Although it may not necessarily look like it on the outside, the inside of the Drumheller Civic Centre is buzzing with activity.
At the Monday, April 29 meeting of The Committee of the Whole, CAO Ray Romanetz gave Council an update estimate for the building to be complete. Should all go well, the Town could begin moving Town Hall to the Civic Centre by mid June.
“As far as a completion date, substantial completion, meaning the building can be turned over to the owner, but with a number of things...needing to be completed...our best guesstimate will be substantially completed by the end of May,” said Romanetz. “We could start moving sometime between June 15 and 30.”
Estimates earlier this year had an earlier completion date, but the Town is confident the new timeline is accurate.
“Although it looks like there is a lot of work to be done, I think everything will be done in a reasonably timely manner,” said Romanetz.
The move of Town Hall to the Civic Centre was confirmed early in 2012. The desire was to have the municipal centre of Drumheller in a more central location and modernized. Given the age and of the current Town Hall, it was felt renovating it was not practical and would have taken considerable work to bring the building up to current building codes.
The cost of the renovation is roughly $2 million. Of that, $1.5 million was covered by a provincial grant.
The Civic Centre was gutted last fall and construction has proceeded to create a new space for the heart of the Town’s governance.
In addition to moving in, Council is considering an opening for the public in September.
