Town council in Smiths Falls, Ont., has approved a plan to spend up to $400,000 to demolish its century-old, decommissioned water tower. Councillors voted 6-1 on Monday to approve the plan, which would take money from the tax stabilization reserves to cover the cost of a contract to demolish the tower. No contract was awarded, the plan requested release of the funds because the cost was not approved in the 2026 budget. A special committee of council voted on June 29 to move forward with demolishing the town’s historic water tower after deciding not to pursue further engineering studies into whether it could be preserved. Councillors in favour of the motion on Monday said they wanted to approve the funding ahead of the 2026 municipal election in October. “There’s no reason, in my opinion, to leave this until after an election,” said Coun. Jay Brennan. “Everybody I’ve talked to in town understands and supports the decision that we made. It’s not the decision, maybe, that we all wanted to make, but any reasonable person would understand and see the reason we made that decision.” Mayor Shawn Pankow said council had come together and made the decision to remove the tower. “If a tender comes in after nomination day, and we’re in a lame duck position, then the financing may not be in place to fulfill the obligations of the town,” he said. Coun. Chris McGuire was the sole opposition voter. “This continues the trend of trying to push this through,” he said. “If the tenders come back higher than $400,000, everything we’re doing tonight is going to be for naught because it’ll still have to come back to council and if we’re in a lame duck position, it will have to wait until the next term of council. So, I don’t see any purpose in this tonight. I think it’s irresponsible.” The tower served the town’s water storage needs for 101 years before being taken out of service late last year. Town staff estimated demolition would cost about $375,000, while a 2024 engineering investigation estimated rehabilitation at more than $2.4 million.
