City of Estevan information release for the Civic Auditorium

Information of the Civic Auditorium Structural Timeline and Effects

• In January of 2017 complaints were issued to council in regard to the heating at the CIVIC Auditorium
• During budget of 2017 Council agreed to spend $250,000 on the CIVIC Auditorium contingent on a building assessment. This was to ensure that money was going to be spent on a building that had some useful life left. The CIVIC auditorium spending is discussed in the 2017 budget package that was released in early 2017 for public feedback.
•   The tender for the building assessment was tasked to the Facilities manager.
• Request for Proposals were received and WSP was chosen in July of 2017, based on price and expertise. WSP is a reputable firm with experience in building assessments.
• Throughout the summer WSP completed multiple on-site visits for a thorough investigation and completed the report on November 1^st, 2017.
• Once council read the recommendations from the report indicating there was significant structural issues and that access be restricted to the building, they made the decision at that time to close the CIVIC auditorium to the public due mainly to liability concerns that once this risk was identified that council would be negligent if they continued to let the public into an potentially compromised building.
• When reviewing the options noted by WSP it was clear that significant costs in relation to stabilizing the structure AS WELL AS addressing the significant electrical and mechanical concerns was not a viable option for the city as the immediate costs were over $1.5 million.
• Without council direction a private user group paid for a second engineers report from a different structural engineer, CA Reed & Associates. The CA Reed Report was provided to city and indicated that if the tension rods were adjusted and some other bracing be completed, that the structural issues would be addressed, and that the public could use the facility while a further detailed analysis be completed.
• At this point both the WSP report, as well as the CA Reed report were presented to our insurance provider who indicated that these public documents would need to be forwarded to our insurer for full disclosure of risk. At that point the insurer was also asked about our continued coverage for the facility.
• Council then approved the work to brace the structure so that the building could be opened to the public ASAP.
• To comply with legislation, the city was required to put a request for proposal for the work as noted in the CA Reed Report. This RFP was put out with the full expectation that if work was approved and completed, that insurance coverage would be granted
• Based on the knowledge and experience of these types of building the work was awarded to CA Reed and the resolution approving the proposal was also sent to the City’s insurer.
• City Council was ready to repair the structure through the works noted in the proposal, on the condition that property and liability insurance coverage was available.
• Notice was provided by the insurer on January 16^th that property and liability insurance coverage would not be included on this building and that the asset was being removed from coverage on January 24^th, 2018
• The City contacted another municipal insurer, as well our insurance broker had discussed with 4 other insurance agencies. None of the agencies contacted would insurer a one-off building and all stated it was high risk.