The city has an opportunity to access Municipal Sustainability Initiative grant funding to pay for the $450,000 public washroom renovation project at the downtown bus station.
On Monday, administration recommended that city council approve changing the source of funding from long-term debt funding to Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) grant funding, with a contingency of Capital Projects Reserve (CPR) funding if the MSI application is not approved by the province.
Council originally approved the CPR funding on Feb. 24. Since then, administration has determined there is some MSI funding available due to previous projects spending being less than budgeted. The province is also allowing some smaller project applications to use up the remaining MSI funding prior to switching over to the Local Government Fiscal Framework program.
When Sorenson Station opened in 2010 a public washroom was part of the design. But it was the repeated target of vandals and had to be professionally cleaned to deal with hazardous material such as drug paraphernalia. When all of the city's public washrooms were closed in 2020 because of the pandemic, the washroom that was damaged to the point it was unusable, was never reopened.
The new washrooms, with universal and accessible stalls that can be more easily monitored, is expected to be open by the end of March 2026.
The recommendation to access MSI funding was carried 8-1, with Coun. Vesna Higham opposing the motion.
Higham, who voted against the project from the start, said that while downtown public washrooms were needed, she didn't understand why the six-stall project costs $450,000.
"I know we can do that same project, possibly in a different way, or different scope, or scale, or materials," Higham said.
"There are significant issues that are going to require dollars in the next budget. For that reason I didn't support it then. I don't support it now, even though I supported amending it to MSI grant funding."
Coun. Dianne Wyntjes said the availability of MSI funding reminded her of the value of provincial funding to municipalities, and Coun. Kraymer Barnstable added it's always better to utilize available grants versus diving into debt.
