The Town of Black Diamond is borrowing $165,00 to expand its public works Quonset.
On July 15 Town council gave administration the green light to apply for a $139,598 loan and take $25,402 from reserve funds to add another 800 square feet to its public works office so employees will no longer be breathing in exhaust and welding fumes during their breaks.
Public works supervisor Tom Dougall said the issues have been there for at least 17 years.
“In the shop we do repairs, welding, grinding, sometimes there’s diesel equipment running in there and it’s not conducive to a coffee room,” he said. “You get all that dust and fumes and whatnot seeping through.”
Size is also an issue, said Dougall, adding the lunchroom only has room for four chairs for the crew of six and his office is too small for his frequent meetings with sales people, contractors and engineers.
“With a new office structure it gives us room for a couple of offices and a coffee room that is completely separate from the shop,” he said.
Joanne Irwin, Black Diamond’s chief administrative officer, said space and safety concerns for the 45-year-old Quonset have been on the Town’s radar for a few years and is glad the Town is finally able to take action.
She added there have been no reports of health issues from public works staff regarding the facility.
“As budgets permit and time permits it came to the point where it just wasn’t a ‘nice to have’ it was a ‘need to have,’” she said. “We want to provide a healthy working environment for our employees. It’s not a good thing to be eating your lunch while you’ve got a vehicle running in the room next to you. There need to be a barrier and there needs to be a better work environment for the employees.”
Irwin said the addition will provide a larger lunch room and potentially two small offices.
“The town has grown, the staff has grown, but the building hasn’t grown,” she said. “The actual physical footprint is not sufficient for what the public workers require.”
The added benefit to approving the addition this year is the low borrowing interest rates, said Irwin.
“It just makes sense to do this,” she said. “This way we are able to get what we require in a financially responsible way.”
The Town of Black Diamond reported having outstanding debt of just over $1 million as of Dec. 31, 2014.
Work is expected to begin on the public works office expansion in early fall and be complete either late this year or early next year.
