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County puts money where mouth is

The ball is proverbially in the Town of Athabasca’s court in regards to the future of the regional pool and school road projects, following a special meeting hosted by Athabasca County. Town attended the Sept.
Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County councils held a joint meeting on Sept. 28.
Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County councils held a joint meeting on Sept. 28.

The ball is proverbially in the Town of Athabasca’s court in regards to the future of the regional pool and school road projects, following a special meeting hosted by Athabasca County.

Town attended the Sept. 28 meeting as a delegation, so the two municipalities could address impeding costs of the new Athabasca Landing Pool and the road to the new Edwin Parr Composite School. The meeting resulted in the county passing two motions outlining their terms for financial contribution, both of which are contingent on the town’s responding actions.

“These are regional projects in the grand scope of things,” said county Coun. Warren Griffin in a Friday interview. “Both town and county residents will be using both the school and the pool and, because of that it, requires a municipal partnership.”

Following a more than one-hour in-camera session at the Wednesday meeting, the county voted in favour of a motion moved by Griffin for the county to propose a cost sharing formula of the capital cost of the new swimming pool project, where the county would cover 60 per cent of the capital cost and the town would pay 40 per cent.

Five councillors voted in favour of the motion. Councillors Paul Ponich and Jack Dowhaluk opposed.

“It’s not precedent setting,” Griffin said. “The (Athabasca Regional) Multiplex, when it was built, was in the end a 60/40 split, county, town. So, this isn’t earth-shattering in that sense, that we’ve done this before. We realized that the town has financial challenges and we did our part.”

The following day – after an in camera session at the regularly scheduled county council meeting – county passed a second motion, this time regarding the costs of extending and paving new portions of University Drive that will service the new Edwin Parr Composite School.

Once again, Griffin made the motion.

It reads: “That although the responsibility for this infrastructure is 100 per cent with the Town of Athabasca, Athabasca County agrees to contribute to the Town of Athabasca’s extension and paving of University Drive and extension of services for the new school on a 50/50 basis, based on a total project cost not to exceed $750,000 and contingent on the Town’s portion of the pool funding formula being approved.”

In 2014, the county and town signed a memorandum of understanding. One of the agreements was to “collaborate on designing and sharing the site access routes, bus drop-off zones and/or parking facilities (including existing) to ensure user safety and to achieve efficient site planning principles, responsible land use and maximum value to the project, while at the same time minimizing the need to construct new or extend existing infrastructure.”

“I guess it’s a way of saying the school and the pool, it’s not an A or B – we see this as a larger, regional project, that it is A and B,” Griffin said of the contingency clause. “To move forward regionally, we need to see both projects going forward … It is a little bit of a poke to say we’re trying to be a good municipal partner, and we just are expecting you to do the same. And I’m confident that the town will.”

When asked what would happen should the town reject the county’s motion, Griffin said that was not a “road I’m prepared to go down or worry about.”

“If the town were to say ‘no’ to a pool – and I am certainly optimistic that they won’t – if they did, then by our motion they don’t get the funding for the road extension,” Griffin said. “You could assume then that, if they’re not paying for a pool, that they may be able to afford a road extension themselves.”

Town chief administrative officer Warren Zyla confirmed Friday that the town had received notice of the motions, and their discussion had been added to the agenda for the Oct. 4 regularly scheduled town meeting.

“After the special meeting I was considerably more optimistic,” Griffin said. “The town seemed to be more or less on the same page and wanting to see this process go through to allow the architects and consultants and pool committee to move forward with their open houses, the pre-qualifications, the contractors and to go to the tender process.”

“I was pleased with Athabasca County inviting all town councillors to their special meeting to discuss important items,” said town mayor Roger Morrill in an email sent to the Advocate on Saturday. “There was a positive tone to the meeting with thoughtful opinions expressed. The two motions resulting from those discussions indicate that Athabasca County Councillors listened to concerns and addressed them once again, with a spirit of doing what is best for the Greater Athabasca region.”

He reaffirmed that the town would be “formally consider(ing) these motions” at the next regular council meeting, set for today, Oct. 4.

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