The rates for Barrhead’s new aquatic centre are now final.
Councillors unanimously accepted the fee schedule put forward by administration at their March 28 meeting.
The fee schedule, which includes everything from daily and multi-month passes to pool rental and swimming lesson rates.
It was first brought forward for council’s consideration at its March 21 meeting, but councillors asked administration to rework some of the fees citing that they believed some of the rates might be too low.
After doing further investigation and asking both Whitecourt and Westlock for more details on their fee structures to use for comparison — administration basically brought back the previous fee schedule unchanged.
Barrhead’s CAO Martin Taylor said one of the things they discovered through the investigation is that they should focus on passes of shorter duration.
“In Whitecourt and Westlock, what their biggest hitters in terms of sales, are not the six month and annual passes, but the monthly passes,” he said.
Taylor added the rates would be only be in effect until Dec. 31, after which councillors would have the option of reexamining the fees.
Coun. Don Smith said while the longer time period passes might not be as popular he believed the annual family pass of $1,200 needed to be adjusted.
“I still have a hard time grappling with the fact that a six month family pass is $600 and for a year it is $1,200,” he said. “There should be some sort of percentage savings scale when you are going from one, three, six months to a year. People who are willing to buy an annual family pass should be able to get some sort of break from the six month pass.”
Coun. Ryan Warehime echoed Smith’s sentiments, adding perhaps one of the reasons why the other communities longer term passes aren’t as popular is because there isn’t any incentive to buy them.
Coun. Ty Assaf suggested the six-month family pass be increased to $700, this would allow us to keep the proposed annual at $1,200.
Coun. Leslie Penny said she would like to see the rates stay as presented, with one exception.
“Why don’t we just eliminate annual passes? That gives us six months to see where the interest is — and if there is interest in a 12 month pass we can look at it when we review the rates.”
Aquatic Centre naming rights
Although the official name of the Barrhead Regional Aquatic Centre has not been chosen, the businesses who will make that decision have.
On Tuesday, March 28, councillors unanimously approved a sponsorship agreement that gives Servus Credit Union and Pembina West Co-op naming rights for the new pool.
The agreement will see Servus and the Co-op pay the town $100,000 for the naming rights of the aquatic centre for 10-years.
The agreement is structured with Servus and Pembina West Co-op making an initial payment of $50,000 and $25,000 to the Barrhead and District Agrena Society. The remaining $25,000 will be paid to the Town of Barrhead no later than December 2020.
Chair and Table Rentals
Council unanimously approved a change to policy 72-002 (Recreation Facility/Program Rental and Rates) that reduces the weekend fee of tables and chairs from $15 and $5 each to $10 and $3 respectively. In addition a 10 per cent refundable damage deposit will also be required.
