City council has renewed leases for the Williams Lake Visitor Centre tenants until 2029.
The visitor centre, also known as the Tourism Discovery Centre, will once again be leased to the Williams Lake & District Chamber of Commerce and the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin Society for their respective portions of the building.
Located at 1660 Broadway Avenue, the building is home to both the Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin and the Williams Lake Visitor Centre.
The Museum of the Cariboo Chilcotin is operated by the museum society, which operates on a fee-for-service agreement for $24,000 per year.
The Williams Lake Visitor Centre is operated by the Williams Lake & District Chamber of Commerce, also on a fee-for-service agreement for the amount of $160,000 a year. The WLDCC operates the visitor centre but also functions separately as the chamber to support local businesses, with an office in the building for this part of their operations.
Each organization will renew their lease for five years with the city, through to December 31, 2029, for the amount of $1 per year. The staff report indicated the agreement is in line with other non-profit organizations in the city providing services.
The renewal comes with some minor changes to the lease agreement based on feedback from the respective tenants, but will remain largely the same.
In a presentation and update to council, Paul French, chamber president, noted the two groups are working well together, but it can be challenging to manage some of the shared space, as both use the boardroom regularly.
He requested the city and chamber work together to potentially seek out funding for additional design and construction to increase the usable area in the building.
"Another boardroom could be incredibly valuable to both sides," he said.
The lease identifies the city as responsible for utilities, providing wireless internet, janitorial and waste services, snow clearing of parking lot and sidewalk, light bulbs and other consumables, structural elements of the building and yard maintenance.
Originally the city took out a $1 million loan towards the $3.5 million-plus cost of construction. The city expects the remaining debt owing on the construction loan for the building to be paid off this year.
The city paid $89,000 in 2024 up to November, $90,000 in 2023 and $83,000 in 2022, for the building's maintenance.
Additionally, included in the city's 2025 draft budget was the refinishing of one sidewall of the building, estimated at $33,000. The city needs to refurbish the log walls on a rotating basis to maintain the log structure.
A previous story in December 2024 about the lease renewals was a discussion by council to give staff direction on the lease agreements prior to council voting to sign the updated lease renewals. This vote authorizes the signing of the leases on behalf of the city.
