Infrastructure needs fixing: Iqaluit city councillor

An Iqaluit councillor says he has concerns about safety issues he found at some of the city's facilities as well as about the state of disrepair of some buildings.

Prompted by complaints received from the public and city staff, Coun. Kenny Bell took a tour of city buildings.

Bell didn't tour all the city's buildings, but he did visit six: the Arctic Winter Games Arena, the municipal animal shelter, the Coca-Cola plant warehouse, the Federal Road garage, the Airbase garage and the fire hall.

The city's acting chief administrative officer refused CBC's request to tour the same facilities.

Bell told CBC News when he visited the AWG arena, he found a hockey stick through the doors of an emergency exit. There was also a table leaning against the doors blocking the way out and another blocking the only wheelchair ramp.

"I even went to move them," he said. "I obviously have some serious concerns about that."

Bell said he was also concerned about a wire from a goal light that was sticking out into the walkway behind the net.

At the municipal animal shelter, Bell said cages were repurposed and placed upside down, because the metal grate was hard on the dogs' paws and difficult to clean. Loose dogs are kept at the shelter until owners claim them and its up to municipal enforcement officers to clean out the animals' waste. 

Bell told CBC News the two worst building were the Federal Road garage and the fire hall. 

At the Federal Road garage, work coveralls were piled in front of an emergency exit, likely to block drifting snow. Inside the electrical room, flammable materials were stored on top of and underneath electrical panels.

At Iqaluit's fire hall, Bell pointed out several fire hazards. He said there is only one working door in the building, since the door that exited into the Arnaitok arena has been blocked by a changing room. Bell told council a fire could easily spread through the building, since drywall that was removed from the furnace room was never replaced.

Besides the problems Bell saw on his tour, the 2011 report Piqutivut: Building Our Capital, lists a number of building code deficiencies within the 40-year-old fire hall. The report goes as far as to say, "the building does not support apparatus, quality of life or basic functional requirements of a typical Fire Hall."

Issues 'have been fixed,' says City of Iqaluit

Bell said he alerted Mayor Mary Wilman and Nunavut's Fire Marshal to the safety issues he found on his tour.

Nunavut's Director of Protection Services Ed Zebedee told CBC News many of the problems Bell found have been fixed. He said the emergency exit at the AWG arena has been cleared and the wire from the goal light was not live. 

"We were surprised by having one of the exit doors blocked off with a hockey stick," said Zebedee. "We had that removed. We told them anytime the building is occupied, the exits must be left open."

Zebedee said Bell toured the Federal Road garage just after a storm, snow had not been cleared, but the doors are now clear. He also said the electrical inspector was notified about concerns about the electrical room.

"We take it seriously," said Zebedee. "It doesn't matter if it's a hamlet or a government building. We take action on that as soon as we can." 

Iqaluit's acting chief administrative officer John Mabberi-Mudonyi told CBC News the city has a plan to repair the buildings. He said city officials have submitted an application to the Building Canada Fund for a new city hall and fire hall.

'Our basic infrastructure is dying'

Despite the state of the facilities, Bell said he was impressed by the ingenuity of city staff to work in the conditions. He referenced one of the city's sewage trucks, which has duct tape holding together the seats, console and windows.

Bell said those conditions reflect the state of Iqaluit's finances.

"We're spending money in places we really shouldn't be when our basic infrastructure is dying."

The city could be facing a sizable deficit by the end of 2015. But there could be enough money to replace that sewage truck this year. Bell said he wants city staff to speak up if they see something needs to be fixed.

"These are the things we need to know because when we're making decisions about how we're spending money, some projects may not have been approved if we had known that every one of our buildings had major deficiencies."