Downtown ed centre task force assembled
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...orce-assembled
The task force created to scout downtown locations for the public school board’s new headquarters will only meet “a couple” of times before reporting back to trustees.
But for Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board chair Tim Simmons, that’s all the time needed to explore available options in the core.
“I think it is, because of who’s involved in the task force,” he said. The city’s willingness to offer assistance to the board — something Simmons said was lacking when the board first looked into downtown properties several years ago — will also help the process along.
“That might be the difference,” he said.
The seven-person task force was assembled last week on a volunteer basis. Councillors Jason Farr and Brian McHattie, along with city manager Chris Murray, will head up the search on the city’s side, while Simmons, trustee Karen Turkstra, education director John Malloy and architect Paul Sapounzi, who’s behind the plans for the new headquarters, will round out the task force for the board.
They won’t formally meet until later this month in order to give Murray and his staff some time to gather information about potential sites, Simmons said.
Several of the group’s members, along with McMaster’s vice-president administration, Roger Couldrey, met informally and in private last Friday to finalize the task force makeup and strategy. Other issues, such as swing space and the sale of the downtown Education Centre, were also discussed, according to a university spokesperson.
Between now and the initial meeting, Simmons said, Malloy will provide the city with some possible scenarios to work with, such as a two-site model that would allow the board’s administrative headquarters to remain in the core while facilities management would continue to operate out of the former Crestwood school site on the Mountain.
Another option — consistent with the board’s current plan to build its new, $31-million headquarters at Crestwood — is to find a location that will allow for consolidation of office staff and maintenance operations at a single site.
The school board backed the task force at the request of Farr and McHattie, who urged trustees last Monday to reconsider their decision to build the new education centre on the Mountain. Any costs associated with the search for downtown sites will be covered by the city, through accessing ward funds.
Task force members are expected to report back to trustees with their findings no later than April 16.