Photo by Shaun Penner

By Curtis Galbraith

Municipal Politics

County to help pay some fees for Mountview Health Complex proposal

Feb 25, 2021 | 6:00 AM

County of Grande Prairie council has agreed to help the Town of Beaverlodge pay the consultant fees for the proposed Mountview Health Complex.

The County will pay half of the cost up to $104,000.

Reeve Leanne Beaupre says the County has been advocating for a replacement for the Beaverlodge Hospital for as long as she can remember.

“In the discussion with the committee members, should the project be successful when it goes out to tender, those fees would be recovered in the overall cost of the project.”

The Town and Mountview Health Complex Committee will also get a letter from the County, asking to be kept up to date on the project. That would include copies of things like contacts and meeting minutes.

Beaupre adds discussion about this also included an update on a P3 proposal that came from the Town earlier this year.

“What we were updated on Monday is that the expressions of interest are still out there, they haven’t closed yet. Our committee members that are representing the County of Grande Prairie will be part of the conversation when that closes.”

Beaupre says these consultants have put together the Town, County, and Alberta Health as partners in the project.

“We will be looking for private investment to build the facility, but of course, Alberta Health will be obligated to actually run it. The fees that are associated with that, whether it’s requests for interest or some of the work that’s been done on the advocacy side, those are the fees we would be helping the Town of Beaverlodge pay.”

The Town’s proposal would see the new complex located on a 20-acre parcel of land on the south end of Beaverlodge.