Sedgewick Town Council approved a temporary fix to the arena roof issue at a special meeting held on December 30th. The job was awarded to Premier Fire and Flood Restoration Inc. who will manage the project and work with Phoenix Roofing and a structural engineer to add additional purlins that will allow for the arena to open for full use in a matter of weeks. The work is designed to bring the structure up to current Alberta Building Code standards of allowing for a load of 34 pounds per square foot (psf) versus 29 psf which was code when the rink was built in 1992.

Council expects the temporary fix to be a part of the permanent solution which will be planned to align with a future off-season when the arena would have less users. It is unknown at this point when these permanent repairs will be made as it will be largely dependent on ability to finance the project as well as regular monitoring/testing of the purlins.

The current repairs, that are budgeted to come in under $250,000, are expected to commence on January 7th and could take as little as three weeks to complete. This would allow for the arena to reopen in early February with the facility continuing to be used in March as a host site for the Atom ‘A’ Provincial Championships as well as for the #REDNEK MusicFest concert starring Gord Bamford in April.

Council weighed in on the following issues at their December 19th, 2019 regular meeting.

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Members of Town Council, the Recreation Board and the Sedgewick Agricultural Society along with arena and Town staff met with a manager of Structural Engineering from Associated Engineering earlier today in regards to the concerns over the arena’s roof. Earlier this week, the engineer provided a recommendation to the Town to close the arena to the public due to a loss of strength within the most central purlins attributed to corrosion. Those in attendance were able to quiz the engineer on his interpretation of the data and how he came to his conclusion. The engineer also explained the design constraints of the arena based on his study of the “as-built” drawings that will most likely play a large factor in how the issue is rectified. With 9 sections of purlins tested, it was found that they showed almost uniform reduction in thickness of up to 25%. The engineer stated that had the results shown a 3-4% discrepancy, the closure of the arena would not have been necessary however with the data he was provided from testing, his firm had no choice. The main girders were not part of the initial test as there was little visible corrosion identified on them.
The identified next steps are to have further testing performed to include all purlins as well as the main girders that are positioned in the areas showing the most corrosion. Qualimet Inc., the company that performed the initial testing, will return as quickly as possible to complete these tests, however no timeline has yet been provided for their arrival. Over the next few days Associated Engineering will continue to review drawings and obtain information on the design of the pre-engineered bays so as to be able to work towards the quickest and most cost-effective solution.
In the meantime, the Town has reached out to other experts in order to garner a second and third opinion on the condition of the structure. On-site meetings will take place over the next several days in an effort to leave no stone unturned towards returning the arena to full operation mode as soon as possible.
Timeline
A timeline on the discovery of the degree of corrosion to the arena’s purlins is as follows:
In 2018 the Town began discussions with Premier Fire and Flood Restoration in regards to solving a long-term issue of a leaky roof at the arena. The company was recommended to the Town as a cost-effective way to investigate a long-standing issue. The company recommended a roof inspection and water test be done to identify the issue at hand. In fall 2019, the company was hired to perform the remediation of Sedgewick Public School after a fire broke out in the building in August. It was at this time that the company provided a quote to inspect the roof as they were already stationed in Sedgewick along with their sub-contractors.
On October 24th, Phoenix Roofing, a sub-contractor to Premier Fire and Flood Restoration, attended the arena and inspected the roof from above to identify the source of the leaks. The sub-contractor then inspected the roof from ground level inside the arena and at that time noticed the level of corrosion on some of the arena’s purlins. The advice of the sub-contractor was to immediately test the purlins before investigating or putting funds towards fixing the leaking roof.
On October 28th, the Manager of Structural Engineering from Associated Engineering attended for the purpose of providing a second opinion. The engineer provided the Town with the same advice to test the purlins for strength and connected the Town with a company that specializes in this type of testing.
Qualimet Inc. performed testing on December 4th and results were received on December 9th. After viewing the results, the structural engineer made the recommendation on the 9th to close the arena. A special meeting of Council was called for 4pm on the 9th and at that time Council unanimously approved a motion to temporarily close the arena until further notice.

The Council of the Town of Sedgewick has approved the temporary closure of the arena at the Wild Rose Co-op Recreation Centre due to excessive corrosion of the roof’s purlins.  Purlins refer to roof framing members that span parallel to the building eaves and support the roof.  The Town recently engaged the services of an engineering firm to conduct tests after a noticeable amount of rust was identified on some of the purlins.

Prior to making their decision, Council reviewed the technical report provided to them which showed the center purlins having a 25% reduction in strength as well as a recommendation from a structural engineer advising to immediately close the facility.  Council also discussed the 2014 roof collapse of a curling rink in Drayton Valley and the 2018 roof collapse of the City of Calgary’s Fairview Arena which triggered city-wide arena inspections prior to making their decision.

Council is diligently engaging all avenues to mitigate the issue as safely and quickly as possible. Mayor Perry Robinson stated “as it is Council’s #1 priority to secure the safety and well-being of our citizens, we are left with no other choices in the end.” Programming at the arena will be moved to neighboring facilities in the interim.  Further information will be released to the public upon availability.

Council addressed the following items at their November 21st regular council meeting:

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In accordance with the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, the Town of Sedgewick has applied to Alberta Environment and Parks for a renewal of an existing approval to operate Sedgewick Waterworks System.

