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A tender is forthcoming on the design and installation of an accessible elevator in the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre.
The motion for the tender, put forth by Councillor Barry Hicks, was passed unanimously at last month’s council meeting on February 10.
Prior to the motion, during public presentations, Tantramar resident Meghan Hicks told council that, with over 35 per cent of New Brunswickers living with disabilities, the lack of an accessible elevator at the centre is a failure to uphold the fundamental rights of residents.
“We cannot call a building a civic centre if a portion of that community is physically barred from its upper or lower levels,” she said. “We cannot call it a muster station if it cannot safely and with dignity accommodate every citizen during an emergency.”
The issuing of a tender means the municipality will put out a request for qualified, interested suppliers to submit bids. Council will then still have to vote on which bid to accept.
The municipality would also have to figure out where the money would come from as it was not part of the 2026 budget. The budget does contain funds allocated for upgrades to the civic centre, like a new condenser for $125,000 and Zamboni area improvements totalling $15,000, but Hicks took issue with what she felt were cosmetic changes.
“ While the budget finds $115,000 for murals and flooring, these aesthetic choices cannot take priority over basic access. Prioritizing aesthetics over inclusion is by definition, discriminatory.”
The elevator has been a recurring topic at council meetings for the last few months but this was the first time a motion was put forward about it.
In proposing the motion, which says the tender is to be called no later than March 31, Councillor Hicks said the elevator should have been installed when the civic centre was first constructed over 20 years ago.
“I think it is time for an elevator to be put in there. It should have been there, in my opinion, when the building was built but it wasn’t. It’s an afterthought.”
At the end of last year, councillors asked Matt Pryde, director of active living and culture, to look into what it would take to get one installed.
Then last month, during a committee of the whole meeting on Feb. 2, Pryde told council that staff had met with an engineering firm and had received an estimate of around $750,000.
During her presentation, Hicks said she had spoken with a contractor on her own, who gave a very different, much cheaper, estimate of between $50,000 and $300,000, prompting her to call for transparency and a good-faith exploration of options.
In the final remarks from councillors, Councillor Michael Tower asked that the tender reflect this discrepancy.
“ I would like to make sure that the tender gives us options on building it . . . have them design and bid on it or tender the build of it, so that we have options either outside, inside or whatever, just to make sure there’s a variance.”
