The administration and council of the RM of Rudy No. 284 welcomed people to a special grand opening and open house event on Friday afternoon, November 1, celebrating their new digs in the form of a brand-new administration office building located in the village of Broderick.
In attendance were a number of folks who also share representation duties in the area, including councillors with the Village of Broderick such as Veronica Prokopiw and representatives from the Town of Outlook, including Mayor Ross Derdall and Deputy Mayor David Simonson.
The road to arriving at a new office building for the RM was rife with its own unique twists and turns, as shown in key highlights by a provided ‘Where We Were/Where We Are’ handout.
March 20 – Received the notice of dissolution of the joint administration agreement with the Town of Outlook, from the Town and further that the RM received notice to vacate the town office by June 30th, 2019;
April 11 – Special meeting of Council offered Administrator Tina Douglas a permanent position with the RM as Administrator and decided to put out a design-build tender for a new office to be located in the current location in Broderick with tenders to close May 1, 2019.
May 2 – Special meeting of Council opened eight proposals for the new design-build office building – a tender from Versatile Concepts was accepted for a 24x60 office building for bid price of $198,500.00 with a delivery date of July 31st, 2019.
June 24 – Moving day to the vacant old RM office located at 211 Saskatchewan Ave. E in Outlook.
September 12 – Final moving day to new office.
After a number of installation dates, including power, water and sewer, as well as landscaping and paving stones installed, the heat was installed on Halloween, with the grand opening event held 24 hours later.
The RM of Rudy council is comprised of Reeve Dennis Fuglerud and councillors Kent Harrington, Travis Peardon, Jan Konst, Lyle Leverton, Bree Campbell and Marcel Vermette.
RM Reeve Fuglerud said he’s thankful that everything came together to make the new building a reality.
“Well, it’s important for the RM of Rudy because when our joint administration with the Town ended, we needed a place to go and we felt the best option was to have an office in Broderick close to our shop,” he said. “We had a lot here to put it on, and so we’re really thankful that everything fell into place and that the timeline wasn’t too long. It feels really good to be in here.”
The dissolution between the RM of Rudy and the Town of Outlook earlier this year could’ve spelled disaster and brewed bad blood if a similar situation happened between other rural municipalities and other towns, but Dennis feels it was something that was in the making for some time and that the move was better for everyone in the long run.
“We hadn’t really thought about it too much, and when the Town suggested it was time for that; the more we thought about it, the more we realized it was overdue,” he said. “When the joint administration started, I think about 30 years ago, it was a good fit and it was excellent. But since then, the workload in each respective office has grown, the issues that each jurisdiction is dealing with have gotten bigger, and really, we probably outgrew this five years ago and didn’t realize it.”
To the RM, the new building isn’t exactly a ‘new beginning’ of sorts, just another chapter in its storied history.
“Not really a new beginning, I don’t think, just a change and another chapter in our history,” said Dennis. “We’re still dealing with the same issues, but it’s still significant and really good for us.”
Guests during the grand opening were encouraged to stick around for coffee and refreshments in celebration of the RM’s impressive new headquarters.
