The Town of Hay River has announced it will take possession of the new Rec Centre at the end of the month.
"Based on the most recent schedule received from Clark Builders, the new recreation centre will be turned over to the town at the end of January," states a joint news release on Jan. 12 from the town and the company. "There will be finishing work ongoing for approximately two weeks into February. Town staff will utilize the first two weeks in February to get oriented to the new facility operating systems and to outfit the facility with equipment and furniture that has been in storage while the facility was under construction."
The town is aiming to have recreational programming begin in mid-February.
The new opening date is beyond the original mid-December target and two weeks later than the end-of-January estimate from last month.
"Definitely, it's a concern that it's delayed, but obviously we've got a better timeframe of when we're going to have it open," said Mayor Brad Mapes.
The town and contractor also have an outstanding order from the Office of the Fire Marshall that will not be resolved by the handover.
"The area of concern is the central stairwell in the main lobby and safe exiting of the building in the event of a fire," stated the release.
Mapes noted the central stairwell is a matter of a disagreement with the Fire Marshal's Office.
"The Town of Hay River and our contractor by no means want to construct a building that has a set of stairs that are unsafe for our community," he said. "The concerns that the Town of Hay River and our contractor have is the fact that our contractor has had two independent groups that have looked at the way the stairwell was designed and they all feel that it should be good with the Fire Marshal's Office."
Mapes said the Fire Marshal's Office wants some kind of fire-safe glass or a permanent wall on the central stairwell to increase fire safety.
"Our contractor has gone back to the Canadian codes organization to try to get a full opinion," he added. "The scenario is, if it comes back again that they agree with what the Fire Marshal's findings are, then we'll have to put up the wall system."
NWT Fire Marshal Chucker Dewar would not discuss the details of the issue.
"This is a regulatory case file and I'm not at liberty to discuss the specific details associated with the action," he said, adding such questions are better directed towards town officials.
"I can confirm that an order has been issued related to the Hay River Recreation Centre and my office is working closely with town officials and the contractor to resolve the issues surrounding the central stairwell," said Dewar.
To address the issue on a temporary basis, the town will establish a Fire Watch program, which will provide monitoring and early detection of a fire and ensure adequate notification to building occupants for safe and timely evacuation.
"The town will provide the staff needed for the Fire Watch program," said Mapes.
Judy Goucher, the senior administrative officer with the town, said the Fire Watch plan hasn't been written yet.
"But it's not a new procedure," she noted. "It's been in place in other areas. It's basically someone walking around and just observing on a regular basis, so it would be done more than daily. It would be on a much more regular timeline."
It is unknown if the Fire Watch program will still be in place by the Arctic Winter Games.
"But during the Arctic Winter Games, there are so many additional people in the building that we will have people dedicated to this," said Goucher.
There are also security people for the games, she noted. "So we're in discussions with the host society about whether or not it would be something that we would roll into their responsibilities."
Dewar said his office is assessing the proposed Fire Watch program.
Because of the delays in opening the Rec Centre, the town is looking at extending the ice season for the arena.
Goucher anticipates it would be at a minimum a month beyond the normal end of the ice season.
The final decision will be made by town council.
No date has yet been set for an official opening of the new Rec Centre.
The 2018 South Slave Arctic Winter Games Host society was contacted to find out how this deadline would affect the games set to run from March 18 to 24, but did not respond by deadline.