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Town of Westlock's fees and rates for rec facilities to be tweaked

Fees bylaw, along with updated advertising policy, expected to be back in front of councillors in April
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WESTLOCK – Town of Westlock administration has proposed new fees and rates for facilities like the Rotary Spirit Centre (RSC) and pool to “promote ease of use for patrons” while a new marketing strategy, the “Sponsorship Opportunities Program”, was discussed at length and looks to codify advertising and sponsorship prices for town-owned facilities and its printed materials.

At their March 20 committee of the whole meeting, councillors spent close to 40 minutes debating changes to the Consolidated Fees and Rates Bylaw 2017-01, Amendment Bylaw 2023-04 and Advertising Policy P-79-2016, then voted 6-0 consecutively to bring them back to their April 24 meeting for probable adoption — Coun. Murtaza Jamaly was absent.

Community services director Gerry Murphy said the changes to the fees and rates bylaw is aimed at streamlining “the intake process for frontline staff” and to “eliminate contradictory charging practices” at the two rec facilities — Murphy was joined for the presentation by Westlock Aquatic Centre supervisor Rachelle de Boer and RSC supervisor Courtney Fedrau. While he admitted there was a lot of “information in the package” their aim was to create a “cohesive” structure that creates a “comprehensive playbook for rec fees and sponsorship of our recreation facilities.”

“This really represents what we feel is a nominal impact to users with respect to the fees being charged and in some cases the fees have actually been reduced,” said Murphy. “Administration looked at the current fee structure and determined that there was a better way forward that had a cohesive approach to recreation delivery where the fees make more sense, and we incentivize membership over drop-in rates.”

As an example, he noted current drop-in rates, all of which include GST, are split between full facility, which includes the pool and RSC, or just a pool pass and they hope that one price will promote more use of both — there won’t be much of the change to prices as in many cases it’s going up or down less than a dollar. For kids ages three to 12, a full rec pass for 12 months will be $255, which $9.45 higher than the previous “full facility” price and $7 higher than the previous 12-month pool pass.

For youth ages 13 to 17 and seniors over 60, a full rec pass will be $375 a year, which is $5.25 less than the previous “full facility” price — while the new rate is $22.55 higher than what a pool pass would have cost a teen previously, for seniors it’s $9.40 less.

For adults 18-59, a one-year full rec pass is slated to cost $495, a drop of $.35, while there’s no difference noted compared to the 12-month pool pass, while for families (two adults and unlimited kids) the one-year rec pass is tabbed at $1,080, a drop of $60.85 compared to old full-facility pass and $5 less compared to the pool pass.

“I think this is good work. I know for myself, I always struggled when buying a family pass as I kept trying to figure out which was which. So, this is simplified, which is really wise,” said Coun. Jon Kramer.

Costs for renting the RSC fieldhouse and arena, along with the curling rink, ball diamonds, meeting rooms and pool, and even the prices to rent a spot at the Mountie Park Campground (which aren’t rising), attend a summer camp or to purchase naming rights for five years of the pool, tabbed at $144,000 for a non-profit group or $200,000 for a corporation, are included in the 20-plus page document.

Murphy also cited the example that they’re charging kids $4.05 for a drop-in pass who then come in with a $5 bill “and we have to give them $.95 change, which isn’t very efficient.”

“So, in that case we rounded up to $4.25, while in other cases we rounded down to the nearest dollar and in some cases, we came down quite a bit as we really want to incentivize buying a membership instead of days passes,” he said.

Put your name on score clock

Councillors also got a look at the municipality’s new “Sponsorship Opportunities Program” detailed in an 18-page brochure that shows off the prices and advertising available at not only town-owned facilities, but within its community guide.

CAO Simone Wiley said the new program, which is being handled by the communications department in conjunction with the rec department, is meant to clearly show what can be sponsored, the costs and terms available — the money generated is meant to “support programs, events, and recreational opportunities for current and future generations.”

In addition to putting a figure on five-year naming rights for the pool (see above) and the arena ($126,175 for a non-profit and $180,250 for a corporation) and fieldhouse ($108,150 for a non-profit and $154,500 for a non-profit) costs for rink boards ads and the naming of dressing rooms is also spelled out.

“In some cases, we had agreements and I’ll use that term loosely, so this really does firm up what were hand-shake deals,” said Murphy. “Advertising opportunities are in every rec centre in the province, and we’ve been missing some opportunities.”

Communications and marketing coordinator Deb Mottus said they cast “a pretty broad net” and looked at a variety of municipalities, ranging from St. Albert to Red Deer, Fort Saskatchewan, Vermilion, Morinville and Barrhead, to set the baseline.

“The Spirit Centre is over a decade old now … and we’ve got new businesses that have come to the community since then and it would be great to give them the opportunity to join in on this advertising and really show their community-centric side,” said Murphy.

“This document is very comprehensive in terms of where you can advertise, how big it needs to be … there’s bundle discounts in there. It’s just really comprehensive for what we have available,” added Wiley.

Deputy-mayor Curtis Snell, who chaired the meeting as mayor Ralph Leriger attended via Zoom, said the document “shows a lot of opportunity for sure” and “we should probably take some time as council to look at it.” Although the sponsorship document is ready to go, Wiley noted that “before we push this out … we’ll wait until the fees and rates bylaw is passed” and told councillors “ … if you have any questions, just reach out … or we can compile individual questions and bring them back to the meeting.”

“When we first moved here six years ago as business owners, trying to find out how much it would be to put our name on the ice, there was nothing. Now, all the answers are right here, so well done,” added Coun. Abby Keyes.

George Blais, TownandCountryToday.com

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