Barrhead area residents had one last chance to get the latest information and voice their opinions about the proposed aquatic centre at the last of a series of informational open houses at Neerlandia Public Christian School on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
The event took place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., but most the discussion happened in the last two hours when Barrhead town council, administration staff and the project’s lead architect Steve Bushenell, from BR2 Architecture where on hand to answer questions.
As with the three previous meetings Steve Lyster, of Making Waves –Yes For Progress, moderated the event stating the reason the town hosted these informational sessions, was because of a successful petition presented to the town by Chuck Hambling and Manfred John on June 24.
He then outlined the agenda for the evening, with Mayor Gerry St. Pierre, County Reeve Bill Lee, and Barrhead and District Agrena Society president Shannon Carlson making opening statements.
St. Pierre said it was time to end the debate about the aquatic centre once and for all by voting in favour of the town’s borrowing bylaw, adding council has been working towards building a new pool facility since 2011.
The vote on Oct. 7, has the town and county councils asking their residents if they support borrowing $5 million, which would be put towards the construction of the new aquatic centre. The only difference, between the two votes, is the town vote will be binding and the county’s isn’t.
“Stop being afraid about what could go wrong and let’s start concentrating on what could go right,” St. Pierre said.
Lee said county council supports the aquatic centre project adding their support is best summed up in the agreement the county signed with the town on Jan. 14. In the agreement the county agreed to contribute up to $5 million towards the aquatic centre’s construction cost. The county also agreed to contribute what they feel is fair towards the operating budget of the facility until October 2017.
Lee then went on to explain how the county contributes to the town’s recreation facilities.
“At one time we did contribute 50/50 towards the town’s recreation facilities, but at the time the dollar amounts were a lot smaller,” he said. “I don’t know for sure what happened, but the county decided they would contribute a fixed amount of about $75,000. At the time it was still close to 50 per cent.”
Lee said that amount remained the same for a number of years, until the town asked the county if they could increase the amount they contributed to recreation by $5,000 for the next five years.
“Which we did,” he said, adding at the end of the five years the amount the county contributed was $100,000. “After that we increased our contribution by five per cent every year and that’s what where we are at today.”
Carlson concluded the introduction portion of the meeting saying the town and the Ag Society haven’t done the best job of promoting the pool and making sure area residents had the correct information.
“If we had, we wouldn’t be here today,” he said, adding he also believed recreation isn’t given the support and attention it deserves.
“The word recreation itself brings to mind things that are secondary to more important things like the economy and a lot of times that’s true, but when it comes to municipalities I really think they are linked,” Carlson said. “Simply put, good recreational facilities bring business to town. The lack thereof does the opposite. It has become painfully apparent that people are leaving town, spending their money elsewhere because of the lack of a pool.”
