Town supports facility programming

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

After being presented with more options for the Strathmore Motor Products Sports Centre for the third time at their last meeting, Strathmore town council approved a maximum of $250,000 to support programming and to fund the purchase of removable boards, a storage facility and netting.
Administration approached council on Dec. 19 for a decision in regards to facility programming – specifically the proposed removable boards. In an attempt to include most user groups and provide versatility, council had been presented with various options including removable traditional hockey boards that could be removed for sports such as soccer.
“We (presented) council with the economic reality of operating a facility and the economic reality is we need to have programmability to utilize the multimillion dollar purchase of a facility to be most effective, and to try and work with all of the users to be able to program that facility to its maximum potential,” said Trent West, manager of protective services.
Council previously supported the installation of sport flooring on the facility’s large field as well as removable turf. Following discussions with two anticipated main user groups of the facility – soccer and lacrosse – it became evident their needs no longer aligned. Soccer teams are leaning towards an open non-board style of play, which didn’t meet the needs of lacrosse.
With hopes of causing less wear-and-tear on the facility and reducing necessary time to install and take down the boards, Councillor Melanie Corbiell said she researched other options that could provide a cheaper solution. Corbiell said the three days required to disassemble the boards bothered her and she found boards that only take six hours to assemble complete with an acrylic top at a cheaper price point.
“I was looking at some of the numbers and even before GST and duty it’s about $100,000, but that’s quite a bit lower,” she said.
Administration stated it will provide council with a detailed study of an analysis of the utilization of the facility and all costs associated in the summer of 2020. It will include a structured layout of the economic expectations that will be encountered at that point and what needs to occur to continue to meet council’s expectations in the future.
Chief Administrator Officer James Thackray also explained that due to the conflict with the user groups in their interests, administration scrambled trying to come up with a model to accommodate all groups, which resulted in the two-year pilot program to provide as many hours as possible and ensure the use by most user groups.
Councillor Bob Sobol had some concern with approving a quarter of a million dollars without knowing what boards will be purchased, and wanted assurance the boards will last for many years.
West assured council they will look into other alternatives, including research done by Corbiell, and looking at cheaper costs.
Council unanimously approved $250,000 from debenture funding to provide for the ability to support programming to take place with the two anchor tenants. The motion also included that the money would be used to purchase removable boards, for professional installation and removal, to address unforeseen costs, to address facility damage from user groups, netting, purchase of a storage facility and to receive ongoing reports from administration regarding the most effective and lowest cost alternatives.