City council unanimously adopted its $30-million 2015 capital spending plan for 2014 at its meeting Monday night.

It made no changes to the document which came forward in November.

The spending blueprint focuses largely on consolidating the city’s operations into two new buildings.

The building consolidation project will see the city move many of its operations to a new structure to be built off Range Road and Two Mile Hill next to the Public Safety Building.

Many of the day-to-day services accessed by residents will move to a smaller building that will be built on Second Avenue, sharing the site with city hall.

The entire project is estimated at more than $55 million over three years, with the city expecting to spend $21 million in 2015, $33.8 million in 2016 and $1.5 million in 2017.

Prior to passing the budget Monday, council members defended the spending and the project.

Coun. John Streicker pointed out that without the building consolidation project, the capital budget is modest.

He then went on to note that if the building consolidation project didn’t go ahead, the city would still be facing a $20-million cost to repair its Municipal Services Building on Fourth Avenue. And that, he said, doesn’t even address the need for asbestos removal.

The city has worked hard to plan for the building without its construction having any impact on taxes.

That’s meant modest capital budgets for the past couple of years to allow reserve funds to build up.

Streicker argued it’s now the city’s job to keep the public informed of what’s happening with the project as it moves along.

“We still have a lot of work in front of us,” he said.

Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu, meanwhile, addressed criticisms she’s heard about the project.

“We weren’t trying to be sneaky,” she said, taking issue with comments that the project hadn’t come up in the capital budget process initially.

The project, she said, deserved its own process, which the city has undertaken, including an information session about the project.

“It’s a big deal, and we recognize that,” Curteanu said.

The plans are no “Curtis’ castle” (referring to Mayor Dan Curtis), she added, but rather the city has a goal to be as efficient as possible for the needed buildings.

As she pointed out, all council members are also taxpayers, who want the city to run as efficiently as it can.

“We didn’t embark on this lightly,” she said.

Curtis emphasized as well he will be remaining in his office at city hall, and it will not be growing any bigger.

“This is not a luxurious item,” he said of the building consolidation project, pointing out the operational savings – estimated at more than $500,000 per year – which will come to the city through the more energy-efficient buildings.

Curtis also noted the economic impact the construction of the new buildings will have on the community.

Coun. Kirk Cameron cited the benefits that will come in making land available in the downtown as the city moves from eight buildings into two.

He noted that while it may have made sense at one time to have city vehicles serviced in the downtown area, that’s just no longer the case, and it’s time to move that out of the city’s core.

It will also be beneficial to residents to have one spot, a block from Main Street, they can go to for all city matters.

Among other initiatives approved in the capital budget are:

• more than $250,000 on continued implementation of the Solid Waste Action Plan;

• $200,000 for compost collection bins for the commercial sector;

• $150,000 to continue planning for infrastructure assets;

• $400,000 for a fire response truck and $100,000 for other fire equipment;

• $750,000 for Livingston Trail Lagoon operational improvements and odour mitigation;

• $225,000 for expansion of the Hidden Valley Storm Pond;

• $400,000 for parks and trails projects and upgrades;

• $370,000 for improvements to the Canada Games Centre, Takhini Arena and Mount McIntyre improvements;

• $260,000 for intersection work at McIntyre Drive and Hamilton Boulevard;

• $75,000 for a new Quartz Road crosswalk and $105,000 for more permanent crosswalk markings;

• $350,000 for rural road surfacing;

• $440,000 for Main Street infill and infrastructure improvements;

• $555,000 for equipment that will be used to deliver services to Whistle Bend; and

• $60,000 to implement a Regional Parks Management Plan and $35,000 to implement a Range Road North Plan.