Mr. Chairman, there are two questions I think being posed here. First of all on the dollars identified here for a little over $1 million as to what it would be for, the building and the site works are substantially complete for this facility. We anticipate we’re going to have an official opening sometime before the end of the summer and more than likely it would be sometime in August. However, there are some deficiencies that cause this to have a carry-over and there’s still other associated work that needs to be addressed.
This carry-over is required to meet our commitment and rectify some of the work that was done. This project is virtually complete and these dollars earmarked here are for the final work that is required.
The pellet boiler is a project that is managed under Public Works and it did not come forward as part of the building design. It was not part of something that was addressed at the time of drafting. It was recognized as discussions moved forward. However, it was felt if the budget was going to be pulled back, if the redesign was going to happen, it would have delayed the project by at least a year and it was decided that the project would move forward with the agreement that an alternate energy source would be included at a later date and that’s what’s happening here.
The $600,000 is being brought forward as a supp to put pellet boilers to offset some of the costs. We expect a five-year recovery for the investment that’s being made and we think it’s a good deal. We
would have had to put in the propane system regardless, to have a backup, and these dollars could have been and should have been, as the Member indicates, part of the initial construction. However, it was brought in too late to meet the deadline. So we think it’s a good investment. We’ll recover the cost over a five-year period and we’d like to move forward on it. Thank you.