Please view the following link for further information including how a directly affected person may provide input into the decision.

https://sedgewick.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Notice-of-Application-Nov-19.pdf

The Town of Sedgewick is one of nineteen stops booked on the first leg of the recently announced #REDNEK MUSIC FEST tour in which award-winning and Alberta-born singer/songwriter Gord Bamford will be joined on stage by a number of the hottest emerging acts in the country.

The tour lands at the Wild Rose Co-op Recreation Centre on April 18th, 2019 and aside from Lacombe’s Bamford, will star multi-platinum, JUNO award-winner Jess Moskaluke and feature a knock-out lineup of other homegrown country talent including Eric Ethridge, Cory Marks, Andrew Hyatt, Ghost Boy and Duane Steele.  The tour will support Bamford’s latest single “To Get To You”, a duet that features Moskaluke, as well as the success of his previous single “#REDNEK” which is what inspired him to take a traveling festival to the road with like-minded artists.

Bamford, who was born in Australia but moved to Alberta when he was five, is no stranger to Canadian country music fans due to being one of the most decorated artists in the country with twenty-six Canadian Country Music Association awards to his credit.  To date the 43 year-old has released nine studio albums which include 39 singles, 20 of which were turned into music videos.  Within those he has accumulated seventeen top-ten hits and two number one singles which include “Dive Bar” and “When Your Lips Are So Close”.

The two-hour show is slated for Saturday, April 18^th with doors opening at 7pm and live music starting at 8pm with a yet-to-be-determined supporting act. Tickets are on sale Monday, November 25^th and can be purchased at Sedgewick Town Office, Sedgewick and Killam Co-op grocery outlets or online at ticketmaster.ca.

The Sedgewick Lake Park Association received a cheque for $750.00 this week as a donation towards the Battle River Splash Zone spray park from CCI Wireless – Corridor Communications Inc. The cheque was delivered by Martin Kraus, Sales and Community Relations Manager after a success 2019 internet sign-up campaign. For every sign-up in Sedgewick since May, the company donated $25 to the spray park. Kraus explained that they will continue the campaign, and accompanying donations, into the near future.

Accepting the cheque on behalf of the Battle River Splash Zone were Kim Rempel and Shelby Boyd.

Notice of a Special Meeting of Sedgewick Town Council is hereby given under the authority of section 194 of the Municipal Government Act.

The Special Agenda has been posted to the Meetings and Agenda page.

The meeting will be held in the Council Chambers at Sedgewick Town Office at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, April 2nd, 2019.

One Councillor will participate in the meeting through electronic means.

PUBLIC NOTICE TO ELECTORS OF THE TOWN OF SEDGEWICK, PROVINCE OF ALBERTA

TAKE NOTICE that the Council of the Town of Sedgewick, in the Province of Alberta, has given First Reading to Borrowing Bylaw 552/19 which will, upon final passage and approval, authorize the proper officers of the said Town of Sedgewick to borrow monies from the Alberta Capital Finance Authority by way of debenture issue, to pay for the cost of construction of the revitalization of  Main Street which is to include replacing sanitary sewer mains, pavement, sidewalks, light fixtures and other landscaping items located on the 4800 block of 47^th Street within the Town of Sedgewick;

The total cost of the aforesaid project amounts to $1,700,000.00. After deducting from this cost the amount of $200,000.00 to be received by way of Provincial Grants, the net amount to be borrowed on the credit and security of the municipality at large by the issue of debentures is $1,500,000.00. The debenture is repayable to the Alberta Capital Finance Authority in thirty (30) equal consecutive semi-annual instalments of combined principal and interest, with the semi-annual interest not to exceed eight (8) percent.

NOW THEREFORE NOTICE is hereby given by the Council of the Town of Sedgewick that, unless a petition of the electors for a vote on Bylaw 552/19 is demanded, as provided for by the terms of Section 231 of the Municipal Government Act the said Council may pass the said Borrowing Bylaw.

All persons interested are hereby notified and they are required to govern themselves accordingly.

A copy of Bylaw 552/19 can be found at the website sedgewick.ca or can be viewed in person at the Town of Sedgewick administrative office at 4818 47^th Street, Sedgewick, Alberta.

DATED at the Town of Sedgewick, in the Province of Alberta, this 30^th day of January, 2019.

Town of Sedgewick

PER: JIM FEDYK

Chief Administrative Officer

VIEW THE BYLAW

INFORMATION FOR ELECTORS

Pursuant to Section 1(i) of the Municipal Government Act an “elector” means:

• A person who is eligible to vote in the election for a councillor under the Local Authorities Election Act.

Pursuant to section 47 (1) of the Local Authorities Election Act a person is eligible to vote in an election if he/she:

1. a) Is at least 18 years old,
2. b) Is a Canadian citizen, and
3. c) Has resided in Alberta for the 6 consecutive months immediately preceding election day and is resident in the area on election day.

Unless otherwise provided in the Municipal Government Act, or any other enactment, only electors of a municipality are eligible to be petitioners.

A petition must be signed by the required number of petitioners.  In the case of the Town of Sedgewick, the petition must be signed,

• by electors of the municipality equal in number to at least 10% of the population.

The petition for a vote must be received by the Chief Administrative Officer within 15 days of the last publication of this notice and shall contain on each page “an accurate and identical statement of the purpose of the petition”.

(Further requirements of the petition are provided in section 224 of the Municipal Government Act.)

DATE of the last publication of this notice is the 6th day of February, 2019.