ANTIGONISH: Antigonish County’s warden says municipal officials are reviewing their options for contract work that needs to be completed on their courthouse.
In March, councillors voted to issue a tender for work on the Main Street building in downtown Antigonish.
Owen McCarron, the warden of the municipality, indicated they only received one response back, and it was considerably higher than expected, so they’ve returned to the drawing board to find a way to complete the work.
Following a special council meeting July 6, McCarron said council has directed staff members to review their options.
“We have a scope of work that we’d like to get done, but we also have a budget in mind,” he said. “We just felt it was important that we go back and look [to consider] is there any opportunity to get it done a bit cheaper?”
Issuing a different tender is one possibility, McCarron suggested, but they hope to start repairs while we still have nicer weather.
“Obviously, we’d like to get some exterior work done – some work around the entry way – we’d like to get that done, certainly late summer or mid-fall, in that range.”
McCarron suggested some initial work to the building has already been completed, including installation of heat pumps in late 2019.
Recognizing the courthouse is an old building, and the nature of renovations can be endless, McCarron added they’ve earmarked approximately $175,000 for the repairs in their 2020-21 municipal budget.