Athabasca’s old brick school is officially “on ice,” as Athabasca County Reeve Doris Splane put it during last Tuesday’s council meeting.
County council accepted a letter from the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society stating it has returned responsibility for the operation of the brick school back to the Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County, which jointly own the building.
“The multiplex (society) finally decided, ‘It’s your building, you look after it,’” county manager Gary Buchanan summed up.
With the recent relocation of Athabasca Family & Community Support Services to its new building adjacent to the Athabasca County office, the brick school is now vacant, save for the Athabasca Pottery Club utilizing the basement.
The rest of the building will be decommissioned until a decision is made on its future, Buchanan said. “We’ll just secure the building and turn down the utilities.”
Town and county administration will meet soon to determine how the ongoing maintenance of the building will be handled.
Councillor Kevin Haines said he didn’t understand why the multiplex society couldn’t continue taking care of the brick school, particularly when it still operates the adjacent Nancy Appleby Theatre and the nearby Athabasca Landing Pool.
“I don’t see any reason why the multiplex can’t do the caretaking,” Haines said. “They’re there anyway.”
Operational or not, Haines argued, the brick school remains a jointly owned community facility. “This is why the multiplex society was designed.”
Deputy Reeve David Yurdiga, who sits on the multiplex committee, said the rationale behind the switch is that the building is now vacant. “There’s no tenant, and we look after tenants.”
Buchanan said with the operational issue now addressed, “the political element is: what is the direction, other than that?
“The longer term (issue) is the two parties need to get together and decide what would you like to do with the building.”
“This is a discussion we’re going to have to have as a joint council,” Splane noted.
County council voted to contact the town to set up a joint council meeting to discuss the brick school’s future.
