Resident rooms at the Golden Manor are being outfitted for air conditioning units.
Accurate Electric has been awarded the $324,550 contract to supply, deliver and install electrical receptacles and air conditioning units at the City of Timmins long-term care home.
It was approved at the Sept. 14 Timmins council meeting, with Coun. Rock Whissell declaring a conflict of interest on the item.
There is already air conditioning in parts of the Golden Manor.
“We currently do have air conditioning in common areas, hallways, dining rooms, nursing stations, those types of areas which were the previous requirements. But now with the change we’re looking at installation in resident rooms,” Carol Halt, Golden Manor administrator, told council.
The change happened in May when provincial regulations were amended to make sure operators of homes protect residents from unacceptably high temperatures, according to the staff report.
A funding stream — the Supplementary Enhanced Cooling Fund for 2021-22 — is available.
"This fund will provide additional financial support to homes to install air conditioning in resident rooms," reads Halt's report.
"The fund will be available on a claims reimbursement basis once the air conditioning units have been installed and all expenses have been incurred. This one-time fund is available until March 31, 2022."
Five tenders were received for the project.
The Accurate Electric contract is less than the city's $403,345 estimate for the project.
While the facility is being upgraded to meet current requirements, work is still ongoing to build a new facility. This week, council also approved a single-source contract to have BTY Consultancy provide project management of the Golden Manor redevelopment's construction phase.