ATHABASCA – While Edwin Parr Composite (EPC) has a new set of rugby posts, Town of Athabasca’s councillors were left slightly confused by a letter from the RCMP asking for donations for the project.
During their July 11 council meeting, councillors voted 6-0 (Coun. Ida Edwards was absent) to defer the request to the next meeting of the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Society, after questions arose about whether or not the project was something they should be paying for.
“I think this letter could be sent over to Aspen View, but I’m not so certain that I want to give money as a town for something that I’m not so sure if our jurisdiction to repair,” said Coun. David Pacholok, who noted that, while the letter from Athabasca RCMP Staff Sgt. Mark Hall was focused on the concrete costs for the new posts, the fields were also in need of repair.
During a July 18 interview, Hall said that the letter was simply him supporting one of his detachment members; the RCMP have no formal involvement with the project, although they have encouraged it as an example of their community engagement initiatives.
“It’s really his (Const. David McLenaghan’s) project, I was just providing support by writing some letters to help him look for other funding for it,” said Hall. “We had an individual in town who didn’t want to be identified who brought in his equipment and I think David paid for some of it out of his own pocket, so I thought I would see if any of the places in town would help with putting this together.”
Hall had also sent the letter to Athabasca University’s president Dr. Alex Clark, although no response had been received as of the July 18 interview.
“When Const. McLenaghan had initially contacted me, and I had told him to write a letter, he had said that they were looking for something in the range of $200-300,” said mayor Rob Balay. “I had also told him to reach out to Rotary, since this is something for youth that they might sponsor.”
In a July 18 e-mail, Aspen View spokesperson Ross Hunter was able to confirm that the school had approved the installation of the posts on the inside the running track, which is owned by the school.
Other councillors agreed that it might not be the most appropriate project for the town to put their money towards, including Coun. Sara Graling.
“I would just say that whoever is responsible from an ownership perspective for the fields, whether that is Aspen View or the multiplex, may be the better party to go to with this,” said Graling. “Another consideration would be if there would be, possibly a minor, amount of revenue that would be going towards the multiplex coming from this.”
According to Hall’s letter to council, the new rugby posts would allow the school to host tournaments for the sport, which could bring teams in from across the province — the surrounding schools in the more local region don’t have rugby teams in place at this time.
In a July 14 interview, multiplex manager Rhonda Alix said that they hadn’t been approached about any modifications to the field.
