WESTLOCK — Westlock County councillors are looking for federal funds to improve infrastructure at a handful of county-owned recreation sites and facilities.
Admin’s original proposal was to use the application for the Canada Community Revitalization Fund on a study for a new county office building that would also serve as a commercial and community group meeting place.
CAO Kay Spiess presented the plan at the July 13 meeting, backing it up with a 2019 structural inspection report on the county’s current admin building. A lengthy, hour-long discussion among councillors led to the reversal of plans and the new focus on recreation, also part of Spiess’ suggestions.
The list of possible improvements to rec sites wasn’t set at the meeting, but they won’t be restricted to only one facility.
Campers at Long Island Lake have complained before about the quality of the washrooms at the municipal site, and it’s one of the things Jessica Toews, county rec manager, had on her list of possible improvements.
Toews made the case for upgraded camping, possibly adding more things to the sites or changing their current locations around for better access.
Other things Toews brought up included an improved kitchen for the Tawatinaw Valley Ski Hill Chalet — she says the current one is suited for fast food but not event catering, — a splash park and a biking trail at Rainbow Lake.
Coun. Isaac Skuban’s focus, although ultimately not included in the proposal, was on improving Echo Lake instead of selling it. He suggested Long Island is an already-established campground that wouldn’t yield more income than an improved site that would otherwise have been sold.
“My biggest problem right now (with Echo Lake) is that we don’t really have the funds right now to invest,” Skuban said. “Things are going to be a little bit more safe if people have a sanctioned place to take their off-road vehicles. That campground, we had plans to expand it so we could draw plans to put an application forward.”
Councillors and admin both said residents have phoned in with questions about the closure of that campground. Reeve Jared Stitsen called it a “beautiful spot” and a “little gem we have.”
Lori Strutt, planning and community services director, told councillors that there are potential buyers for Echo Lake who want to use it for a private campground.
Admin building has problems
While councillors stated their agreement with a future plan to get a new or improved admin building and think it should be a priority, most didn’t think this particular grant was right for the project.
“There is a lot of issues with this building. This was probably one of the biggest, most riskiest projects that we have,” Spiess said. She added the county focuses heavily on transportation and utility vehicle replacements and other things “get pushed to the side.”
The current admin office was built in 1964 and the 2019 report concluded it could contain things like asbestos and PCBs. Spiess wrote in the request for decision that “in the past few years,” the county has spent more than $288,000 on repairs.
“Any time we get into working on this building, we usually run into more problems because it’s an older building, particularly with our electrical.”
She proposed the federal grant money be used for “developing a pre-design phase report outlining the potential build of a multi-use building for administration staff, community groups and commercial leasing opportunities.”
According to Spiess’ timeline, the county could start a debenture for the new building in three years (with prior planning) once the public works shop and Tawatinaw chalet loans are paid off.
“Either way, this subject, you’re going to hear about it again because I'm likely going to have a business case come forward in this capital budget to start thinking about this building and where we want to go,” Spiess said.
Most councillors thought the project could spark other development, particularly in the county’s industrial park south of the Town of Westlock.
“If we do an air quality test in this building, I cannot guarantee that we will be in here,” Spiess said. Deputy reeve Brian Coleman said the building likely has three or four years left before needing to be replaced.
Spiess highlighted that the county’s capital budget is “not balanced,” includes primarily transportation department-related expenses and has no projects like recreation infrastructure.
Grant applicants can receive up to $750,000 with 25 per cent matching contributions. The deadline to apply is July 23.
“Basically, they’re looking for anything that would revitalize a community. They're looking for things like sprucing up of spaces, mostly recreation and community-related activities, anything Indigenous-related is also in there as well,” Spiess said. “They noted that they would give priority to shovel-ready projects, but they won’t deny doing a study.”
