Friends of East Wheatland want county’s commitment

Justin SewarD
Times Reporter

 

Friends of East Wheatland are looking for a capital fund commitment for the next four years from Wheatland County to help cover costs of the new fitness centre and gymnasium.
The proposal is asking for Wheatland County to provide $250,000 in 2015 to aid in infrastructure of the gymnasium, followed by $125,000 from 2016 to 2019 to help in the expansion of the fitness centre.
“If they do that and we can start meeting with architects, obviously we can start making some financial commitments to build a fitness centre,” said Greg Lendvay, member of the Friend of East Wheatland Society. “On opening day we’ll actually hopefully be able to get in the ground on the fitness centre. We’re still at least a year out from today. That’s bare minimum if everything went well. We need that amount of time to start planning and applying for grant money to ensure we have the right equipment, the right technology in place and programming.”
Friends of East Wheatland have a vision for the new school that includes competing with the top schools in the province for rural education and providing a multi-purpose facility beyond classroom hours.
“We’d like to make sure there is an academic component for our students but also a benefit to the community at the same time,” said Greg Lendvay, Friends of East Wheatland Society member. “That’s just a wave of the future. There are such high expenses and buildings sit empty outside of 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. academic programming. It’s community and tax-based supporting schools. There’s a huge advantage of having a community and in particular seniors involved in your school.”
Lendvay added that all the kids are going to be bused to the school, and in effort to accommodate the student upon arrival at the school there needs to be a set regime of fitness and gymnasium components to keep kids busy at lunch hours.
Wheatland County Chief Administrative Officer, Alan Parkin, said staff will have to evaluate everything.
“We will take a close look at the budget,” said Parkin. “We will evaluate any possible funding scenarios and provide council with recommendations so they can make the decision. There is no decision at this time.”
Parkin expects the issue to be brought back before council in December.