Rossland City Hall -- Closed Temporarily; UPDATED
By Rossland Telegraph
Snow loads are humongous this year, and Rossland’s City Hall is suffering from that. We’re not just talking about the high cost of snow removal and the problems of finding places to put the stuff; City offices will be closed to the public until Friday, March 9, and possibly later, after a “partial possible collapse” of a section of roof at City Hall.
The roof was designed to withstand a load of 160 pounds per square foot, and the current build-up isn’t nearly up to that weight yet, but Mayor Kathy Moore reported that “a weak link was found.”
Chief Administrative Oficer Bryan Teasdale is working on finding an alternate work space for City Hall until crews can complete repairs. The City will notify residents about an alternate location as soon as possible.
Manager of Public Works Darrin Albo noted that the roof of the building has never had to be shoveled in 32 years, and that the roofing membrane warranty would be voided by people walking on the roof — to shovel it, for instance.
Below is the recent notice from City Hall about accessing City Hall; since we received it, more news — all Council meetings and Public Hearings will be held at the Miners Hall (1765 columbia Avenue in Rossland) until further notice.
City representatives have now met with both WorkSafeBC and a structural engineer to complete an initial structural assessment of the damage at the City Hall building and to review the possible options available.
The initial findings have shown that the front portion of the building, the reception and recreation office areas, are unsafe and therefore currently cannot be accessed. However, as the rest of the building has been deemed structurally sound, the City is focused on setting up temporary offices for those displaced staff in order to continue to provide core services for the community over the coming weeks.
Although we plan to be operationally functional within the next few days, City Hall remains unsuitable for public access. As a result, City Hall will remain closed to the public for the balance of this week. By Friday, March 9, 2018, the City will have more information and better able to determine the short-to-medium term plan for City Hall operations.
Citizens of the City of Rossland requiring immediate assistance should feel free to call the City Hall main switchboard at 250-362-7396 and select the appropriate department where we will endeavour to attend to your service request as soon as possible or arrange a meeting at our earliest available time.
In order for the City to be able to respond to the current backlog of enquiries, we ask that you only contact City Hall if an emergency arises. For general requests or to make payments to the City, please visit our website at www.rossland.ca
