In a 7 to 2 vote, Timmins City Council has taken the next step towards building a new aquatic and recreation complex.
At Monday's meeting, a resolution was put on the agenda by Mayor Steve Black stating that the city commits to building, as long as adequate funding is received. It was revealed that Black has applied for $5 million dollars in NOHFC (Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation) grants, and that a copy of the resolution will be forwarded to the organization.
Voting in favour was everyone except Councillors Joe Campbell and Rick Dubeau, who unsuccessfully attempted to defer the decision until after the city's 2017 budget is in order.
At the conclusion of the meeting, TimminsToday asked Black about the city's NOHFC application, and what the status is of fundraising efforts.
"Obviously we've approached various community partners and funding agencies from the government as well. Council had already approved the detailed design through a separate resolution and moved forward with that. In our discussions with upper levels of government, and a lot of the community partners have said 'we're not sure council has bought in to be going forward with the construction portion of this yet, and we don't really want to put our money forward, unless you guys are fully committed'. So this was a way to show that 'yes', if all the funding sources line up. If the upper level government funding is there, if the community funding is there that this requires to get to the mark," said Black.
He said that when council first started passing aquatic centre resolutions many moons ago, there was a high end cost estimate of $40 million for the project.
"So we said we would need about $8 million dollars of community fundraising, and $3 million dollars of government funding, if it comes in at that $40 million dollar price range, to go ahead, and I stand by that. We do need the community to come on board. We've had some discussions, and I can't say I'm optimistic we're going to get there yet, but at least we've had the initial discussions," said Black.
The Archie Dillon Sportsplex pool, located on Theriault Boulevard, has been described as inadequate by multiple councillors.
"People around our community notice that our pool is lacking" said Councillor Pat Bamford during Monday's discussion.
After the meeting, Bamford said he was happy with the decision, and was excited to hopefully see some money come to the city through grant applications.
"It should happen fairly quickly now that there is a formal resolution to build, if we have the funding in place. You do one step at a time, and that's a major step," he said.
Veteran Councillor Mike Doody, who was in fact the mayor when the Archie Dillon Sportsplex opened in 1979, said after the meeting that construction project received a major boost by one of the local mines.
"We were very fortunate that we got support from Texas Gulf with the pool. A lot of people forget, before we put the (Archie Dillon) pool in, the only pool we had was an outdoor pool by the Schumacher Lions Club. People swam in the Mattagami River, so, we've come a long way," he said.
Doody praised the current facility, but believes it is starting to show its age and inadequacies in many areas, such as accessibility.
"It has served us well, for a community that had no pool, and this is the next step."
He emphasized that fundraising was 'huge' for the Archie Dillon project. He is very optimistic the same amount of support can be arranged for the new facility.
"It can be done, and our mayor, we will hold him to it that if we don't get funding from the various government agencies, we'll take a look at 'Plan B," said Doody.
Mayor Steve Black said that the evening's decision was a big step forward. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday He recalled that council discussions for the Archie Dillon project were not nearly as lengthy or contentious as they have been for the new pool. He said the idea was 'well received'.
"I think we're on the right track. It may not happen tomorrow. It may not happen next month. But if we all work together, and all the right people come to the table, we'll get it done," said Doody.
Black said there is certainly no guarantee that the city will be successful in its funding application, but was happy with the outcome of the evening's vote.
"The application has its own process, so it needs to go through various stages before they decide. The board would have to vote on whether or not its a suitable and appropriate way to allocate their funds within their budget. So that's something that's out of our hands," he said.
He also said he will be looking at launching a formal fundraising campaign.
As far as the next steps go, a 'Request for Proposal' (RFP) is being prepared, which council will eventually have to award.
"That will come back, which will provide the costing to go through the detailed design. Council will have to decide at that time if they support the costs involved, and the approach involved with the RFP. That will take a good portion of 2017 likely, and we'll likely see something late summer, early fall, come back in terms of the detailed design," said Black.
At that point, a construction tender would be opened.
"Whether it be $20 million, $25 million, $30 million, $40 million, council would have to evaluate where it is with its fundraising, where it is the upper level government support, and how it fits into the funding, and which aspects of the project it wants to include," said Black.
