By Matthew Liebenberg
For the Southwest Booster
The exterior of the large Stockade building at Kinetic Park in Swift Current will receive a makeover this summer.
Council members approved the tender for the project to install metal cladding during a regular council meeting, May 29.
City General Manager of Community Services Nicole Spenst said this project was included in the 2023 capital budget, because the exterior of the Stockade is in dire need of repair. The exterior paint is in poor condition and the eavestroughs are failing during rainstorms.
“This results in water leaking and running into the building where the new floor is located,” she noted. “The Stockade metal cladding project will provide the building a maintenance free exterior and include eavestroughing and insulation. Not only will this project greatly add to the overall appearance of the building, the cladding and insulation will also help to lower heating costs.”
Action by staff to clean up water after rain events will prevent any short-term damage to the new interior floor of the Stockade, but this project is necessary to preserve the long-term quality of the floor.
The Stockade is a popular venue for a variety of activities, including trade shows, banquets and various sport activities. It is home to the Swift Current Soccer Association, Swift Current SunDogs and the mixed volleyball league.
“The building is a key focal point when driving onto the grounds and leaves an impression of the community when visitors attend tournaments, tradeshows and events at Kinetic Park,” she said.
The City received tender submissions from five businesses, of which four are local, for this project. The quoted prices in these tenders varied from $229,315.10 to $365,861.46.
City administration made a recommendation to council to accept the tender by Bridal Builders of Swift Current, because it received the highest overall score during the evaluation process. It is the lowest bid, there will be a three-year warranty on labour and material and the company successfully completed previous projects.
Mayor Al Bridal recused himself from the meeting during the discussion due to his association with Bridal Builders. Other council members expressed support for the project and voted in favour of the recommendation to award the tender to Bridal Builders at a cost of $$229,315.10 (PST included, GST excluded).
The cost of the project will be lower than the budgeted amount of $300,000. This saving can be used in different ways.
“So there is a little bit there for contingency if something comes up in the facility that is unforeseen,” Spenst said. “And if not, it’ll go back in to pay off some of the debt within the City.”
Councillor Tuntland-Wiebe noted the Stockade is a well-used facility at Kinetic Park and she welcomed this upgrade.
“Sometimes I don’t think residents realize how busy that Stockade building is,” she said. “It’s old, but it’s very viable, especially with a new flooring.”
Councillor Ryan Plewis referred to the benefit of using metal cladding for the exterior, because it is basically maintenance free.
“In a lot of ways this is a project that’s going to wow a little bit when you move on to the property, but it’s also going to really secure the envelope in a way that hopefully means that we don’t have spent as much maintenance money on it going forward,” he said. “It’s a very busy facility and the City of Swift Current gets a lot of use, and we really can’t afford to have any downtime in that facility, particularly when we’ve got a brand-new floor that was just installed in that facility as well.”
The colour of the metal cladding on the Stockade exterior will be white and blue, which will match the colour of the cladding on the nearby grandstand. The project will be carried out this summer in-between events at the Stockade to avoid any disruption.
Council approves subscription renewal for financial management software:
Council members approved a 60-month subscription agreement with Oracle Canada Corporation Inc. for financial management software at a total cost of $1,276,698.37 (PST included, GST included).
City General Manager of Corporate Services Kari Cobler said the City decided in 2017 to replace the outdated JD Edwards World (JDE) financial management system, which has been used since 1999, with the new Oracle Fusion Cloud system.
A portion of the Oracle system was implemented in 2019 as part of the City’s revenue management system for property tax, utility billing and cash receipting. Critical software support for the JDE system will be discontinued at the end of 2023. It is therefore essential that the City’s remaining business systems are transferred to the Oracle software.
The City must therefore renew the software subscription as part of the migration of the financial management system from JDE to Oracle.
“Even though the annual subscription costs have increased from the previous agreement, Oracle Corporation Canada Inc. has updated their features and pricing since 2017, which will result in additional modules and functionality under the new subscription agreement,” she said. “The additional features will enable the City to maintain and enhance current processes in areas such as inventory management, procurement requisitions and financial analysis.”
The renewed subscription period will run from Aug. 31, 2023 to Aug. 30, 2028. The annual subscription cost will be $267,793.37 (PST included, GST excluded) for the initial three years of the agreement and thereafter it will be $236,659.13 (PST included, GST excluded).
Mayor Al Bridal said this is a significant expenditure for the City that residents might not be aware of when they talk about municipal services, but it is nevertheless essential.
“They talk about taxes, they may complain about potholes and potholes do cost us money, but this subscription costs us an awful lot of money too every year,” he noted. “I just want the citizens to realize that to have everything so handy, all this information so handy and available, costs money and it costs a great deal of money. I’m still going to vote for it. I mean, we need it. It’s the modern world, it’s like we cannot have it, but it’s just a huge expense that most people don’t see. It’s easy to see parks, it’s easy to see roads and sidewalks and buildings, but it’s not easy to see these computer programs.”
