Creaking and cracking in Kangirsuk

MIRIAM HILL

KANGIRSUK — The municipal building in Kangirsuk is cracking at its seams — again.

From the outside, perched atop a hill in the town overlooking picturesque Payne Bay, the $800,000 building looks quite sturdy. But the inside is a different story.

Mayor Joseph Annahatak sits behind a large, dark, wooden table in the building’s boardroom. From the corner of the window behind him a huge crack winds its way toward the ceiling.

“This winter we had high winds and a big snow storm. I was out of town, but the staff heard creaking,” he says.

Just four weeks ago, a team of engineers hired through the Kativik Regional Government were brought in to assess the problem, which began only two years after the building was constructed.

In February 2000, cracks had appeared in almost every room and were expected to get worse. A poorly compacted pad was deemed the probable reason for the building’s shift.

At that time, the municipality didn’t want to have to pay for repairs because it felt the contractor, Les Habitations Durab Inc., should have checked the site before building. The building site was prepared by the municipality before the office was constructed in 1998.

Three years later it appears the municipality and the Kativik Regional Government will pay for the building’s repair.

Recently engineers came and jacked up the building about four and a half inches, mostly under the exterior wall.

“In some areas we have to be careful because jacking it up caused cracks in other places,” Annahatak says. Many of the more dramatic cracks were closed, but others appeared in new spots.

“We had to do something though,” he said. “This winter, after hearing the cracks, there was a question if it was safe.”

The building was constructed a year before Annahatak was elected mayor and he says the contract states clearly that preparing the foundation was the village’s responsibility, not the contractor’s.

Annahatak says the town will not pay more than $25,000 for the repair costs, which will be split with the Kativik Regional Government.

Floors are still being repaired, he says, and the town has decided to hire local people to finish the job and to help cut costs.

“We want to try and save money and have it be done as good as possible,” he says. “Myself, I wouldn’t want to be here when there was a big storm.”