The City of Prince Albert has committed to a plan that will keep the Marion Aquatics Pool open for another three years.

On Monday, city council voted by a 6-2 margin to spend $143,000 per year through 2020 as part of an agreement with potential pool operators Rivier Manor Ltd.

Pool supporters, who filled half the gallery for Monday’s meeting, heartily cheered the decision to provide city funding.

“Keeping it open was a really positive move for Prince Albert,” said Cynthia Stahl, one of the supporters in attendance. “I think we really need it.”

Stahl and her compatriots weren’t the only ones who left Monday’s meeting pleased. Ward 7 Coun. Dennis Nowoselsky, who has long advocated for building another indoor pool in Prince Albert, called the decision “a bargain deal” for the city. Ward 4 Coun. Don Cody also expressed his satisfaction with the move, calling it a “ good deal for the public.”

Mayor Greg Dionne the city already has a shortage of indoor aquatic facilities, so refusing to fund one of them didn’t make much sense.

“Our community master plan says we need a new aquatic centre and we’re going to start planning for that, but (while) going through that process we still need another pool,” Dionne explained. “We can’t operate with one pool, so that’s why we only made the deal for three years, because we hope to be in the ground in three years with a new aquatic centre. We’re going to work hard on that.”

However, Monday’s vote wasn’t a cut-and-dry affair. The proposal received plenty of pushback from several city councillors, who were concerned about the financial impact.

The three-year agreement will be funded out of a positive variance, but when asked by Ward 1 Coun. Charlene Miller where that positive variance would come from, city administrators replied that they were unsure. Miller ultimately voted against the proposal.

Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp also voted against the motion. While expressing some support for the proposal in theory, she worried there was no way to ensure the operators would consider offering public programing.

With Rivier Manor Ltd. in the final stages of negotiations to purchase the building that houses Marion Aquatics, Lennox-Zepp and Ward 8 Coun. Ted Zurakowski also expressed a desire to tie funding to the building’s final purchase.

An initial motion to do just that was defeated at Monday’s meeting, but a second that called for the agreement to be based on terms and conditions of the sale and then brought back to city council for approval passed shortly afterwards.

SUBHEADLINE: Paying their share

Rural usage was one of the biggest concerns the kept councillors debating the Marion Aquatics motion on Monday.

Several councillors expressed concern that Prince Albert residents would be paying for a service used largely by residents in the surrounding rural municipalities. Mayor Greg Dionne said the R.M.’s were unlikely to provide the city with funds voluntarily, and added that there are currently no ways to force them to do so. However, that could change in the future. Dionne said the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) is currently lobbying the provincial government to throw their influence into the ring. Dionne said they want the province to create laws that would help cities share the infrastructure burden.

“The cities are frustrated because our bill gets bigger and bigger and we’re not getting anymore funding from the province as they continue to cut,” he explained. “We have to find new ways to operate.”

Dionne said he prefers a user-pay model in the future that would charge rural residents more than municipal residents.

@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca

What would normally have been a quick confirmation appointment turned into a 10 minute debate during Monday’s city council meeting.

A motion to appoint a male representative to the Community Services Advisory Committee took longer than usual after a challenge from Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp, who expressed concern about a lack of gender parity on the city’s committees.

The incoming male candidate was set to replace an outgoing female candidate on a committee that had only four female representatives on an 11-member committee. Although Lennox-Zepp’s motion died without a seconder, she had plenty to say during the ensuing the debate.

“If we are serious about encouraging women to apply to these committees and to be involved in our civic politics, we need to be serious about who we appoint,” she said.

A total of eight candidates had applied for the vacant position, including the male and female candidates under the microscope on Monday. Lennox-Zepp said she saw nothing in the application packages that merited not selecting the female candidate, and objected to the decision.

“We’re losing a female spot,” she said. “Let’s replace it and consider gender parity…. We want different types of people on each committee. We want diversity.”

Lennox-Zepp’s added that none of the city’s committees were 50 per cent female, and she encouraged her colleagues to send the matter back to the mayor’s office for further debate.

Her proposal was met with heated objections from Mayor Greg Dionne and from Ward 5 Coun. Dennis Ogrodnick.

Dionne quickly objected to the suggestion, which he said was “out of order.”

“We don’t pick, in this council, by gender,” he said. “We pick qualified people and we go through a process.”

Dionne added that the proposed female candidate was not selected because she asked to be more involved in transit and housing issues, which were not part of the Community Services committee agenda.

“I believe in the best quality, and I don’t care if it’s a man or woman or whoever,” Dionne continued. “It’s whoever can best fill that void.”

Dionne said the majority of candidates who have applied to serve on city committees over the past five years have been men. He said he wished more women applied for those positions, but did not think automatic appointments to achieve gender parity would solve the problem.

Ogrodnick, who served as the Community Services Advisory Committee chairperson, wasn’t as fiery as Dionne in his criticism. However, he remained steadfast in his opposition to the idea.

“The views of the entire community are represented on this committee, and to just make it strictly about male or female (members), I think, is wrong,” he said.

Ogrodnick added that the eight community appointments to the committee were split evenly between men and women. That will change now due to Monday’s new appointment.

While Ogrodnick and Dionne objected to the idea of gender parity, other council members were more concerned with the process, arguing that the decision should have been brought forward before the issue was voted on in council.

Lennox-Zepp replied that committee appointments were only suggestions from the mayor’s office and could be changed by council if they disagreed. However, she also said she would accept sending the matter back to the Mayor’s office for further consideration as a compromise.

After much debate, the motion to appoint the male candidate passed by a 7-1 margin.

Typically, a three-member panel that includes the mayor debates community member appointments to city committees. A recommendation is made and then forwarded to city council for approval.

@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca