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Contractors shortlisted for multi-million dollar Ramara admin office

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In Ramara
Jul 21st, 2010
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By KELLY MCSHANE ORILLIA PACKET AND TIMES July 22 2010
The Township of Ramara is one step closer to breaking ground on the construction of its new administration office, as the township begins accepting tenders from contractors for the multimillion-dollar project.
“We’ve short-listed the contractors. The tender documents went out (Monday) and will close on Aug. 9,” said Richard Bates, Ramara’s chief administrative officer.
Of the 11 contractors that were pre-qualified for the tender, three are located in Orillia — Monteith Building Group, Quinan Construction and Storburn Construction.
The new building will be built next to the existing building, which will then be torn down to make way for a parking lot.
“We had a study carried out and we found out the building was too old. It was cheaper to build new than to renovate the old,” said Bates, indicating the budget for the new building is around $4 million.
The current building, located on Highway 12 in Brechin, was constructed in 1958 and is approximately 5,200 square feet.
“It was built as a fire hall, police station and courtroom, so it has been renovated over the years. It’s all office space right now,” said Bates, adding that the space is over-crowded.
The new offices will be more than twice the current size, encompassing 13,590 square feet and, as well as additional office space, will offer some much-needed features.
“Our current building is completely inaccessible, so the new building will be totally accessible and there will be more room to accommodate the public in the council chambers,” Bates said.
“The space we have now is totally inadequate.”
Bates said the new building will have at least 50 seats within the gallery of council chambers, but will have space to add up to 30 more seats if needed.
“We’re hoping to get started in September of this year and be in the new building in April. Then we will have to take down the old building and create parking, so we really don’t expect to be totally finished until July or August of 2011,” said Bates.

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