INUVIK - Val Tomlinson and her Save SAMS campaign made their way into town council chambers on Monday night with a historical request.

Tomlinson asked the mayor and councillors to designate Sir Alexander Mackenzie school as a heritage building, to protect it from demolition.

Val Tomlinson made a presentation to the town council on Monday night asking to have Sir Alexander Mackenzie school designated as a heritage building. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

"All I want is for the council to designate it as heritage, I am not asking for money," said Tomlinson during her presentation.

"Once the Departments of Education is done with the building, it should be used for historical purposes."

Tomlinson started her crusade to save the old building last summer with a petition.

The list grew 562 names long, though Tomlinson said some of the people who signed were not of legal age, or were from out of town.

"When you break down the number, there are 389 names that are eligible (voters)," said Tomlinson.

The number represents approximately 12 per cent of the population of Inuvik.

Tomlinson also presented the estimated costs for keeping the building operational.

"After the piling inspection, it was shown that almost half of the piles are good for many years," said Tomlinson.

Future pile replacement or repairs were estimated at $12,000 per pile, with an average of 12 piles being replaced each year.

Annually, it would cost $144,000 for pile repairs alone. Structural maintenance would be a one-time payment of $300,000. Annual maintenance would be slated at $300,000 per year as well.

Tomlinson added that the building would need to be re-zoned from school to commercial/residential as well. "We need to keep this building for preservation of the past," said Tomlinson.

"There are many people with links to that school."

Mayor Derek Lindsay told Tomlinson that meetings have been scheduled with the departments of public works and education to discuss the school's fate. "We are talking about what will happen to the school when they are done with it," said Lindsay.

"The area is allotted for park space, although no definite plans have been made yet."

Keeping the park areas in one location is something that Lindsay has been examining as well.

"We want our softball fields and soccer fields in the same place, if we lose Curtis field to the new school," said Lindsay.

Lindsay wants the councillors to discuss the decision at their regular council meeting, which was scheduled to be held last night.

Lindsay also said that the decision is for the council to make, regardless of who will own the building afterwards.

"There would be a lot of work to be done if we chose to designate the building as a heritage site," said Lindsay.

Deputy mayor Chris Larocque said he is personally in favour of saving the building, but needed to review the information package before making a decision.

"Personally I'd like to see it saved," said Larocque. "There are other buildings in town we can't just demolish. We need something in place to protect the older buildings in town."

Larocque said he would wait until the meeting was done before putting his choice on record.

"I don't have an official opinion just yet," said Larocque.