SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
City councillors balked at the fact municipal taxpayers will be expected to pay for the relocation of vital communications equipment from Stanton Territorial Hospital to the new hospital in the coming years, potentially by helicopter.

"I'm upset that the city is being forced to pay $150,000 to relocate our equipment because the GNWT decided to build an entirely new hospital," Coun. Shauna Morgan said Dec. 7 during city budget deliberations.

Sharolynn Woodward, the city's manager of information and technology, described the equipment as three cabinets several feet wide that are wired together. It is housed there for free. Similar equipment is at the fire hall, city hall and landfill.

Woodward said it was installed near the top of the hospital in 2013 with a 15- to 20-year lifespan. It wasn't until last year that plans to renovate or expand Stanton changed because the GNWT selected a builder that proposed a whole new hospital structure beside the old one.

The equipment depends on line-of-sight to the other equipment, meaning it can't be blocked. The new hospital structure blocks the old equipment from city hall. Woodward said despite the blockage, the equipment remains functional but may not be once more electronics are installed in the new hospital.

The city's 2017 budget projects spending $50,000 in 2017 for a consultant to plan the move and $100,000 more in 2018 for the actual move. Woodward said these costs are estimates until the city gets more information. She said the cabinets have to be disconnected, moved and reconnected, a task that is expected to be labour-intensive.

"The other problem is that the space we've been allocated at the new hospital has no elevator to it, so some of this equipment ... it's going to be a logistical challenge to physically locate it in that position," Woodward said during a presentation on Nov. 28. "We've gone so far as to explore the use of a helicopter to take it from one rooftop to another. It could be quite complex and it could be quite costly."

Several councillors asked administration to look into negotiations to recoup the cost of moving the radio equipment. Mayor Mark Heyck said that's something staff can explore as there is still time.

But the issue appears to be case-closed from the government's perspective.

"The GNWT agreed with the city that the hospital project would provide the required location and power requirements as part of the P3 project requirements, while the city would be responsible to relocate the radio equipment itself," stated Andrew Livingstone, a GNWT cabinet spokesperson, in an e-mail Wednesday.

Woodward also told council the city doesn't have a firm date for the move, describing it as a "moving target."

Livingstone said the hospital construction remains on schedule, to be completed in late 2018 with patients using the building the following summer. The equipment would move at some point in that time, he stated.

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