Officials in Gananoque were shocked last week when they received bids to renovate the historic Town Hall.

Council budgeted $2.5 million to build a two-storey addition and renovate the existing 186-year-old building. The project went to tender and all of the bids received were at least a million dollars over budget.

Sitting at $3.4 to $3.8 million.

Erika Demchuk says perhaps the architect’s plans called for too many bells and whistles, like self-flushing toilets and automatic sinks.

“It’s great to be able to get off the toilet and it flushes or go to the sink and just put your hands underneath it and it goes but do we really need all of those things?”

The 9,000 square-foot addition is needed for office space, council chambers and to bring the structure up to building and fire codes. Right now, it isn’t accessible. So it’s back to the drawing board for +VG Architects and town staff.

Council hopes to see a figure closer to $2.5 or $2.8 million at its December 5th meeting.

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