At an In-camera meeting in the morning held under sections (d),(e) and (k) of Section 90(1) and later declassified in the afternoon open council session the names of the Winning Architectural firm and a Survey contract were announced.
The winning Architectural firm is a Toronto/Vancouver combination of CEI Architecture Planning Interiors with Diamond & Schmitt Architects. The value of the survey contract awarded to Spiegel Skillen & Ass. Ltd was $103,000. The final value for Architects fees will be determined as the project progresses but Coun. Beardsell did mention that the City's taxpayers were on the hook for at least $1,000,000 even if the complex was never completed.
Coun. Beardsell joined his fellow councillors in authorizing the declassification of the motion but reiterated his opposition to spending money until the counter petition period was over.
Why a decision to announce these contracts and appointments was made under the cover of an in-camera session at 10 in the morning and later announced at 2 pm in open council is beyond me. It is legal but the optics are bad. The citizens of this community who will be paying for these decisions were deprived of the reasoned debate and logic that council always displays when making these large financial decisions.
Websites of Winners:
http://www.ceiarchitecture.com/
http://www.dsai.ca/
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