After major flooding at the Canmore Civic Centre damaged municipal offices at the end of January, town staff will move into new digs next week on Main Street.
Up to 40 staff will be relocated over the long weekend to 729 Main Street, the former offices of Three Sisters Mountain Village before it went into receivership.
The other option for space was the old library building, which also saw water damage in an unrelated flood event linked to the facility’s hot water tank.
Communications manager Sally Caudill explained concerns about damaged drywall and mold in that building, along with several other factors, led the municipality to decide on commercial space as a temporary office location while Civic Centre repairs continue.
“The commercial space is covered by our insurance and the claim of the rental will not increase our premiums,” said Caudill, adding the Main Street location was better configured for the needed office space. “If we went into the old library it would delay our ability to move forward with the arts centre.
“For all those reasons, we went for a commercial space and it allows the arts centre to proceed on its original timeline.”
As of Wednesday (Feb. 12), there was no update on the full damage to the mechanical and electrical systems or the total amount of damage caused when the main water pipe into the building failed causing the entire ground floor of the Civic Centre to flood.
The Main Street office will open on Tuesday (Feb. 18) with main reception for finance, planning and Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) as well as arts and events on the first floor. Planning, engineering, flood recovery and FCSS offices will be located on the second floor.
