The Citizen, 2012-04-12, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2012. PAGE 15.A public meeting on the future of
the Vanastra Recreation Centre in
Huron East was held on April 3 after
Huron East Council held its regular
meeting at the centre.
The future of the centre and its
indoor pool, once the only indoor
pool in Huron County, came into
question last year when it wasrevealed that the centre needsextensive repairs and a potentialpartnership was floated.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan welcomed Central Huron
Mayor Jim Ginn to a strategic
planning meeting last year to speak
to the idea. It was at that meeting that
building an indoor pool at the new
Central Huron Community Complex
was proposed.If the pool was built in Clinton, notfar from Vanastra, the Vanastra poolwould be closed and council would
then decide what to do with the rest
of the Vanastra Recreation Centre
building. Ideas like a climbing wall
and an indoor playground were
pitched, but in the end, the people of
Vanastra didn’t want to lose their
community centre or their pool.
The public meeting on April 3 was
held to discuss the future of the
centre and so councillors could
gauge how the community felt.
In the months since the joint
venture was first proposed, however,
Central Huron was hit hard with the
closure of the Bluewater Youth
Centre and uncertainty surrounding
the Slots at the Clinton Raceway and
any large expenditures were put on
hold.
The April 3 meeting began with
the residents of Vanastra pledging
their support for the centre, but
quickly turned into a state of the
union on Vanastra and improvements
that residents would like to see
across the board.
To begin the meeting, MacLellan
gave the over-100 people in
attendance the timeline of events,
stating that he and council had only
discussed the future of the centre in
closed session for about 30 minutes,
contrary to conflicting reports.
MacLellan said that while he
hadn’t been lobbying to close the
centre, he felt that a joint venture
with Central Huron would be the
cheapest way to have a pool in the
general vicinity of Vanastra and that
as the mayor he had a responsibility
to present the option he felt could
save the taxpayers the most money.
MacLellan said that the initial
figure being discussed was a $2million contribution to CentralHuron. The contribution would be aone-time payment and Central
Huron would be responsible for
operating costs down the road.
MacLellan said the Vanastra
Recreation Centre costs the
municipality over $100,000 per year,
so after 20 years, the $2 million
mark will have been reached.
Presentations were made by Lissa
Bedard and other centre employees
listing all the centre provides in the
area. Bedard said that 40 per cent of
the centre’s users come from Huron
East, 30 per cent come from Central
Huron, 14 per cent come from
Bluewater and nine per cent come
from other municipalities within
Huron County, while seven per
cent come from outside of Huron
County.
Diane Ryan made a spirited
presentation saying that the centre is
the heart of the Vanastra community
and that in her over 30 years in the
small hamlet, not much has been
given to Vanastra, so to take the
centre away would be wholly unfair.
First, Ryan said she didn’t want
her tax dollars being sent to Central
Huron. As a Huron East resident,
she said she’d prefer that her tax
dollars stay in her home
municipality.
In addition, Ryan presented Huron
East Council with a petition urging
council to not close the centre with
over 1,560 signatures on it.
“We’re upset and disappointed that
[Huron East Council] would even
considering closing the centre,”
Ryan said.
Ryan assured council that the
centre is not a ‘white elephant’ for
the municipality and that it means a
lot to the people of Vanastra.“It’s our heart, it’s our life and it’sour pride,” Ryan said. “It’s a big partof this community and we are proud
of it; very proud of it.”
MacLellan assured Ryan, and the
people of Vanastra, that council
doesn’t consider the centre to be a
white elephant and that all three of
the municipality’s community
centres lose money. If a municipality
wants to provide its residents with
community centres and recreation,
he said, they are not going to make
money at it.
MacLellan also defended council
against claims that the staff wasn’t
being respected throughout the
process.
“I have never heard anyone on
council say a bad thing about any of
the staff here,” MacLellan said. “We
have a lot of respect for them and
we’re very happy with them.”
MacLellan said he had fought to
get at least $100,000 put away for
the centre every year for the last five
or six years, but every year council
found its way to not putting the
funds away, leaving the municipality
in the situation it’s in now.
At points there was laughter
throughout the crowd from residents
who felt Vanastra was not getting its
fair share of services from Huron
East. People told stories of finding
dead rats in tall grass that had been
neglected and a lack of winter
maintenance.
After lengthy discussion, the
meeting was brought to a close with
no decision made. MacLellan,
however, said it was clear the
residents want to keep the centre,
and the pool, in Vanastra, and
council would do its best to honour
the residents’ wishes.
Council backs away from joint pool venture
Rock for a cause
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photo)
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