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BARRHEAD - Most of the wants that a trio of residents have asked Town of Barrhead councillors to improve recreational opportunities for area residents have been done.
At least, that was the consensus of Town of Barrhead councillors after hearing a report from CAO Edward LeBlanc during their Jan. 23 meeting.
Councillors instructed administration to meet with a trio of residents to continue to discuss ways the municipality could increase the number of recreational opportunities available to citizens.
"It seems like we are doing most of their suggestions already," Coun. Rod Klumph. "When [administration] meets with the group, you can explain what the municipality has or is in the process of doing, and maybe together, you can come up with a new set of suggestions."
Initially, the trio consisting of Trisha Enmann, Coralee Chase, and Dennis Donkers made a presentation saying that although their long-term goal was the construction of a multisport leisure centre in the town, in the short term, they asked councillors to work with the Pembina Hills School Divison (PHSD) for ways they could partner together to improve what they believe is a recreation activity shortfall in the community.
Specifically, they asked council to work with the school division to make Barrhead Elementary School's (BES) gymnasium more useable and accessible to community groups.
The group then sent a follow-up e-mail clarifying what they asked councillors to do.
In the e-mail, the group asked that the municipality come to a facility-user agreement with Pembina Hills to allow community users to rent the facilities, most notably the BES gym, through the town's park and recreation department.
They also asked the municipality to work with the school division to paint the BES gymnasium's floor with lines for regulation volleyball, basketball and pickleball and that the town commit to conducting a recreational feasibility study on recreation.
CAO Edward LeBlanc noted that the municipality has already done much of what the group has called upon the municipality to do.
For instance, he said the town already has an admittedly dated joint-use agreement with Pembina Hills agreement, which they hope to revise in the near future.
LeBlanc added that Pembina Hills also allows community members and organizations to rent its facilities, including the gymnasiums, drama theatre, and even classrooms during school off-hours and confirmed that the BES gymnasium already has the above sets of lines.
He also noted that the municipality has conducted several recreation studies in preparation for the construction of the Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre.
Perhaps the most relevant being the Facility Leisure Services master and strategic plans in 2009 and 2010, which also included a needs assessment.
In their e-mail, the delegation reiterated their want for the municipality to reserve the Agrena's upstairs board for fitness rentals.
They also asked that council consider purchasing basic fitness equipment for the room so instructors would not need to bring their own.
LeBlanc equipment was a budget matter that councillors would have to debate during their budget deliberations, but the room was available for rental for fitness classes.
In 2014, the parks and recreation department considered using part of the upstairs space for a fitness centre. However, they backed off after backlash from gym, dance, and fitness business owners, who argued that by offering those services, the municipality was essentially planning to use taxpayers' money to compete with private businesses.
Finally, in the e-mail reiterating a point they made during their in-person presentation, they asked councillors to consider utilizing the off-season Agrena ice surface for recreation, purchasing portable basketball hoops, soccer and lacrosse nets, et cetera.
Again, LeBlanc noted that the municipality's ice surface is regularly used for recreation programming, saying the recreation and parks department uses the floor for summer programming and that they install a bouncy castle area for parents to use. He added that the Barrhead minor soccer and baseball associations have used the area floor.
