Town Council expresses concern over latest pool proposal

Town Council expressed their concerns over the latest pool proposal from the County of Barrhead at a Town Council meeting on Tuesday, July 8, 2014.

The County’s latest proposal discussed the option of paying some of the operating costs of the new aquatic centre. The County’s proposal stated they would pay 40 per cent of operations and maintenance costs related to the building and the swimming pool. The County would be willing to contribute financial assistance in regards to building maintenance, equipment maintenance, insurance (those portions related to the facility itself), chemicals, and utilities.

Mayor Gerry St. Pierre addressed the County’s letter, which he received a few days earlier, at the Council meeting.

“I received this letter last Thursday and they left it on my desk because I was unavailable and then I had a chance to study it. I had to really study it to really interpret it. I asked our financial director to put some numbers together to see exactly what they are proposing to pay (for operational costs) for the categories they are willing to pay 40 per cent of,” said St. Pierre.

St. Pierre went on to explain his concerns with the County’s proposal.

“We did some number crunching based on the 2013 fiscal year, the last year we actually ran the aquatic centre. Using those numbers, the amount the County would have contributed using the 40 per cent would have been $59,000. Part of the contributions that we actually applied to the pool was $76,000. In other words, the bottom line is, contrary to what they are trying to tell us, their contribution with this formula would be considerably less than what they are giving us now,” he said. “In their comments, they do not believe in paying anything for salaries or wages or employee costs and that is a serious concern. The largest cost of operating this building is staffing costs. An operation, building or facility like this has to be operated properly with paid employees.”

St. Pierre said there was another issue with the County’s latest pool proposal.

“Another issue is their manipulation of the statistics when it comes to usage of the pool. We sat down and tried to figure out how they arrived at the 40 per cent. Of course, if you look at the stats from 2012-13 it has many different categories and only a few of them are comparable to the County’s stats. The largest user group is the schools and I believe and we are confident that there are a lot more students that reside in the County then the town,” St. Pierre said.

County of Barrhead Reeve Bill Lee addressed the town’s concern about the schools being the pool’s biggest users.

“For the use of the pool and the schools, that should be something to deal with Pembina Hills School Division because they are using it and they are paying for the kids to use the pool,” said Lee.

St. Pierre explained that the operating costs should be all inclusive, specifically employee salaries and staffing costs.

“Certainly, the new facility will require us to revisit the user fees and we already know that. It is pretty logical that we will be raising our user fees to a more realistic figure and I agree with that. We have to approach this with the intent of operating this facility as efficiently as possible,” he said. “We are asking for a 50-50 split. We could be, rightfully, asking for a per capita distribution of operating costs, which would be 60-40 split with the County paying 60 per cent. The 50 per cent would definitely be more than the 17 per cent we are currently getting now.”

St. Pierre said that if the Town and County can come to a suitable agreement, there is a third party that would be willing to contribute to the operating costs of the pool.

“Woodlands County has indicated to us that they are prepared to pay ten per cent of the operating costs. They informed us that they are backing off until we can reach a suitable, proper agreement with the County of Barrhead,” added St. Pierre.

Councillor Don Smith shared his concerns with the County’s recent letter to Council.

“To me, it seems frustrating that County Council feel they shouldn’t have to share in the operations when it comes to manning those facilities, whether it is the pool or the arena. I think if they dare to ask their ratepayers the question, Should we be on board with the Town of Barrhead when it comes to operating the pool and the arena? I believe they would get a resounding yes and that the residents from the County and Town will want to see our recreational services flourish. That is the frustrating part to me because I think the County is afraid to ask the question,” said Smith.

Councillor Roy Ulmer echoed Smiths’ concerns about the current pool situation.

“They (the County) continually played mind games with us on the construction of the new pool, on the operations of the pool and the arena and I find it frustrating. They are either going to get serious or they are not. This garbage of fighting back and forth has gone on far too long,” added Ulmer.

St. Pierre summarized his final thoughts on the County of Barrhead’s latest letter.

“We are frustrated. The intent of the letter is not nearly what was to be expected by this Council,” concluded St. Pierre.

The Town of Barrhead and the County of Barrhead were scheduled to meet at a Joint Council meeting on Monday, July 14, 2014 to discuss the pool situation in greater detail.