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Home My WebLink AboutThe Citizen, 2013-01-03, Page 17THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 3, 2013. PAGE 17. Soccer association goes over budget on buildingA well-meaning gesture by Huron East Council left councillors a little miffed at their Dec. 18 meeting when St. Columban Soccer went over budget on their new building. Appearing before council in 2010, representatives from the St. Columban Soccer Association told council that they were hoping to build new change room/washroom facilities and budgetted $93,000 for the project. At the Dec. 18 meeting, however, council was informed that the project had nearly doubled in size, ballooning to just over $175,000, more than $82,000 over the estimated cost. When the project was first approved in 2010, council pledged one-third of the total costs up to a maximum of $30,000. Additionally, the association received a Trillium grant for $50,000 towards the project. Treasurer Paula Michiels prepareda report for council suggesting thatcouncil contribute a further $20,000to the project, bringing council’s total contribution up to $50,000, leaving the association with a remaining debt of just over $65,000. Clerk-Administrator Brad Knight compared the situation to the overhaul of the Brussels Optimists Park. Councillor Andy Flowers, however, was troubled by the decision made by the association to keep spending despite being over its limit. At the beginning of construction in 2012, Michiels’ report read, costs were projected to be between $135,000 and $139,000, more than $40,000 higher than projected. At that point, Flowers suggested, perhaps the project should have been halted or at least re-evaluated. “They just kept going and going,” Flowers told councillors, “where did they expect the money to come from?” Flowers said that even ifrepresentatives of the associationhad returned to council to discuss therising costs, perhaps that would have been sufficient, but the last time council had heard from them was in 2010 when they approved the initial funding. Blaney said that in reality council was likely to foot a lot of the bill, saying that the building and the property, at the end of the day, belong to the municipality. “What worries me is the idea of leaving us in the dark,” Blaney said, agreeing with Flowers that someone should have reported back to council. “We’re not mean.” Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler, while acknowledging that council could have handled the situation better, said they should just approve the second phase of the grant and move on. “I think we should just learn from our mistakes. I have full faith in them,” Steffler said. “These kids deserve recreation as much as anyone else.”Larry McGrath also had full faithin the organization. He said theywent ahead with a strong building and it’s for the betterment of the municipality in the end. “We own it at the end of the day,” he said. “They built a good building and they will fundraise for the rest of the money that they owe us.” Councillor Dianne Diehl agreed with Flowers, saying that if the association was in over their heads, they should have returned to council and asked for help. Mayor Bernie MacLellan, however, realized how a situation like this might happen. It has happened before in the municipality, he said, where council isn’t able to spend the money, so a local service group steps up. “We’re trying to pinch pennies and sometimes groups that recognize a need put in that extra effort,” he said. “They went grossly overboard and it’s just a bad situation.” Ken Ryan, a representative of the association, was present at themeeting and said he was confidentthe debt could be paid down withinfive years. He said the association already has a commitment of $5,000 per year for the next three years from the Municipality of West Perth, so that alone is $15,000 and that the balance can be raised through club fundraising. Diehl told Ryan that council’s problem with the situation was that it just came across as disrespectful. She said that if a representative had returned to council and updated councillors on the situation, it would have been a completely different story. Council approved the additional $20,000 grant (to be taken from the municipality’s parkland reserve) and voted to allow the rest to be given to the association as an interest-free loan to be paid back with no definite timeline. A provision was put in the motion that the situation be reviewed on an annual basis. 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