The City of Kamloops wants the project to convert the old Stuart Wood School Building into a Civic First Nations Cultural Centre to be shelf-ready and soon.

Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian says a couple of hundred thousand dollars is needed to get the conversion plan off the ground hence the ask in the supplemental budget list.

“We want to have something that we can put in front of Heritage Canada so that we’ll be in line for some grants,” he said. “I expect Federal grants maybe coming out this year as a result of the federal election, so we want to be prepared for that.”

“This is a $200,000 ask that we would engage a consultant to put the finishing touches on the plan.”

Christian says the city has done preliminary work with the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation who he describes as a “very willing” partner in the project.

No cost has been attached to the renovations, but a study three years ago suggested it would cost about $6-million to bring the 100-year-old building up to code.