Sturgeon County has stepped up to help fund Morinville’s new rec-centre, but is only chipping in an eighth of what the town wanted.
Sturgeon County council voted 5-2 Tuesday to contribute $500,000 towards the construction of Morinville’s new rec-centre, the source for which was to be determined during this year’s budget debate. Councillors Neal Comeau and Dan Derouin opposed the move.
In an interview, Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said this decision was based on a combination of historic precedent and the county’s lack of input into the rec-centre’s planning process.
“Input tends to be equal to investment,” she said, and there wasn’t much collaboration here.
“It’s unfortunate there wasn’t more ownership and collaboration on the front end.”
The case against investment
Morinville is seeking some $6.2 million in sponsorships to fund construction of its new $30.5-million rec-centre ($24.3 million construction, $4.5 million servicing, $1.7 million land). Council heard that Morinville had asked the county for $4 million.Sturgeon County has not had the input into the rec-centre that would justify that amount of support, said county community services manager Susan Berry.
“The town acted autonomously in its decisions,” she said, citing the town’s decisions on the rec-centre’s location, scope and level of service in recent years.
While the town has been working on the rec-centre since 2013, the county has been formally involved in the decision-making process for less than 12 months, Berry said. The town decided to start construction without having a funding model in place, contrary to common practice, and without the support of the county, contrary to what was set out in the joint town-county business case for the rec-centre. There was also no decision-making model in place to outline the roles of the town and county in owning and running the centre.
“Without (that) formal structure, we were left feeling we had no formal voice in the decision,” Berry said.
Berry said the most county council had contributed to a regional recreation facility in the past was $500,000. Giving Morinville $4 million would hinder the county’s efforts to support other regional projects.
County residents have for years been using rec-centres in places like Fort Saskatchewan and Parkland County without council contributing dollars to those facilities, Hnatiw said in an interview. Those governments will undoubtedly ask for money as the county negotiates intermunicipal collaboration framework deals with them in the next two years.
People at recent open houses on the rec-centre felt that few county residents would use this facility and that investment would mean either higher taxes or less money for other services, a report to council showed. Residents also felt there wasn’t much point in major investment, as most of the major decisions had been made already without the county’s input. Berry noted that residents showed consistent support to build a pool, which this rec-centre did not have.
“Our residents sent us a very clear message that due to the facility location, the geographic diversity of residents, the decisions that have been made, and the lack of real influence, we should invest very little,” Berry said, referring to those open houses.
Comeau opposed the idea of giving Morinville $500,000, noting that when the county did so for St. Albert’s Servus Place it was getting a facility with two arenas, sports fields, and a pool.
“We’re being asked to pay $500,000 for what I’m going to say is half the facility.”
Derouin said the county had many projects of its own to fund, and said that good planning requires you to have cash in hand before you start building, not the reverse.
“Even in the spirit of being good neighbours, I can’t support this.”
Hnatiw said she was certain that Morinville would be disappointed with the county’s decision, but hoped they could work together to share costs in areas such as roads or policing.
In council, Hnatiw called the rec-centre “a lost opportunity,” but said the county could contribute more to it in the future should it have proof that county residents were using it.
Morinville Mayor Barry Turner was not available for an interview before press time.
