Everyone has signed on the dotted line, and site preparation work is underway for the construction of the Kimberley Paralympic and Conference Centre at the Ski Hill.

Mayor Jim Ogilvie and five Councillors (with Coun. Bob McWhinnie voting no) voted to go head will all the agreements with Resorts of the Rockies last month.

Right now, the City and contractor (New Dawn Developments) are waiting for BC Hydro to help them move an electric cable that runs right through the middle of the site. The site is at the end of the Resort parking lot, closest to the quad chair. Hydro wouldn’t to a date to move the cable until the project was actually a go.

Some last minute funding to the tune of $450,000 was also found — a Columbia Basin Trust grant for $300,000 and $150,000 from the Southern Interior Development Trust, and that with a few plan revisions gave the City the go ahead.

Mayor Ogilvie says shovels should be in the ground around mid-month as plans tailoring the project exactly to the final budget are receiving final revisions, but site preparation has started.

“We’re underway,” he said.

The $5,687,453 project will see a paralympic training centre, combined with a conference centre. This is a fixed cost contract with a five per cent contingency built in.