A problem shared is a problem halved - or maybe a little more than halved. On Oct.
A problem shared is a problem halved - or maybe a little more than halved.
On Oct. 4, the Town of Athabasca's council agreed to Athabasca County's proposal to split the new pool capital costs 60-40, with the county paying the lion's share - and with the caveat that it would be subject to a final approval. Town council also voted to split the bill for the new school's road and service extension 50-50 up to $750,000.
“I can't express my, I guess, gratitude enough, for the county agreeing to go 50-50 on the cost of the new road and off-site services, very gracious on their part, ” Coun. Tim Verhaeghe said as he was making the motion to accept the county's proposal to help pay new school site servicing and road costs.
On Sept. 28, town council attended a joint council meeting in the county's chambers, where the two governing bodies addressed impeding costs of the new Athabasca Landing Pool and the road to the new Edwin Parr Composite School.
At the meeting on Sept. 28, county council passed the motion to propose the cost-sharing formula where they would pay for 60 per cent of the new pool's capital costs. At a meeting Sept. 29, county council voted to split the costs of the road and site services to the new school - but only if town council approved the funding formula for the pool.
New school site services
Councillors Shelly Gurba, Steve Schafer and Verhaeghe voted in favour of the motion. Coun. Tanu Evans voted against it. Mayor Roger Morrill stepped out of the discussion for “possible perceived pecuniary interest, ” and Councillors Nichole Adams and Joanne Peckham were absent as they were at a conference.
Gurba said she thought the proposal was a positive thing, noting she was “fully in support of it. ”
Evans said he was very thankful for the county's offer of support, but he would vote against the motion.
“It does show that this is a regional project that does benefit more than just the town, ” he said. “I still believe we should be getting Aspen View (school division) back to the drawing board, and looking at them and saying that ‘This comes over budget; we need your assistance as one of the founding partners as well to come up with some sort of a compromise.' ”
Verhaeghe, Morrill and Schafer voted for the motion to accept the county's proposal, subject to final approval by council once the bids on the project are in. Gurba and Evans voted against the motion.
Gurba said she wanted to avoid overextending the budget, and she noted that it would be better to attach a certain dollar figure to the motion. She suggested that $14 million would be a “realistic ” number for the pool project.
Verhaeghe said he did not necessarily disagree with the thought, but he suggested that the motion should read that it would be subject to approval of the final bid.
“That way, it's not a carte blanche authorization to build a pool for any amount of dollars, but we can say subject to approval of the final bid, ” he said.
