Penticton Council voted unanimously to contract Pattison Outdoor Advertising to supply the city with new transit stop benches and shelters at their Feb. 19 regular meeting.
According to public works manager Len Robson, who presented at the meeting, the new benches, including those inside new shelters, will be very similar to what the city currently has. However, they will be updated, there will be more of them, and they will have anti-sleeping bars.
“Note the benches in these, they promote sitting down waiting for the bus, not sleeping waiting for the bus,” Robson said, referring to the armrests on the new benches.
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Robson said Pattison’s contract includes replacing all of the city’s existing 51 ad benches, replacing the city’s existing 11 ad shelters, and doing monthly washing as well as regular and emergency maintenance.
“The ad benches that we have in place were supplied through a similar arrangement 11 years ago and the ad shelters that we have in place are somewhere between seven and eight years old in good condition, with the oldest being around 15 to 20 years old and starting to show some age,” he said before council approved the contract.
In return for supplying the infrastructure and services, Pattison will secure advertising rights on the benches and shelters.
The 15-year contract starts March 1 and runs through 2034.
In year one of the contract, Pattison will change out all of the city’s existing 51 ad benches with 51 new ad benches, as well as install 15 new ad shelters, replacing the 11 existing ones and adding four new ones “at locations mutually acceptable to the city and Pattison,” Robson said.
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In years two and three, Pattison will provide five new ad shelters per year for a total of 10, again at “mutually agreeable locations.”
In years 11 through 15, Pattison will provide another 25 new shelters.
“Primarily that will be the non-ad shelters,” Robson said, adding that at that time they’ll be due for replacement. “And there’s some additional room for ad shelters in there as well.”
Of the three companies that submitted proposals before the Dec. 7, 2018 deadline, Robson said “Pattison Outdoor Advertising scored the highest and was determined to be the best overall value for the City of Penticton.”
He said Pattison estimates the value of the contract at $1.9 million.
karissa.gall@blackpress.ca
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