“It’s almost historic.”
Those words from Councillor Chris Mayne, Chair of the Cassellholme Board of Management after Council in North Bay approved the board’s ability to proceed with financing the Cassellholme Redevelopment through Infrastructure Ontario.
The move is subject to the city’s final approval of the financing agreement.
Mayne says it’s been 12 years in the making and offered a couple of updates to recent developments.
“I know one of the concerns for many of us was the bridge financing. That was cancelled last Thursday without any cost to the city,” he says. “On Thursday as well, we also sent an email to Infrastructure Ontario just to signal that all of the municipalities are supportive of financing through Infrastructure Ontario.”
Mayne says shovels should be in the ground in mid-January and he looks forward to monthly construction updates.
Councillor Johanne Brousseau says her main concerns are with the residents of Cassellholme living in a construction zone for four years.
She also offered congratulations on the project, but not the negotiations.
“I went to the extent this summer of taking a conflict management course at Nipissing. Maybe some of the Board of Management at Cassellholme should’ve done that before negotiating with all of these municipalities,” she says.
Deputy Mayor Tanya Vrebosch also called for good communication from Cassellholme over change orders, warning the city’s 10-year capital plan could end up being “annihilated”.
“We need to be able to manage those change orders and not just autocratically be given a bill on those change orders,” she says. “We need a part of the discussions before they happen and before they are paid for so we can properly plan our budget going into the future.”
Earlier during Monday’s special meeting, Council rescinded a January 2021 motion that rejected the financing strategy.
They then unanimously supported moving the project forward.
