Emergency council meeting Friday to settle fate of Fort Simpson warming centre

The fate of Fort Simpson'swarming centre is set to be decided in an emergency meeting ofvillage council Friday. This comesafter the owners of the building that houses the centre posted a notice on Facebook stating that they plan to evict the shelter.

The warming centre has been operating out of the Unity building since December 2020.

About 27people use its services on a part-time basisand nine use it daily, according to Rosa Wright, who manages the day-to-day operations alongsideseveral part-time employees and volunteers.

Muaz Hassan, co-owner of the Unity building, posted theone-week eviction notice on his Facebook page on Wednesday. According to Mayor Sean Whelly, that cameone day after village council held a special meeting where it voted to deny Hassan's request for a rentincrease, retroactive to October 2021.

That vote was made in camera, and the reason for the decision has not been made public yet, but Whelly said councillors had questions aboutthe timing of the request, and the request for back payment.

Monthly costs exceed payment

In theFacebook post Hussan said the $3,200 per month council is paying in rent does not cover the operating costs. According to RajHundal, Hussan'sbusiness partner, when fuel and power are included, costs arewell over $5,000 a month. The overages are now paid by Hundal and Hussan's business, Unity Ltd.

Hassan and Hundal said they've also received help from the community. For example, Hundal noted that costs to run the building last year were significantly lower due to a $7,000 donation from Rowe's Construction.

"Now we are expected to pay the fuel from the $3200, which actually in the winter months doesn't even cover the fuel," Hundal said.

During a village council meeting on Sept. 13, 2021, SAO Kevin Corrigannoted that the NWT Housing Corporation contributed at least $144,000 to the operation of the shelter from Januarythrough March, 2021. According to Corrigan, most of that went to cover staffing costs, plus a 10 per cent village administration fee. In that same council meeting, Corrigan said the housing corporation had committed another $200,000 for this fiscal year.

On Thursday Whelly said he's seen the breakdown of costs for the shelter, and he wants to see it continue to operate at the Unity building. He said there's $40,000 left over from last year's budget that the Housing Corporation said could be rolled over into this year to help cover the extra rental costs.

"Based on what I know, I feel as though the the increase isreasonable in terms of what the actual costs are," Whelly said.

Fort Simpson Village council is scheduled to meet at noon Friday to reconsider the request for increased rent and back payment.