New Armstrong City Hall officially opens

The new building is larger than the previous one, is more energy efficient, and houses an Emergency Operations Centre

Armstrong has officially opened it’s new city hall. The council chamber is located directly off the main foyer (video by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

Speaking with Vernon Matters, Mayor Joe Cramer said the new building will allow for growth in the future.

“We’re only using up one floor of the building at this point of time, aside from the EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) that we have in in the basement, so we have room to grow and expand,” Cramer said.

“It wasn’t overbuilt or under-built, it’s just the perfect size for this community.”

The first floor is made up of a reception area, the council chambers and a lot of office space, while the basement currently holds the EOC but is otherwise empty storage space.

Cramer added the design and style of the building is very suiting for the city of around 5,300 residents.

“A lot of the features in the building are made out of wood, cedar, and some post-and-beam construction, and Armstrong has a very long history of logging and sawmills in the community going well back over 100 years so it’s nice to be able to bring all these details into our new facility,” Cramer said.

Former mayor Chris Pieper told Vernon Matters planning for the new city hall had been in the works for close to a decade, and said the layout and size of the new city hall will provide a better work place for the staff.

Pieper noted the new building will also be much more accommodating for the general public as the council chamber is “about triple” the size of the one at the old city hall.

“We had one public hearing at the old building that had 70 people in it and they were standing everywhere,” Pieper said.

“Having access to city council is key to local government.”

The council chamber will also be wired for live-streaming meetings, though that work has not been completed as of yet.

Armstrong’s new city hall, reception top left and council chambers top right (photos by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

The new city hall was also built with some energy efficient features.

“The big thing is the use of wood in a building and the extra insulation. That saves on energy, both in heating and air conditioning,” Pieper explained.

“The way the building’s positioned, the way the roof’s put on with insulation, all that is energy efficiencies we gained which we did not have in the old building.”

Pieper added the city secured a $4 million loan to build the new city hall, and he believed it was done on time and on budget, though could not comment on final cost as he no longer sits on council. Cramer could not provide a final figure at the time either.

Armstrong secured some provincial funding to incorporate an EOC into the new city hall, which both the past and present mayor said is a very important addition.

“It’s a beautiful facility down there: it’s large, it’s a multi-purpose room we can use for training and other things, but it’s primary goal is EOC,” Cramer said. “We’re happy to work with all our neighbours in the event of floods and fires, which we’ve seen so much of in the last few years, to extend the welcome to use our EOC or work with them in theirs to hep provide safer communities.”

“EOCs have become a real fact of life in the last ten years: we have emergencies happening almost every year, whether it’s flooding or fires or whatever it might be,” Pieper commented.

“So we’ll have it set up so it’s operational in 10 minutes, and before we had to set it up at somebody’s desk or somewhere else and this will be a tremendous improvement,” said Pieper, adding city hall has emergency backup power as well.

Greg Kyllo, the MLA for Shuswap, was also in attendance at the ribbon cutting, and he told Vernon Matters the EOC is a welcome addition.

“As we see in small communities around the province of B.C., fires and floods are a reality that many communities deal with on an annualized basis,” Kyllo said.

“So having that centralized location for emergency services management is really important. In many communities, it’s kind of ad hoc, so the emergency facilities don’t have a home base and depending on where the fires or floods may be, they might set up in a community hall in different areas. So the fact that Armstrong has made the capacity for space and the funding has been there to establish the permanent facility just speaks volumes of the foresightedness of this community to prepare for the disasters that may come to local communities.”

The vault door from the old city hall was salvaged and incorporated into the new vault as well.

The EOC in city hall, former Mayor Chris Pieper with the salvaged vault door, and Mayor Joe Cramer at his seat in the council chambers (photos by Liam Verster / Vernon Matters)

City staff moved into the new building approximately three months prior to the ribbon cutting, and Cramer said the new city hall has been quite a step up. He told Vernon Matters the old building had “sloped floors,” “a leaky roof” and was so small, staff “were all tripping over each other.”

He added they “got their mileage out of the old building” and hoped the new one will serve the community for 100 years as well.

The landscaping outside the new city hall had not been completed, but Pieper said the city is working with the Okanagan Basin Water Board to create a Make Water Work xeri-scape area to conserve water. No time line was provided for completion of that work.

Cramer, who is serving his first term on Armstrong council, estimated about 140 people were in attendance for the official opening, and expected to see a few hundred more come through and tour city hall during the open house from 12 to 3 p.m. Thursday, June 1.

by Liam Verster

New Armstrong City Hall officially opens

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