Moncton to go ahead with $57M RCMP station plans

Moncton is moving ahead with plans for a new Codiac Regional RCMP station estimated to cost $57.2 million, despite questions about whether the Mounties will remain the city's police force.

The 7-4 council vote Monday means the city will issue construction tenders and sign a 30-year lease for the facility with the Codiac Regional Policing Authority, which oversees the Codiac RCMP.

Moncton would pay for and then own the 6,680-square-metre building on Albert Street. It would replace the 43-year-old station on Main Street that currently houses officers serving Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview.

Moncton staff told councillors the existing station's electrical system can't handle a toaster and a microwave being used at the same time, has leaky roofs and doesn't meet post-disaster standards because it is in a flood zone.

"As a pastor in the community, I want to be careful of my words," Coun. Dave Steeves said near the end of a three-hour discussion. "The current RCMP station is a hellhole."

Councillors also heard that a review last month found "serious failures in security" related to the holding cells. No details were provided. The policing authority's budget includes $1.5 million next year because of that issue. 

Mayor Dawn Arnold told reporters it was a historic vote after nearly a decade of planning.

"We've been at this for a long time, but it was very clearly demonstrated tonight by literally everyone who spoke that the current building is not sustainable," Arnold said.

"It is not safe. It is a risk to the members. It is a risk to our community. So something had to be done, and council voted in favour of going ahead with the tender and building the new building."

While the motion centred on whether to move ahead with the plans for a new structure, it became entangled with concerns about the future of the RCMP. 

Councillors Shawn Crossman, Daniel Bourgeois, Bryan Butler and Paul Richard voted against the motion.

"I can't support this resolution because there are too many unknowns," Bourgeois said. "I'm not against the project, I'm against this project at this time."

Questions about Mounties' future

Bourgeois later introduced a motion that will be considered Nov. 1, calling for a halt to construction of the building "until the fate of the RCMP as a municipal policing services provider is determined more definitively."

The motion revives a debate that has occasionally resurfaced after the province forced the city to switch from a municipal force to the RCMP in the late 1990s.

The motion calls for the city to hire an expert on policing services in 2022 to re-examine whether the city should retain the Mounties in light of rising salaries and the possibility the federal government could change the RCMP mandate.

A motion approved at a Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick this month calls for the province to study "the most effective and efficient way to provide policing that meets or exceeds minimum policing standards in the province and in its municipalities."

John Pepper of RPL Architects, who have been hired to design the building, told councillors the station would likely be too small over the long-term for any force other than the RCMP.

He said that's because the RCMP have specialized units like forensics and a tactical team based elsewhere that another force would need. 

Multiple councillors said whichever force uses the station, the current building is no longer suitable and needs to be replaced. 

Sherry Trenholm, the city's director of municipal facilities, told councillors that the city had avoided undertaking costly upgrades of the existing station because it had been planning for a new station for years.

She said it still needs an estimated $4.6 million in repairs by 2025.

No tax hike, staff suggest

The $57.2-million cost estimate includes land the city already purchased, planning and design costs, new equipment and furniture for the station, and public art.

The city is counting on receiving a $3 million grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that requires construction to be complete by 2024.

The city also plans to have $20 million saved in a reserve account to offset the debt required for construction. 

"As such, there is not an expected increase in overall costs within the City of Moncton operating budget upon completion of the facility and thus no anticipated requirement for a tax increase to support the new facility," a staff report to council states. 

Riverview and Dieppe would cover Moncton's cost through rental payments under an agreement the communities have already signed.

The building is designed to last 25 years and accommodate up to 376 officers and civilian staff by 2044. The Codiac RCMP telecommunications centre, now in Dieppe, will move to the new facility.

Full approval has yet to be given for construction. Another vote is expected in January to award the construction tender. 

Construction would start in April 2022 and finish in 2024.