used to push the project ahead.
“They have done so many things against what people of this county want,” Yeoman said.
Opponents also object to the new location and say there are other buildings in the county that could be renovated to house administrators for less.
Politicians can never please everyone, Hegy said. In 2013, he campaigned on replacing the building and still believes it’s the right thing to do.
Decisions about the building’s size, design and location were based on the advice of outside experts, Hegy said. There’s nothing indulgent or fancy about the building’s economical design, he said.
“We didn’t get elected with the intent of wanting to be re-elected. We make our decisions on the basis of what we feel is best for the county as a whole,” Hegy said.
Szybunka and Yeoman organized and circulated two petitions in the past two years that successfully halted the county council’s plan to borrow millions of dollars in long-term loans to finance the project.
Councillors then approved a budget amendment allowing the county to borrow money for a short term, and pay back those loans using infrastructure grants from the provincial government. It’s an approach used by many municipalities, county chief administrative officer Mike Primeau said. The project should be paid off by 2019 at the latest, Primeau said.
Yeoman said those grants are better spent maintaining bridges and other county structures.
Work is already underway and the building should be ready by the end of 2016, Primeau said.
Citizens who oppose the project, meanwhile, gathered signatures from 2,543 of the county’s nearly 10,300 residents, which they sent to the provincial minister of municipal affairs, asking the province to look into whether the county had violated the Municipal Government Act.
After receiving the petition in October, the ministry appointed a person to study whether the petition is sufficient to warrant an inquiry into the county, said the minister’s press secretary, Shannon Greer.
If the petition is accepted, the ministry typically does a “preliminary review” of the concerns to see if a more thorough inspection is warranted. Minister Danielle Larivee has not yet announced how the ministry will handle the Lac Ste. Anne county issue.
The minister ordered 24 municipal inspections across Alberta between 2010 and 2015, Greer said in an email.
A ministry dispute resolution services team is also “working with municipalities in the region,” said Greer. She did not reply to a request to elaborate.
jfrench@postmedia.com
“I wish (the county) would tone it down and make it something that’s reasonable,” said long-time county resident Alice Szybunka. “We’ve all endured enormous tax hikes. This is only going to be another blow. There’s only so much any of us can handle.”
About 43 Lac Ste. Anne county staff currently work in three different buildings in Sangudo, an unincorporated hamlet 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. With no storage space inside, the county’s records sit in three unheated storage containers.
A 2005 review found the main office building had “major structural flaws,” including an unsafe roof, leaking windows, mould, and an “unsanitary” sewage system, among others.
County resident Chris Yeoman agrees the county needs a new building. What she objects to is the size of the one under construction, and the process councillors used to push the project ahead.
“They have done so many things against what people of this county want,” Yeoman said.
Opponents also object to the new location and say there are other buildings in the county that could be renovated to house administrators for less.
Politicians can never please everyone, Hegy said. In 2013, he campaigned on replacing the building and still believes it’s the right thing to do.
Decisions about the building’s size, design and location were based on the advice of outside experts, Hegy said. There’s nothing indulgent or fancy about the building’s economical design, he said.
“We didn’t get elected with the intent of wanting to be re-elected. We make our decisions on the basis of what we feel is best for the county as a whole,” Hegy said.
Szybunka and Yeoman organized and circulated two petitions in the past two years that successfully halted the county council’s plan to borrow millions of dollars in long-term loans to finance the project.
Councillors then approved a budget amendment allowing the county to borrow money for a short term, and pay back those loans using infrastructure grants from the provincial government. It’s an approach used by many municipalities, county chief administrative officer Mike Primeau said. The project should be paid off by 2019 at the latest, Primeau said.
Yeoman said those grants are better spent maintaining bridges and other county structures.
Work is already underway and the building should be ready by the end of 2016, Primeau said.
Citizens who oppose the project, meanwhile, gathered signatures from 2,543 of the county’s nearly 10,300 residents, which they sent to the provincial minister of municipal affairs, asking the province to look into whether the county had violated the Municipal Government Act.
After receiving the petition in October, the ministry appointed a person to study whether the petition is sufficient to warrant an inquiry into the county, said the minister’s press secretary, Shannon Greer.
If the petition is accepted, the ministry typically does a “preliminary review” of the concerns to see if a more thorough inspection is warranted. Minister Danielle Larivee has not yet announced how the ministry will handle the Lac Ste. Anne county issue.
The minister ordered 24 municipal inspections across Alberta between 2010 and 2015, Greer said in an email.
A ministry dispute resolution services team is also “working with municipalities in the region,” said Greer. She did not reply to a request to elaborate.
jfrench@postmedia.com
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