Laurent
Robillard-Cardinal
CHAPEAU – The Dr. Wilbert Keon School received welcomed renovations over the summer with a $147,000 contract to replace gym floors and reconstruct ceilings in changing room; the work was done to repair
Laurent
Robillard-Cardinal
CHAPEAU – The Dr. Wilbert Keon School received welcomed renovations over the summer with a $147,000 contract to replace gym floors and reconstruct ceilings in changing room; the work was done to repair
damages caused by a huge wind storm in the summer of 2013 which tore the roof off the school. It is also known that the school requires work to repair the heating system and remove asbestos.
The board had received three bids for the initial contract. One from DLS Construction for $147,000, one from Construction GMR Inc. at $165,000 and another from PBS – 2740621 Canada Ltd.
valued at $184,500.
After L. Fortin, FCS Architect, reviewed the tenders it was recommended the Board award the contract to the lowest
complete bidder, in this case DLS Construction. According to principal, Neil Fleming, “The
renovations are beautiful; the new gym floor, the lighting – everyone is very pleased. Since then the
students have worked with local artists Marcio Melo, and created a 24’ mural of a totem on the wall of the gym. It was a first for him (creating a totem), and turned out exceptionally well.”
Asbestos removal,
heating repairs
The Quebec Depart-ment of Health and Safety has passed a law requiring all school boards to do an inventory of their buildings and identify which still have and where asbestos insulation is located. With the repairs to the roof this past summer it was noted that Dr. Wilbur Keon School has asbestos
surrounding their heating pipes. The Western Quebec School Board (WQSB) had intended to remove the asbestos from the building at 104 Rue Notre Dame, but was unable to award that contract which was linked to a heating contract tender. Asbestos is not dangerous until it is disturbed, therefore its removal must be done at the same time as the planned heating contract.
The board had invited companies to bid on the heating contract for the school, connected to the old convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph, but only received one bid from DLS Construction. However, DLS’ $388,000 bid exceeded the board’s budget
allotment. Therefore, the commissioners refused the bid and then cancelled the asbestos removal contract for which it had received three conforming bids: one from Prop-Air at $18,550, another from Asbex Ltd $21,715 and from Amor Construction Inc at $36,455.
While the board
cancelled the motion to grant the asbestos removal contract at Dr. Wilbert Keon School in May, the board did carry former Commissioner R. Young’s motion to participate in the “regroupement d’achat du Centre collégial des services regroupés (CCSR)” (a bundled service offerings) tender process. The CCSR works in conjunction with the Ministry of Education helping with the tendering process by combining
tenders for several school boards to reduce the overall cost to each; for example the three school boards in the Outaouias and the Pontiac: the WQSB, the Commission Scolaire de Haut Bois (CSHB) and the Commission Scolaire du Portage de l’Outaouais.
The motion also
authorized Pascal Proulx, WQSB’s new director of buildings and transportation, to sign all documents related to the mandate for identification and isolation of asbestos in all WQSB schools and buildings. According to Proulx, the CCSR’s bundling process did not come up with the best offer for the requirement of identifying the location of asbestos in the WQSB’s buildings; they have since hired a company called WSP to do the job. They will begin in January 2015 and end in August with a cost of $96,000. Proulx stresses that the situation at Wilbur Keon is not dangerous to the staff or students; the heating and asbestos removal contract will be
re-tendered early in 2015 with the work slated for the coming summer. (LL)
