April 11 was a day almost a decade in the making, as the District of Sechelt’s mayor and staff officially broke ground for their new Operations Centre.
Once the new structure is complete, more than 20 parks and public works staff will migrate to a new home base, a few feet physically from the trailers and temporary structures that they have worked out of since 2012.
The new structure is to be a workplace more in line with the 21st century: featuring adequate spaces for all to gather for briefings, a lift to help with vehicle maintenance and changing of equipment like plow blades and access to computers.
The new building will be located on Dusty Road and is slated to be ready for occupancy in late 2022. Construction is budgeted to cost just over $3 million. It is being paid for through a loan approved by the electorate in 2021 and with funds set aside during the construction of the Water Resource Centre, which took over the site of the former works yard on Ebbtide Street.
In a short speech delivered before the ceremonial shovels hit the ground, Mayor Darnelda Siegers pointed out that, “In the past two years, COVID has made working from the current space even more difficult." Keeping things running safely during the pandemic required staggering of crew shifts and worker start times. She said that the staff are “truly deserving of and ready for a new operations centre.”
John Devison has been with the Public Works department for just over nine years, all of them, at the temporary works yard. In his remarks at the event, he commended staff for their efforts to keep the cramp quarters clean and organized, and he said he was “looking forward to working in a building with heat and air conditioning."
“Moving is never fun, but I bet we will have some smiling faces as we move things from those trailers to the new building,” Devison, who now holds the position of Public Works manager, said.
Parks manager, Jayme Anderson said that staff in the two departments had “definitely outgrown” the temporary quarters. He said he was pleased that soon staff coming in after a full day shift working outdoors in the rain will have change and gear drying areas that are separate from the communal lunch room. Anderson told Coast Reporter he anticipated that the existing temporary structures will likely be retained on the site and used for storage once the new building is open.
