By Pepper Parr
October 3rd, 2017
BURLINGTON, ON
A number of years ago when city hall was working its way through the mess related to the building of The Pier, a former General Manager, who is no longer with the city, said that from time to time there is a project that just doesn’t go right, and added, “the pier is one of those projects”.
The plans to create a totally different Joseph Brant Museum than the one we currently have, which is a bit of an embarrassment, might be turning into one of those projects that just doesn’t go right.
The new museum idea has been in the works for more than a decade.
The Joseph Brant Museum as it looks today.
There were all kinds of problems raising the money that was needed. There was a bit of a shortfall (just a million dollars) and the city went out on a limb saying it would pony up the funding shortfall and look to the province to get the money back.
Most of this council just wanted to get the project moving.
Once the city has put their money on the table I don’t we should expect the province to come along with a cheque but that is an issue that will get worked over later.
The Capital Projects people at city hall told city council that if the project was to get started – they needed the city to commit. The city committed and the tenders went out.
And darn – the best tender came in at just shy of half a million over the budget.
Things were indeed going wrong.
The current replica of the original structure would be raised and re-oriented with increased exhibition space created underneath.
The lowest bid for construction of the Joseph Brant Museum expansion was $8.9 million from Aquicon Construction Co. Ltd.
The total project cost had been estimated at $10.4 million in November 2016; that got revised up to $10.965 million in September 2017, and revised upward again last week to $11.437 million after construction tenders came in.
The city was prepared to put up $2.1 million – that share has risen to $3.978 million which doesn’t include additional operating and capital costs.
Funding for the project is now:
Federal Cultural Spaces Grant: $ 4.479 million
Provincial Trillium Grant: $ 500,000
Joseph Brant Museum Foundation: $ 2.479 million
City of Burlington: $ 3.978 million (up from $2.1 million)
TOTAL: $11.437 million
Building the expansion isn’t the only thing that has seen cost increases.
The cost of operating the museum once it has been re-built is looking at a shortfall that is projected to be $208,000 – for the hiring of three additional staff. That staff will run a program about which basically nothing is known.
There is mention of two travelling exhibits each year will provide revenue. A staff report is suggesting that the financial problems be worked out in the 2018 budget with a combination of one-time funding of $87,000 spread over two years, and an increase to the base budget grant of $150,000, followed by 2% annual increases thereafter.
Consistently increasing capital and operating costs are not the only issue. There is a really messy land ownership matter that has yet to be resolved.
Details on that are far too complex for this article. Just who owns the land (at this point in time the hospital does) but they can’t just sell the property. The federal government has their hands in this one.
In this portrait Joseph Brant is seen wearing the gorget given to him by King George III. That gorget is the most important piece in the collection at the Joseph Brant Museum.
The original owner was Joseph Brant himself who was given the land for his service to the Crown.
How the city thinks it can get the land as city property is an amazing story – wait for that one.
Is the rebuild of the Joseph Brant Museum a doomed project? If the project were a hospital patient the doctor would be suggesting it might be time to get your affairs in order.
City council hasn’t heard the last of this one.
An election issue perhaps? The Museum, the New Street Road Diet, the 2018 budget that is going to be painful, the cost of getting the transit system the city is going to need if we are going to get people out of their cars are all major issues. How many members of the current city council are going to be re-elected in October of 2018 – just a year away?
Five of the seven members of Council wanted to see the project proceed. Meed Ward and Dennison dissented.
Didn’t Brant keep slaves? Seems like a waste of Burlington’s Money
Thank you to Councillors Meed Ward and Dennison for respecting the taxpayers and being the only members of council to vote this ballooning cash cow down.