A new contractor has been hired to complete the pavilion at Gowan Park.
Clearview Township’s general manager of parks, culture and recreation, Terry Vachon, said the first contractor hired for the job last year did not meet their contractual obligations.
Consolidated Contracting did some work in the fall, dug a hole and starting working on the footings before the snow fell.
“Come springtime, he did not show up,” said Vachon, adding that the company did the same thing at a pavilion job in Springwater.
Vachon said the references had checked out.
Consolidated Contracting has already been paid $39,809.56 but the municipality has not yet decided if any legal action will be pursued.
“The priority right now is to complete the project,” said Vachon.
The Gowan Park pavilion contractor has been replaced with Cherokee Contracting.
Cherokee was asked to submit an updated quote, which came in at $189,800, $28,758 less than the original bid. Adding tax and a 10 per cent contingency fund, the cost goes up to $200,175. Cherokee Contracting has been paid for work to bring the building up to grade, in the amount of $56,762.
Now that Cherokee is approved to proceed, as of council’s June 25 meeting, they will order materials. Delivery will take six to eight weeks and then construction will begin. The pavilion should be done sometime in the fall.
The total anticipated cost of the pavilion project will be $296,746.77 (not including engineering and architectural costs). That’s way up from the original $150,000 budget.
“I know the citizens are looking to having it built. It has been a little bit of an eyesore but you don’t know about these contractors sometimes until you get going. We did reference checks on previous projects and everything worked out,” said Vachon. “The good news is we are able to move forward as quickly as we possibly can.”
The new 75-by-25-foot pavilion at Gowan Park, on Edward Street in Creemore, will have accessible washrooms and a service counter.