Paradise seeks advisor for depot project

By Mark Squibb

The Town of Paradise is calling for proposals from consulting firms interested in acting as an “owner advisor” and overseeing the construction of a new public works depot to replace the one destroyed by a fire a year ago in February.

“They will advise the owner – us – on all aspects of the project,” said engineering director Chris Milley. “So, they’ll be giving us advice on both the contracts, and managing the contracts, for construction.”
Councillor Glen Carew had questions.

“We have a budget allocated for this project, and should that budget somehow go, essentially, sideways, which is not unrealistic, how does that work if council decides to rethink, or do something different?” asked Carew. “I’m thinking back to Lift Station 10. For Lift Station 10 the pre-tender cost estimate was $12.6 million. The lowest bid was $24 million. Council then had to make a decision, at the time, to either go ahead at double the cost or go a different way and go back to the drawing board and find a different option. So, the project became much larger because we went with the $24 million project. In this particular case, if we get a pre-tender cost estimate that is astronomically high, we just can’t afford to do that project that way, does the owner advisor still stay on?”

CAO Lisa Nibolcock said that once the Town has received bids on the contract, staff will be better able to answer questions relating to the contract.

“Staff can have all those answers for you at that time before you make your decision,” said Niblock. “We’ll make note of the question you have and make sure that clarity is provided in the information note when that comes forward to council.”