The rising cost to hire outside tradespeople — and their ability to get the job done on time and within budget — may result in Coquitlam forming its own parks construction crew next year.
Yesterday (Monday), the city’s council-in-committee heard from Raul Allueva, general manager of parks, recreation and culture services, about the desire to start an in-house team to meet demand.
Coquitlam’s plate is full for parks renewal, Allueva said, with tennis courts being updated, parks parking lots repaved, pedestrian bridges built, older neighbourhood parks “blitzed,” sports field turfs replaced, paths repaired and playgrounds modernized, among other things.
And with the current building boom in Metro Vancouver — with construction tenders set to rise between 5% and 8% a year — Allueva told the committee it might be time to look at bringing the work in-house with a dedicated parks team to get the smaller projects completed.
He’s expected to bring a business case for such a team before the next financial plan deliberations in the fall.
If approved, it would be the second committed construction crew for Coquitlam, Allueva said.
In 2013, the engineering department formed its own team as a pilot project; two years later, it was made permanent and now has six members who almost work exclusively on water main projects, said Jozsef Dioszeghy, general manager of engineering and public works.
Coun. Craig Hodge told the committee he likes the concept of a dedicated parks unit as it would have “more pride and ownership” than outside labour and “be good for morale.”
Hodge also pointed out the parks department’s projected $1.2-million annual shortfall in the 2018-’22 parks infrastructure plan, much of it going to recruiting construction staff.
Coun. Brent Asmundson also warned the parks department has to tighten its spending as the city will soon be losing its annual $350,000 grant from federal gas tax revenues.
City manager Peter Steblin said a new parks crew “can be done very cost-effectively” but Coun. Terry O’Neill questioned the increasing growth rate of local government.
This year, to address the parks backlog, council approved an increase to the annual capital funding for parks renewal from $480,000 to $1.5 million, bringing the total to $3.4 million.
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