Change room repair leads to extensive fine
On March 21, 2016, the City of Guelph fined itself $1,125 for failing to acquire a building permit before beginning renovation on a local community centre.
The West End Community Centre recently renovated a change room in the facility. The work was started and completed by city workers without the proper documentation. Although the City had applied for a work-permit, it had not been granted at the time of the renovation.
Upon discovering the error, the change room was closed to the public pending an inspection of the work-site. The building permit has since been issued and the building services department has approved the finished work.
The fine comes from a perspective of equality. The City’s Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for Infrastructure, Development, and Enterprise Scott Stewart, said: “I think anybody who comes in to get a building code from us would expect us to get it right, and when we got it wrong, we just want to say look, we got it wrong, here’s a cause and effect, there’s a consequence to that … and the consequence is [that] we’ve ended up this position where we’ve had to fine ourselves for the violation.”
Stewart also said that “the City, in discovering its error, has taken disciplinary action against the employees responsible for the non-compliance.”
What that might mean for local workers or those involved in the repair has not been touched upon by the City.
Looking into the past, it appears that there have been issues surrounding the City of Guelph’s adherence to the Ontario Building Code. This fine might be a very visible step in the right direction.
In August 2015, the former chief building official for the City, Bruce Poole, was fired. Earlier this year, Poole filed a lawsuit against the City of Guelph, claiming that he was fired without cause. In his statement of claim, Poole said starting in 2013, he and his staff “repeatedly raised concerns” about the city’s failure to obtain proper building permits, request mandatory inspections, and clear outstanding violations under the Ontario Building Code.
In his lawsuit, Poole said that he had been pushing the City to abide by the Ontario Building Code, and heavily implied that it was something they were not doing. Poole has sued the City for $1 million for wrongful dismissal; however, none of his claims have yet been proven in court.
In response to the fine from the City against the City, Stewart had gone on to say that “a violation of the Building Code Act is a serious matter. As soon as we learned of this situation, the City took action to ensure the safety of facility patrons. Then we launched an investigation and responded.”
The City will pay the fine to the provincial government.
All affected facilities have been re-opened for public use.