Moment with the Mayor: Pool Closure

Hi Neighbours:

A tough decision was made last week to close the pool and tear it down. It is hard to justify spending the money on the pool given its age and condition.

Monday’s public meeting saw a consensus among all attendees that no more money should be poured into the pool. The Kindersley Aquatic Centre was constructed in 1975 with walls made of lightweight, ungrouted and unreinforced hollow blocks with prefabricated steel columns. These walls were cracked requiring either repairs or replacement. The pool also needed to have new filter lines, plus significant ongoing maintenance work.

What’s next now that the pool is closed and slated for demolition? On July 2^nd at 7:00 in the upper boardroom in the West Central Events Centre will be yet another public meeting. At the meeting will be a review of our current situation regarding the development of Phase 2 and a discussion regarding the responsibilities and obligations needed to ensure that the effort to build Phase 2 is successful.

Two committees are needed: Fundraising and Building/Design. The role of the Fundraising Committee speaks for itself - raise millions of dollars. The Building/Design Committee is complicated - design a building that allows for a variety of accessible and sustainable programming (including storage), includes operational efficiencies, and is financially sustainable.

It is important that we build some new facilities in town. It is about quality of life. The facilities need to be sustainable from both a capital and an operational perspective. However, most importantly, as we build Phase 2, whether all at once or in stages, we have to remember we are also building community. We are building opportunities for people to pursue fulfillment and build relationships. If Phase 2 causes strain in relationships between user groups and individuals then we need to step back and evaluate our success. Success is about more than just new facilities; success is in building strong relationships and opportunities for fulfillment.

To ensure our children have access to a pool, should we consider temporarily busing our children to other communities for swimming rather than pouring money into an aging facility?

Please write or phone if you would like me to discuss a particular topic. If you have any questions or comments, drop me a line at the town office or email me at mayorenns-wind@kindersley.ca. You can also check out my blog at http://mayorjohn.blogspot.ca/. I appreciate your feedback.