Stettler county council approved roughly $55,000 to repair non-functional in-floor heat at their public works building. The resolution was passed at the Nov. 12 regular meeting of council.
Councillors read a report and heard a verbal presentation from Manager of Engineering & Facilities Justin Caslor about the nonfunctional in-floor heat, including the results of a request for proposals from companies qualified to repair the issue.
“The existing circulation in-floor heating system has not been operating correctly since 2022,” stated Caslor’s memo to council. “It has been determined that a glycol leak is occurring at the main supply and return lines in front of the large overhead doors of each bay of the public works shop.
“To temporarily address the glycol leak, facility maintenance staff have isolated the leak and are currently utilizing the ceiling heating units in each shop bay. All of the shop bays are currently affected and there is no in-floor heat in the concrete.”
During his verbal presentation Caslor confirmed the in-floor heating system was currently out of action.
He noted county staff looked into repairs and received a number of offers from qualified repair outlets.
The offers included Civic Mechanical Ltd. (Red Deer) which quoted $55,550, Gold Bar Contractors (Edmonton) quoted $107,800, World Class Contracting (Red Deer) offered $116,752 and Action Plumbing (Stettler) offered $129,400. It was noted tax was in addition to the offer amounts.
“On Oct. 24, administration conducted a pre-bid formal walkthrough with interested contractors to ensure accurate pricing,” stated the staff report.
As councillors examined the quotes, Coun. Paul McKay noted how much lower Civic Mechanical’s offer was from the others, about half or more. McKay asked if anything was missed.
Caslor responded no, nothing was missed; he again noted all interested companies participated in a in-person walkthrough at the facility in question so they know what work is needed. Caslor pointed out Civic performs regular maintenance with the system in question and is familiar with it.
Caslor noted that Civic is confident with their quote and seems to want to maintain a strong relationship with the County of Stettler.
It was noted $80,000 was included in the current municipal budget to perform these in-floor heating repairs at the public works building with Coun. Les Stulberg noting Civic’s offer was well below that amount.
Councillors unanimously passed a resolution to award the in-floor heating repair work to Civic Mechanical for the quote of $55,550.
Stu Salkeld
Local Journalism Initiative reporter
ECA Review
