From the Daily Graphic June 14 2013

The PCU Centre has been surrounded by controversy from the beginning. The complaints about it are so strong and numerous, a stranger to Portage la Prairie might think it’s a dump.

Portagers don’t realize how good they have it with the PCU Centre. Other Canadian communities have recreation facilities that could only be classified as dismal. Rinks with lighting so dim players practically have to wear mining helmets to find the puck — and to have a weight room and pool on site was considered a pipe dream for most.

That being said, there are issues with the centre for which both the Portage Regional Recreation Authority and the contractor need to be held accountable.

Firstly, the contractor should have known better or shouldn’t have been so greedy as to cut corners that pose safety risks to patrons of the centre. The lack of roof top scuppers, eavestroughs and downspouts to provide proper drainage of water is more than an oversight.

How much would it have cost to put in a few scuppers, eavestroughs and downspouts in the first place? A quick search online finds scuppers priced around $100 each, eavestroughs for about $400 for a pack of 10 and downspouts for less than $10. Granted, the pricing is certainly more in the thousands of dollars than hundreds due to the size of the building, but was saving a few thousand dollars out of $43 million really worth it for these contractors? Perhaps most alarming is the fact that the only scupper on the building was put right above an exit door, causing water to drain and freeze right where visitors can slip and fall. The PRRA is lucky no one has filed a lawsuit.

Secondly, the PRRA needs to be accountable for the fact they either never checked that work was done correctly or they had someone doing it for them who didn’t know what to look for.

Anyone buying a house, if they’re smart, will have a home inspection done by a certified home inspector to ensure that what they are buying is worth the money they are willing to spend on it. If millions of Canadians have the sense to do a home inspection prior to purchase, why then did the PRRA not have the common sense to inspect the building as construction progressed to guarantee that it was being built as it should have?

While the PRRA lucked out with fixing the leak in the pool under warranty, that should have been the first sign that perhaps they should check all construction before it cost them more money in the long run.

Congratulations to the new operations manager, Randy Miller, who raised the issue of the roof last year with the PRRA board. He seems to be the only one who took the initiative and had the common sense to see that something was not right with the building’s drainage.

And let’s not forget that the minimum life expectancy of the PCU Centre is 70 years. That’s 70 years of repair work. Last year, the authority paid $65,000 in building maintenance costs. How much of the repair work to be done in the future will be due to normal wear and tear — and how much will of it will be due to a contractor’s negligence and an authority’s lack of initiative?

From The Daily Graphic June 3 2013

The Portage Regional Recreation Authority sent out a tender this week for repairs, modification and drainage work to be performed on the PCU Centre’s roof.

Although the centre has only been open for three years and cost more than $43 million to build, faulty construction has caused the board to green light repairs.

“The issue we have is on the south side by the atrium. There’s an exit and they put the scupper basically right on top of the door. So, that’s where the water falls and it ices up and people slip and fall,” said David Sattler, general manager of the PRRA.

Aside from the issues on the south side all the scuppers on the building, other than the south side, have no eaves troughs or down spouts, which has led to water falling onto the concrete below forming ice patches during the colder months.

“This is more about safety, especially with the spring thaws that we have,” said Sattler, noting sections of the sidewalk on the south and north sides of the building will be cut to let water drain underneath the concrete thus eliminating ice patches.

“It’s a little safer for users of the building because we want everyone to come and enjoy the facility,” said Sattler.

The new facility operations manger raised the drainage issue last year, but the board couldn’t do anything until it had a budget review.

Costs are estimated to be in the thousands, but an official number won’t be known until all the tenders are submitted to the PRRA.

“We were really holding out to get a grant so that’s why we’re starting later; we found out we don’t qualify, but one thing that we made sure when working with the board and administration with the budget is that the funds were available regardless if the grant was available or not,” said Sattler.

This isn’t the first time the centre has needed repairs since it opened in 2010. The pool at the aquatic centre leaked within the first year causing it to shut down until repairs were completed. Luckily, the bill was covered under warrantee and cost the PRRA nothing to repair. Unfortunately, unlike the pool, the recreational authority can’t take legal action against the construction company who built the centre as the warrantee is expired.

“Unfortunately, this should have been done right the first time by the contractors, but they weren’t. So, now we’re on the hook to pay for it,” said Earl Porter, chair of the PRRA.

The city paid the lion’s share of $22 million to fund the centre’s construction and will foot 75 per cent of the repair bill with 25 per cent covered by the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie.

The authority paid $65,000 last year in building maintenance costs and Sattler estimates that figure to rise as the building ages. It has a minimum life expectancy of 70 years.

“We went though our honeymoon phase, where everything was new and you’re getting everything going. Now, it’ll be to the part where you’ll perform maintenance on things … We’re trying to pin point the things that are necessary to be done annually or in a scheduled time and trying to make sure those are budgeted in because we really need to be on top of things like that,” he said, adding the PRRA is steadily building their reserve.

“We hopefully will be able to maintain our reserve so that it can cover any issue that would pop up,” said Sattler.

Other than roof repairs, the PRRA is also looking to upgrade the green space at the front of the building.

“We’re hoping to spruce it up a little. Right now, it still has a lot of construction based materials there, like gravel. If it wasn’t for the dandelions it would look like a rock pit so we’re really going to try and look at doing something there,” said Sattler, adding the flowerbeds will also be upgraded by integrating rocks into the design in order to reduce maintenance costs.

Repairs to the roof are expected to be completed by mid-October.