Athabasca County council decided not to share in the operating costs of the proposed Boyle Spray Park in their Sept. 28 meeting, saying they need more information and want to set up a board to discuss recreational funding in the county.
At the county council meeting, councillors spoke about a Jan. 17 motion from the Village of Boyle council to approve the spray park project if Athabasca County paid for 50 per cent of the park’s annual operating costs.
County communications officer Karl Kopan said in an interview council had not heard of Boyle council’s motion before. He did not know if it was from a lack of correspondence or an error on the county’s part.
“I’m miffed simply by the fact that this motion for the village was done in January, that it’s taken until election time to basically point the finger and make the county the bad guy for not helping out with the spray park,” Coun. Warren Griffin said during the county council discussion.
“Also, I am not appreciative of a village council that doesn’t communicate better with their municipal partners,” Griffin added.
The county previously moved to contribute $50,000 to the project’s capital costs.
County manager Ryan Maier said the Village of Boyle has committed to providing land – worth $60,155 – washrooms, water and sewage hookups.
According to a report to council written by Maier, the county’s share in the operating costs would be approximately $23,000.
The report states Athabasca County pays half of the operating deficit of the arena and half of the utilities and insurance of the Boyle & District Community Centre.
“Boyle has often contended the county should be paying 50 per cent of all recreation deficit in the village, as the county does so with the Town of Athabasca through the Multiplex Society,” Maier said, reading from the report in council. “The one area of Athabasca recreation the county does not contribute to are the spray park operating costs, as these do not fall under Multiplex costs.”
Village of Boyle chief administrative officer Charlie Ashbey said in an interview that his administration relayed the information to the county through the Greater Athabasca Community Foundation.
He added that he was under instructions from the county’s administration to pass the information to them through the foundation’s September meeting. He also noted that Reeve Doris Splane is a member of the foundation’s board.
“Regardless, it was posted in our minutes,” Ashbey said. “It wasn’t a secret; the motion was on the books. But when I discussed it with the county CAO, he instructed me to put it on the September agenda, and that’s what we did.”
An article in the Jan. 24 edition of the Athabasca Advocate also reports that the Village of Boyle’s council members unanimously approved a motion to endorse a proposal as long as Athabasca County share the operating costs of the spray park.
Coun. Christine Bilsky said she felt like Boyle was holding the county for ransom.
“Maybe they don’t realize everything that we’ve given, everything we’ve done,” she said.
“They knew they were doing it,” said Coun. Dennis Willcott. “I don’t think we had any say in there. They never come to us saying after we give out fifty thousand, we need every year to pay half of the utilities.”
Maier said the county’s contributions to recreation in Boyle have been “kind of piece-meal over time” and suggested council sit down with Boyle and establish a recreation funding agreement between the county and Boyle.
Coun. Larry Speers supported Boyle’s position.
“They are outlying areas they do not receive what Athabasca does, whether it be Boyle or Grassland or Rochester or wherever,” he said. “It isn’t fair the way it is. And in Boyle, they have a lot of volunteers there that are doing a lot of work … and I think they deserve a share.”
Coun. Larry Armfelt made a motion to decline to pay half of the operating costs on the basis council needs further information and long-term planning. It was passed by council, with Speers voting against the motion.
Coun. Jack Dowhaluk did not attend the meeting.
– With files from Allendria Brunjes
