HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-12-03, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2015. PAGE 15.
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be reviewed by the next council,
which was elected in the fall of
2014.
The Vanastra Day Care is another
topic that council has referred to the
Administration Committee.
Mayor Bernie MacLellan said he
strongly feels that the day care could
be operated privately or through a
co-operative model, while other
councillors have spoken up saying
that the day care’s importance to the
Vanastra community goes beyond
dollars and cents.
The day care costs the
municipality $70,000 per year,
$34,000 of which is rent revenue to
the Vanastra Recreation Centre.
Knight’s report stated that the
municipality has a financial
obligation to staff currently
employed at the day care, should the
model be changed to a private or co-
operative business. He also pointed
out that the ongoing, and sometimes
heated, debate regarding the day
care is “demoralizing” for the staff
and “adversely affects the current
and future marketability of the
service.”
The third and final sector to be
referred to the Administration
Committee is Huron East’s
recreation services.
During the service delivery review
earlier this fall, there was much
discussion surrounding the
profitability of the recreation
centres.
Several councillors acknowledged
that usage at the centres is falling,
but also recognized that having a
community centre with a hockey
rink is a service that is expected by
municipal residents.
MacLellan mentioned the
possibility of building a new
community centre that would serve
the entire Huron East community,
rather than continuing to maintain
three centres in Brussels, Seaforth
and Vanastra.
While council has been frustrated
year after year that community
centres aren’t being able to keep the
budgets dictated to them by the
municipality, due to declining usage,
escalating costs and being asked to
bring in a zero-increase budget year
after year, some councillors
acknowledged that council may be
setting unrealistic expectations for
the centres and for those paid to run
them.
In Knight’s comments, he spoke to
the importance of citizen
expectations on the topic of
community centres, saying that
residents expect to have recreation
options in their communities, not
simply one structure to serve a
municipality that spans the
geographic area Huron East does.
He compared it to community fire
departments and the citizen
expectation that the closest
department responds to an
emergency, rather than having one
department to serve the entire
municipality simply because it’s
cheaper.
Knight did say, however, that a
review of the centres’ overall levies
may be in order during the 2016
budget process.
The three topics of conversation
will be addressed at a future meeting
of the Administration Committee,
which will then be followed by
recommendations that will be made
to Huron East Council.
Committee members will be
provided with copies of Knight’s
report with council’s comments.
Councillors defend community centres in review
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