THUNDER BAY – In a decisive 11-1 city council vote, Thunder Bay's multi-use indoor facility is now a reality.
With a bid that came in roughly $6.7 million under the city's budgeted cap, Finnway General Contractor will be awarded the contract to build a multi-use indoor turf facility once council ratifies their decision at the next council meeting.
Coun. Mark Bentz was the lone representative on Monday night to oppose awarding the contract, but made it clear he only opposed the project in principle.
His main grievance was that external funding sources, notably the provincial and federal governments, were not found and secured before the tender was brought to council.
“My beef is not with administration's work or the soccer community's work. It's, maybe, with how council has gone about this. We don't have a lot of other levels of government helping us fund this,” said Bentz.
“To me, this was an ideal project to attract partners, and I think whenever we do a large capital project like this, that benefits the community, we should be inviting the other levels of government to participate. Maybe, we have, but it certainly wasn't a focus around this table in all my years.”
Bentz asked city staff if they had applied for external funding and was told there are currently two funding applications to the Ontario government: a $10-million funding application from the Provincial Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund (CSRIF) and a $2-million ask of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation's Enhance Your Community Program.
However, the project will only be eligible for one of these two funds.
To date, the majority of the funding for this project has come from the city reserves, a $3.3 million debenture from Tbaytel, and $500,000 from the Community Economic Development Corporation (CDEC).
At-Large Coun. Trevor Giertuga said sometimes government partnerships don't materialize.
As part of the staff recommendation, the city will move $4.5 million, which is the special dividend declared by Tbaytel, from the Renew Thunder Bay reserve fund into the indoor turf facility reserve fund to aid the project.
“We have some partners here. We get some money from Tbaytel, you know, we're getting some fundraising dollars. But maybe, we don't have the provincial federal government coming forward,” said Giertuga.
“An example, the library. We had a library expansion, which would substantially improve our library services in the city of Thunder Bay for $5 million. We had almost a one-third partner in Intercity Mall for $1.3 million, and all we needed additionally from this council was $700,000. And we didn't approve it. So, let's just be real, we do have partners sometimes, and sometimes we don't have partners.”
Coun. Kasey Etreni pointed out that the cost of the facility has been significantly lowered from $42.7 million to approximately $32 million, including HST.
“At one point, the number was $50 million with the cost of our financing, and that wasn't that long ago. And now, even with the cost of the financing, we're looking at $17 million under that. I'm not saying I have $33 million to take out my back pocket to put to this. I'm not saying that whatsoever,” Etreni said.
She asked city staff if the city is depleting its reserves with this project.
City treasurer Keri Greaves responded that the $14 million in the Indoor Turf Facility Reserve Fund was always expected to be depleted.
The Renew Thunder Bay reserve fund will also take a hit, with $3.3 million borrowed from it in a 10-year debenture.
The user group is halfway to reaching its goal with a $500,000 thanks largely to a donation from the Community Economic Development Commission.
Soccer Northwest Ontario president Michael Veneziale said a lot of work remains to get their fundraising campaign out to the public, but they are excited for the community to see the plan when it does roll out.
“It's amazing. That vote represents not just a win for our user community but a community of Thunder Bay as a whole. This facility was never about just the users. It was for the people of Thunder Bay, looking back at this building 40 or 50 years from now, thanking the council for making this decision,” said Veneziale.
