The flood July 1 in Yorkton caused excessive damage at the Yorkton Public Library which has left the facility on Broadway Street closed since.
As the City began work on the building, other issues were discovered, leaving Yorkton Council discussing the fate of the facility behind closed doors during the in-camera portion of its Committee-of-the-Whole meeting Monday.
Tuesday morning Mayor James Wilson said once work began it became apparent there were deficiencies within the structure which had existed before the flood.
"We had to evaluate what we should do with it," he said.
The library building had gone through an upgrade in 1998, and again in 2004 when Council took the decision to upgrade the location, rather than build a new library as part of the Gallagher Centre retrofit.
Wilson said the issue was not whether a library was needed in the city, but whether the current location still made sense to house it.
"The question for Council was how much do we invest in the building, and what will the return be for the community," he said. " We had to evaluate from a long term perspective where the library should be located."
In terms of actual flood damage, Wilson said there is some insurance coverage of about $150,000, after the city covers a $25,000 deductible.
However, other costs were more significant.
For example the rooftop heating and cooling units "aren't adequate. They're obsolete," said Wilson.
Wilson said when the work was done in 1998, "there was some skimping," adding one "whole wall was not insulated."
The additional work is estimated to cost the City an additional $600,000, which would give the building another 20-25-years.
Wilson said Council has decided to invest the money, and will use an internal loan to fund the additional spending.
The cost would have been less "had they done some of the proper work back in 1998," said Wilson, although in other cases the need has developed over the past dozen years. The rooftop units are an example, with an expected life of 15-plus years, and are now 12-years old.
Wilson said in some cases there will be a return on the investment. The rooftop units will be replaced by a high efficiency boiler unit, which will cut the heating and cooling costs at the library in half.
The cost of work in '98 was $46,000.
The work in 2004 was major, with a cost of $885,000, with $250,000 in funding from reserves, and a $600,000 in the form of an internal loan with the final payment in 2015, explained the City's Director of Finance Lonnie Kaal.
In March 2003 the library component of the Agriplex upgrade was estimated at $1,447,000 which would have incorporated a 14,000 -square feet area into the Gallagher Centre.
Wilson also reminded the City doesn't actually provide library services in the city.
"We provide funding to the Parkland Regional Library," he explained, adding the PRL then provides staff and management for the library.
The City is also responsible to house the library.
"All we do is provide a facility and funding," said Wilson.
At present the library is operating out of a temporary location in the Parkland Mall, and Wilson said that will continue.
"We have the relationship to keep it there," said Wilson, who added "that could be six months easily."
At present a time line for the near three-quarter of a million dollar upgrade is unknown, said Wilson, pending tenders and tradespeople availability.
