Council approves accessible washrooms for Town Hall

By Mark Squibb/November 4, 2022

The Town of Paradise has undertaken the first steps towards construction of new accessible washrooms — although finding a contractor to do the work proved to be a challenge.

The Town had asked the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities Newfoundland and Labrador (COPE NL) to create an accessibility audit of the town hall.

“The audit outlined that the town hall washrooms need improvements to become accessible to all employees, residents, and visitors,” said councillor Deborah Quilty during this week’s meeting. “The Town issued a tender in June 2022 for the Town Hall Accessible Washroom Design and Administration Contract, and the Town did not receive any submissions.”

Quilty went on to say the Town proceeded with a limited call to three architectural firms, and of those three, only one submission was received.

That company was Lat 49 Architecture Inc., which submitted a bid of $49,381, HST included.

The budget for the town hall and depot sits at $190,000.

“In respect to COPE NL’s accessibility audit and the importance of inclusion, and adherence to accommodation requirements, it is certainly imperative that we get this project started, and completed, as expeditiously as possible,” said councillor Larry Vaters.

He asked if the Town has ever held an architecture firm or engineering consultant on retainer to complete such work.

Quilty said the Town has not held such a company on a retainer— although the option is being considered.

Vaters also noted that staff quelled fears of potential cost overruns.

Councillor Glen Carew applauded the work, though he criticized the timing.

“It is unfortunate that these much-needed renovations are being initiated now, for we are wrestling with significant post-COVID inflationary costs,” said Carew. “Your worship, rule of thumb ratio for design costs to construction costs is roughly 10 percent, and in the first duty call, the Town received zero submissions. So, I’m told by Infrastructure and Engineering that the next step in the process was a limited call to only three firms, where only one firm has responded and submitted a bid, which is the one that we’re voting on right here. And Your Worship, I’m hoping that the 10 percent rule doesn’t apply in this particular case because that could mean that the almost $200,000 could balloon to almost half a million.”

He also said the renovations were long overdue.

Councillor Elizabeth Laurie said the renovations are a ‘Need,’ and not a ‘Want.’

“This was a priority for the previous council, and that’s why we engaged with COAD NL to do an accessibility audit, and then this council here committed the $190,000 in Budget 2022,” said Laurie. “We’re going to have to wait and see what happens with the rest of the project, and see where it goes, but like I said, and I think everybody here agrees, it is a need, not a want. We need to take care of our staff here, and our visitors and of course our residents. Here this summer we had a situation where we had the Korean War Veteran ceremony and we couldn’t have the reception in the town hall because we didn’t have accessible washrooms, so it was kind of embarrassing, and so hopefully we are able to secure a contractor and get this work done as soon as possible.”

The motion passed unanimously.