I must admit, I didn’t see this one coming.
When I walked out of the Woodlands County council chambers on May 5, I truly thought the aquatic centre project was officially dead.
I am not talking about the kind of death we read about or watch in science fiction movies, where the main character through some fantastic means, returns to the land of the living.
Woodlands County council unanimously voted to pull out of the Barrhead aquatic centre project.
Without their contribution, the Town of Barrhead wouldn’t be able to go ahead with their borrowing bylaw and the project’s death would be quick, if not painless, I thought.
However, at the last Barrhead town council meeting, the aquatic centre, just like Mr. Spock in Star Trek III, has come back to life.
Yes, I am a geek.
In order to keep the project alive and well, Barrhead town council has decided to abide with the agreement it signed with Barrhead County in December, when the two municipalities agreed to share the construction costs equally, both contributing $5 million.
The town has also agreed to take on the lion’s share of the estimated $500,000 operating budget of the facility.
Depending on the programing the pool offers and the amount of revenue the facility is able to generate, that number may go up or down. It is a big commitment. According to town staff, an 84 per cent, more than $400,000 commitment, not including the interest on the actual debenture.
In my discussions with Woodlands County Mayor Jim Rennie, one of the reasons why the county was concerned about and eventually pulled their commitment was because they felt it would be difficult for one municipality to shoulder the majority of the operating costs by themselves.
Not an unreasonable assumption, but one it appears Barrhead town council doesn’t agree with.
In past columns I have questioned Barrhead town councillors who have said the pool and similar recreation facilities are a necessity and as important as such services as road maintenance, water and sewer.
I still believe that. Over the years I have lived or worked in communities that had a wide variety of public facilities to ones those with practically none. One town I lived in, that was about the same size as Barrhead, didn’t have a pool, ice arena, or even a curling rink. Did that mean the town was on life support or dying? Certainly not.
Would I like a pool? In a perfect world, yes, but I am unsure if I was a homeowner if I would be prepared for the extra expense. I sympathize with people like Woodland Countys councillor Ron Govenlock, who is concerned people on fixed incomes maybe forced off their properties because they can’t afford the tax increase, which is mostly due to an increase in their property’s assessed value. For those people, I hope the extra costs of a pool don’t force them out of the community.
