John Curran
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 10, 2007

FORT MCPHERSON - Sometime this month residents will celebrate the opening of the new Fort McPherson fire hall, a true homegrown accomplishment.

While the Government of the NWT normally manages projects of this size and scope, the hamlet is being used as a test case to see what happens when communities are permitted to tackle development contracts on their own.

"It's really a bit of a pilot project," said Phillip Edwards, the hamlet's project manager for the development. "The fire hall is an $889,700 contract that was awarded to Weitzel Construction from Inuvik last March."

So far the process has been a great one, he said.

"Since the contractors are here, the mayor and council are here and I live here, communication is very easy," he said, adding the result should be a facility that is very much in line with the community's needs.

"It's been very good being able to work so closely with the contractors."

Inside the new fire hall, crews will find an office, meeting room and updated lockers - all of which are very much needed, he said.

"The appearance of the building will also be more appealing," said Edwards. "It has both metal and wood siding."

It's hoped the fire hall will be open and ready to go by mid to late December.

"They're putting up the trim and little details like that," said Deanna Black, the community's recently hired chief administrative officer. "We're hoping the inspection will happen during the first week of December."

At the same time, Edwards and the hamlet are also managing the construction of a new Community Complex worth almost $3.4 million. The builder for this larger project is Dowland Contracting.

"The Community Complex will include a youth and elders' centre, our radio station will be re-located there and we'll have an elders' lounge with a canteen," said Black.

All of that will be on the ground floor.

"Upstairs we'll have our new hamlet offices."

Black said it's hoped the complex will be completed and open by around March 2008.

"Although the dates aren't carved in granite," she said.

While Edwards said he thinks putting municipalities in charge of their own construction projects is a great idea, the job comes with some headaches.

"Earlier this year, with both projects on the go and the construction industry so busy, we had some delays in shipping," he said. "We ended up having to wait for some of the siding for the fire hall until the ferries started running."