Lunenburg Town Council voted in favour of paying for an assessment of roof repairs needed at the Lunenburg Academy which will cost just shy of $110,000.
However, reaching that decision took some time as the council initially voted down the motion to fund the assessment work.
When the motion was first raised town staff explained that the roof repairs were needed after certain areas of the roof were ignored when the Academy was fully restored five years ago. They indicated portions of the roof repairs set to take place at that time were taken out of the scope of work to save costs.
Councilor Peter Mosher characterized that decision by saying “So we saved pennies to spend dollars later,”.
Mosher went on to say that he feels the Town of Lunenburg isn’t the right entity to own the Academy.
“I’m almost at the point where I’d just like to talk to Parks Canada and say here are the keys to your national historic site,” said Mosher. “It’s not unlike what the province did to us with the Academy when they were done with it as a school, or like the Heritage Society handing us back the bandstand after its costs were revealed,”
Councilor Ed Halverson however emphasized that as owners of the building the Town has a responsibility to the tenants currently in it which include the public library, the Lunenburg Academy of Performing Music, a pre-primary program and more.
“I share Councilor Moshers’ frustration but I do feel like we don’t have a choice, we are the landlords now, we have to maintain it,” said Halverson.
Following those discussions, the motion to fund the assessment was defeated with votes opposed coming from Councilor Mosher, Councilor Mellisa Duggan, and Councilor Jenni Birtles.
However, deliberations on the issue resumed after that with multiple concerns being raised.
The first concern was that the Town wouldn’t know how much the full roof repairs would cost without the assessment. Councilor Halverson noted that having that information would be useful for future discussions with Parks Canada about a potential takeover of the Academy so they can understand the associated costs.
Lunenburg Academy Foundation President Rachel Bailey also spoke during the deliberations and noted that refusing to fund the assessment in hopes of getting a reaction from Parks Canada was a dangerous strategy.
“Now is not the time to provide ultimatums to Parks Canada, they aren’t productive and are not a practical or productive way to negotiate with future partners,” Bailey said.
As evidence of this Bailey said following the most recent application to Parks Canada from the Town for funding of the Academy was refused which Bailey says has not happened previously.
As part of the motion to fund the roof assessment, the Lunenburg Academy Foundation would provide $54,619 of the total $109,238 cost.
The motion to fund the assessment eventually returned to the floor and passed with all Councilors except Councilor Mosher voting in favour.
The assessment is expected to be completed before the winter. Once complete the Town could then begin putting out tenders for the actual work on the roof to begin.
Whether the council will have a desire to do so remains to be seen and will depend greatly on how exspensive the repairs are revealed to cost.
You can listen to the full discussion from Lunenburg Town Council on their YouTube page.
