The A-frame building beside the Greenwood Museum is no more; at least it is no longer an A-frame. A new façade has turned the building into an assay office that will invite visitors to the city to experience a mineshaft with ore car and rails, hitching post with water trough, and signage. This site will be completed by the first week in June.
The beatification project was part of a Job Creation Partnership (JCP) grant, which came about through discussions with the Greenwood city council and the Greenwood Economic Development Committee. Sandy Elzinga of Community Futures Boundary provided oversight on the grant application. City Administrator Robin Dalziel presented a report on the costs of the project. He complimented the project workers (George Yamaguchi, James Bateman and Gregory MacVittie) for being very helpful, noting they often worked on various other projects throughout the city besides the A-frame.
The estimated labour cost to the city was $14,382 to the end of the year. “This represents almost 500 hours on the part of city employees,” Dalziel’s report noted. “The additional direct cost to the city is under $2,000.”
“These grants are useful for providing the city with opportunities that would otherwise have been ignored,” Dalziel said. Dalziel noted some structural problems popped up during the renovation. “Without the project it might have been too late to save the building.”
As well as the A-frame, the JCP grant provided for the installation of a divider fence and general enhancement of O’Hairi Park, heritage and directional signage will be put up in the spring, and eight new picnic tables were built. A kiosk that had been discussed early in the project has been put aside for a later project due to map and sign issues and cost overruns if continued.
The dollar cost of the entire project was $22,443; with $20,993 covered by JCP and $1,450 from the city to pay for half of the roof repairs and items not eligible to be covered by the grant, such as tool and vehicle expenses.
There was an additional $51,785 of in-kind donations for a total of$74,228 (not including wages for Job Creation Partnership participants, which was administered by CFB).
Dalziel said there would be some additional labour required to complete the project, but that most of the needed supplies are already on-hand, and in-kind donations will continue to grow before the project is completed. A soft target date for an official grand opening in the third week of June was also announced.