FERGUS – It was a historic day on June 16 as officials with Centre Wellington Township broke ground on a new operations centre.
The project has been 20 years in the making, CAO Dan Wilson said during brief speeches before shovels were picked up and dirt tossed on a pile.
“This is a transformative step,” Wilson said, “And a critical investment in the community.”
Mayor Shawn Watters lauded the previous council and former mayor Kelly Linton for having the foresight and vision to purchase the property at 965 Gartshore St. in Fergus for the new operations centre.
“This is more than bricks and mortar,” Watters said. It’s a sign of a “forward thinking municipality.”
The operations centre will house many departments:
- public works;
- water services;
- engineering;
- planning and development;
- source water protection;
- parks and recreation;
- forestry;
- information technology; and
- archives and records storage.
It will also have community gardens and a walking trail and will be AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) compliant.
The guaranteed maximum price for construction of the project is $25.7 million by Ball Construction, but there will be outside costs – for hydro and utility servicing, IT equipment and fibre network extension and so forth – bringing the total construction cost to $28.2 million.
The township purchased the 20-acre parcel of land in 2021 for $3.95 million.
Most of the cost will be covered by a loan, though payments are to come from development charges, with no impact on taxpayers, officials said.
Once the centre is complete and staff move in, several other township-owned properties like works garages will be sold, which will also be applied to the debt.
The new operations centre will be environmentally sustainable, will use Canadian-sourced building materials as much as possible, and will feature low-impact landscaping.
It will also add efficiency to operations and the capacity for growth as the township grows, said managing director of infrastructure Colin Baker.
“We’ve gone from the drawing board to dirt,” he quipped before officials tossed the ceremonial first shovel of dirt.
Full details of the project, with site plans and staff reports, can be found here.
