‘We have to have something here’

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This article was published 02/03/2023 (978 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A key word to describe Ward 2 residents’ emotions about the prospect of losing their community centre is “frustrated,” which was said multiple times at a meeting this week in which they defended replacing the current building if it is demolished.

Believing they could soon lose their cherished Park Community Centre, residents gathered at a meeting there Tuesday evening to tell the mayor, their councillor and members of city administration how important a community centre is to their downtown neighbourhood.

Not only does a centre support the social life of the community — a place to hold birthday parties, weddings, festivals and christenings — it’s a vital part of efforts to revitalize downtown, they argued.

“We can all agree that the core of Brandon is the heart of Brandon,” said Wanda-Leigh Rains, who lives across the street from the centre on the 1400 block of Louise Avenue. “The core, the downtown area, are the most vulnerable people. We have to have something here, there’s no question.”

Losing the community centre would be another blow to a neighbourhood that has already lost other amenities, they said, including easy access to the city’s north end when the Eighth Street bridge was demolished.

Tuesday’s gathering was a regular ward meeting hosted by Coun. Kris Desjarlais but, with a key council vote on the centre’s future coming up Monday, it was dominated by questions and comments surrounding whether the deteriorating community centre will be replaced if it is demolished.

Developments at a Feb. 6 city council meeting had mobilized the community centre’s board to rally residents to attend the meeting to “stop city hall from demolishing Park Community Centre.”

At its February meeting, city council deferred a decision whether to accept a bid for the demolition of the current centre and construction of a replacement. That’s because city administration had recommended council reject all three bids that were made for the work since each had come in over the amount the city had budgeted for.

The budget was $1.2 million and the lowest bid came in at $1.5 million. There wasn’t enough money in reserves to cover the $300,000 shortfall, administration stated, and taking money from the parks reserve would delay green space projects.

City manager Ron Bowles said a decision to not award the project would mean administration would return to council at a future date with suggestions for next steps. The centre would not be demolished or replaced at this time.

However, Bowles also stated that now was the time for council to decide whether a building should be at the site because it wouldn’t be fair for council to solicit further requests for proposals later because of the time and expense already incurred by those who had submitted bids.

Prior to Tuesday’s meeting, Park Community Centre board member Eldon Schmitz said a vote by council to reject the tenders would effectively be a decision to demolish the building and create green space as outlined in the city’s recreation master plan as he doesn’t expect the city will want to run a facility that has a capacity of only 40 people.

The centre’s capacity was about 145 people, but structural problems has dropped that figure to 40. In fact, the number of residents who wanted to attend Tuesday’s ward meeting was far beyond the capacity of 40, causing a number of would-be attendees to wait outside while Brandon Fire and Emergency Services acting Chief Terry Parlow monitored peoples’ comings and goings to ensure the number inside stayed under the limit.

With Desjarlais running late due to a work commitment, Mayor Jeff Fawcett had stepped in to start the meeting but found himself in the firing line of questions from upset residents.

Schmitz asked why the cost of building a new centre wasn’t part of budget deliberations when the city would have known the cost had risen at that point, effectively losing an opportunity to address the $300,000 shortfall.

“It would have been good to have it discussed at the budget meetings,” Fawcett acknowledged in response.

The city’s general manager of operations, Patrick Pulak, reiterated administration’s position that there was no money in reserves to make up the difference needed for demolition and construction of a new building, but Schmitz said there is more than enough in the community centre’s account.

“There’s $400,000 in the community centre account, $400,000 sitting there that has been sitting there for 15 years and not been used, and there’s no money for Park?” Schmitz asked.

Former city councillor and MLA Drew Caldwell said the submitted bids were in the acceptable range and pointed to money that remains in the Eighth Street bridge reserve as a way to fund the shortfall. With construction of a new bridge seemingly shelved, council has already drawn from the bridge reserve to make money available for other projects.

Caldwell also noted the provincial government recently announced it will provide an extra $2.3 million in unconditional funding this year.

“We’ve got a situation right now where there’s a tender bid that comes within the scope of what is required to redo this facility and the only thing stopping it right now is an unwillingness of city hall, your worship, to work with this community to make it happen,” Caldwell said.

Other speakers questioned whether council had done its homework — whether it had researched other possible sources of funding, or whether the amount the current facility is used had been studied and a business case for a new building made.

In response to questions, Fawcett repeatedly noted the issue would be back at the table Monday night and citizens could have their concerns aired by Desjarlais. Mark Allard, general manager of development services for the city, indicated the residents can also register to make a presentation themselves at the council meeting.

While the first part of Tuesday’s meeting was confrontational, that tone softened when Desjarlais arrived and took over the meeting from Fawcett and stated his support for some form of replacement centre at the site. The councillor began by expressing his frustration with city administration’s recommendation that council reject bids for demolition and construction of a new centre.

He said council had already decided before its February meeting to act against the city’s recreation master plan, which would see the current building demolished and replaced with green space. He’d expected administration to provide its choice for a proposal and allow council to decide whether to proceed or not, he said.

Desjarlais also said he didn’t understand the claim that there isn’t money to cover the shortfall for the demolition and construction work. Many responses to city requests for proposals come in over budget, he said, yet money is found. There’s still $570,000 in the Eighth Street bridge reserve, he pointed out.

“To say there’s no money for the Park Community Centre is just not true,” Desjarlais said, adding administration should have come up with recommendations for finding the money rather than suggesting all the proposals should be rejected.

Finally, Desjarlais also questioned why administration hadn’t returned to council when it was learned that updated building codes would mean a new building would need to be bigger if it were to accommodate the same amount of people as the old one.

That, presumably, would increase costs and be one of the reasons why bids were submitted over budget. Desjarlais said he’d like to see the full-sized building, but would settle for a reduced capacity if it meant construction could go ahead.

He urged residents in his ward who want to see a community centre remain a part of their downtown neighbourhood to fill city council chambers Monday night for the vote that will determine the future of the centre.

“I’m confident that … most of council recognize the need for the Park Community Centre.”

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