The Independent

Warwick Township was hoping tearing down an old salt shed at the Nauvoo Road works shed using its own staff would save significant dollars.
It turns out it won’t.

The township has been discussing replacing the delapitated salt shed for well over two years. When it first went out to tender, escalating building costs caused the former council to send the project back to staff to scale back.

When the new, significantly smaller building was tendered out this year, the lowest tender was $1.4 million – about the same as the last – much larger project. And it again was over $200,000 over budget. Councillor Jerry Westgate suggested instead of letting the builder pull down the old salt shed, the municipality’s staff could do it later. He hoped that would take a good chunk out of the cost.

But Public Works Manager Andrew Maver says the construction company priced the demolition at just $9,000.

Township staff suggested, and council agreed, to find $70,000 in cost savings this year and finance the remaining $220,00 for the project in 2024.