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By Jordan Parker

Old Fire Hall recommendation pushed back a month

Jan 9, 2018 | 4:08 PM

City of Grande Prairie committee members are delaying the decision on which proponent should take control of the old Fire Hall downtown.

An Infrastructure & Protective Services Committee meeting on Tuesday went four-and-a-half hours — and included a lengthy in-camera discussion about the legalities the city may face from canceling the Request For Proposals for the building altogether.

The RFP was postponed a month to give administration time to gather evidence that the $5-million economic spinoff Equity Rentals proposed was feasible. They also decided to look at putting performance mechanisms in the contract.

Daniel Goff, president of Equity Rentals Ltd., expressed his frustration after his proposal was recommended by administration.

They scored a 75.8 on their proposal, with an $855,000 bid to purchase the building. They outlined with plans to add a third floor for office space and make the hall hub a restaurant.

“(The RFP process) has deviated away from what they originally came up with. I’m not sure why they got away from that,” said Goff. “We sent information (regarding the $5.5-million spinoffs) and we broke it down and showed how we anticipated spending that.”

“This is taking a lot longer than we expected, for sure. We’ve got a lot of time, energy and money invested in this, so it’d be nice if this moved along a little quicker.”

The month-long break for thought and evaluation was welcomed by Grain Bin Brewing Company. In a Facebook post on Monday, 

 

Grain Bin’s proposal was scored at 57.5, and their estimated economic impact was $1,785,000. They offered $900,000 to purchase the building.

Brewer Dalen Landis said it was Grain Bin wasn’t “entirely familiar” with the process, but knew it would take time.

“I know there’s a lot of grey areas with RFP’s and what the possibilities are … I can’t speak (for council), but they would know the tentative possibilities for both of our proposals,” he said.

“The public is starting to get involved, and it’s nice to see them getting more interested in processes like this.”

The committee meeting was a packed house — though some were there for other items — and Councillors Blackburn, Bressey, Friesen, O’Toole, Bressey, Thiessen and Mayor Given were all in attendance.

As questions were asked in the room, Given said he didn’t hear a clear answer as to how council could safeguard that the economic spinoff from Equity Rentals would actually reach $5-million.

“I think the committee identified we needed additional information. We wanted to ensure … that if we went with the highest evaluated proposal, we would get what was proposed,” he said.

“Council wants more certainty around that before we commit to one or the other proposals.”

One option on the table — which was the topic that sent the committee to in-camera, private talks — was the canceling of the RFP altogether.

“Council wanted to understand the implications if we moved forward with not selling the Fire Hall at all.,” he said.

“The assessment and scoring criteria led to a result past council was looking for … One has a potentially higher economic return to taxpayers through the property value.”

Given said there was one underlying question around this process.

“Was a Request For Proposals the right approach to use? I think on reflection now, council probably wouldn’t choose it when we’re trying to sell something.”

 

 

 

 

 

by Jordan Parker