Also during my year as County Warden, the new County headquarters building was completed on budget and on time.
The primary catalyst for the project was a commitment to the Province to provide more courtroom space to acheive consolidation of several locations, accessibilty standards, and holding cell standards. The Province who shared the previous County HQ with Northumberland County, has leased all of the old HQ (except for POA space) and paid for 100% of the leasehold improvements estimated to be in the millions. A retiring debenture on the Brighton landfill site, and increased rent from the Province, led to the entire new HQ being constructed on County owned lands without any new levied property taxpayer money.
As a cost saving measure, our senior staff conducted all site supervision, managed day to day construction activities, change-orders, coordinated the interior design and equipment, and worked with the architect to achieve an exterior in keeping with Cobourg heritage buildings. A state-of-the-art facility using the most current technology in infrastructure, utilities, energy saving designs, along with a selection of a grey stone-like facade was a priority for me. It was achieved, along with a host of user-friendly attributes.
Northumberland County Headquarters
The new headquarters is a very energy efficient structure that has only engaged the natural gas-fired boilers twice since it opened in the winter of 2007. Interior temperature is sourced from a geothermal heat pump system and 40, 6 inch diameter wells that reach 300 feet into the ground. Insulating performance values exceed the Model National Energy Code by 25% The entire structure is equipped with a gas fired backup generating system, and is the command centre for Northumberland County in the event of a disaster.
Energy costs fell for the Northumberland County HQ by twenty five thousand dollars per year. On the “leadership” page of the Daily Commercial News May 30, 2008, the new HQ is described as an “international showpiece”. The storyline is headed with “Northumberland shows leadership by example”. A truely remarkable building that all Northumberland residents can be proud of.