Yorkton Councillor Darcy Zaharia wanted to discuss the sale of the old City Parks Building at 263 Myrtle Avenue.聽
What followed at the regular meeting of Yorkton Council was a lengthy discussion about the safety of the building, the accuracy of information given to Council by City Administration and a return to the much-debated City Operations Centre currently under construction on York Road.聽
Zaharia began by showing a video from March 2020, where聽Trent Mandzuk - Director of Public Works told Council the Parks Building was contaminated and was simply unsaleable.聽聽
The issue was hydrocarbons in the soil and gases were feared to be escaping into the building.聽
鈥淭he City will forever have that liability... You can鈥檛 sell it,鈥� offered Mandzuk.聽
But the City did receive an offer on the building, $50,000 as is, from Sno Riders to use to store their equipment.聽
So how could a building that was said to be unsaleable suddenly sell, questioned Zaharia,聽
Coun. Chris Wyatt said the initial statement about it being too contaminated to sell looks to be part of 鈥渁 push to build a building of this scope (the facility on York Road,鈥� suggesting Administration was making the push when the Council of the day was 鈥渨anting to spend a lot less money.鈥澛�
鈥淣ow we鈥檝e sold the building,鈥� he said.聽
Wyatt suggested the mixed messages were troubling.聽
Councillors 鈥渁re not experts in every aspect of the city,鈥� so they must trust that they are being given the best and most accurate information by staff,聽he noted.聽
Without a trust in that 鈥渢his job becomes almost impossible,鈥� he said, adding it leaves Council second guessing things.聽
City Manager said the safety concerns Mandzuk was talking about聽was based on information from consultants, and 100-contamination report on the old public works that led to the suggestion 鈥渢here could be a health risk at the Parks Building.鈥澛�
An actual health risk assessment on the Parks Building 鈥渨as not done,鈥� Kaal said Monday.聽
As for the offer to buy the building the offer was rare in the sense that the Sno Riders were willing to take it knowing of the potential issues and being willing to assume that risk.聽
But Wyatt was not convinced calling it 鈥渟traight forward鈥� that the unsaleable comments from 2020 鈥渨ere part of an agenda to get the bigger (City Operations Centre) project done.鈥澛�
Coun. Quinn Haider questioned how the affair impacts the integrity of Councillors.聽
鈥淚 put trust in the information we get,鈥� he said, adding the change in message leaves him worrying 鈥淚 misled people I care about,鈥� adding he doesn鈥檛 like feeling he has 鈥渄eceived people.鈥澛�
Kaal said there was 鈥渘o intent to mislead, or misguide Council . . . Absolutely no intent.鈥澛�
But Coun, Ken Chyz was still not pleased.聽
鈥淎t one point or another we were given false information,鈥� he said, adding at one point the Parks Building couldn鈥檛 be sold and the City was liable forever, and then there was an offer that was accepted.聽
Normally you don鈥檛 transfer a contaminated property to another body, said Kaal.聽
鈥淣ormally you wouldn鈥檛 do it,鈥� she said.聽
But when an offer came, Kaal said she brought it to Council, adding it was 鈥渁n opportunity to unload鈥� the property. 鈥淚 thought it was worth the risk.鈥澛�
But, Council was worried they might still be liable, or had under-valued the property. Coun. Wyatt made a motion to cancel the sale.聽
鈥淭echnically we have a valid sale,鈥� said Kaal, adding all material on possible contamination was provided to the Sno-Riders. 鈥�. . . They are accepting a contaminated site.鈥澛�
鈥淭his is turning into a joke . . .This is getting very upsetting what鈥檚 going on here,鈥� said Wyatt, adding the property was assessed at more than $700,000, and the sale was $50,000.聽
鈥淚t makes no sense for me to sell this building,鈥� he said. 鈥渋f the people want to take us to court (for cancelling the deal) let鈥檚 go.鈥澛�
鈥淲e will do our best to undo it,鈥� said Kaal.聽
But, before Wyatt鈥檚 motion could be passed Coun. Dustin Brears cited he felt a need to have more information before voting. He made a motion to table the motion which passed ending debate Monday and sending the matter to a meeting in July.
