Chestermere Regional Community Association (CRCA) hosted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Dec. 9, inviting its membership to vote on proposed bylaw and lease amendments as well as reviewing its financial reports and results of a forensic audit.
According to CRCA president Mel Foat, the audit was conducted to show the new board’s transparency in an effort to relieve some of the concerns brought forward by Rocky View County (RVC) in June 2014. Corwin McCullagh, RVC’s manager of recreation and community services, said funding was then pulled from the organization due to a perceived conflict of interest and lack of transparency.
“Funding was suspended until such a time that assurances existed that public funds would not directly or indirectly benefit board members,” he said. “Funding will be reinstated to the CRCA when the terms and conditions that RVC has clearly communicated to the organization have been met in full.”
McCullagh said the changes requested by RVC are “essential for any organization seeking public funds,” and address a number of key issues: modernization of the lease agreement to address standards for accountability and performance; association bylaws that address the avoidance of conflicts of interest; submission of a staffing plan with updated job descriptions for critical positions; a stakeholder relationship enhancement plan; and a provision of the terms of reference and a copy of the financial audit report.
“Up to the date of the AGM, the County received no counter proposals or requests to meet to find solutions,” McCullagh said. “Once the CRCA has adopted the bylaws and lease arrangements that the County requires, we can move forward.”
However, Foat said the CRCA has done its best to meet the demands of RVC. At the AGM, the organization offered to purchase the facility for, according to Foat, the amount that the County has invested into the building – minus any government grants that were not attached to RVC.
“We are willing to step forward and do that so that they can give us our building and our land back, and let us get on with providing recreation to both county and city residents,” Foat said. “The ultimate goal is not to purchase the facility if we don’t have to, but I think (RVC) administration and council need to stop and realize that we aren’t trying to be obstinate. We have a strong board now, and we don’t want to fight.”
McCullagh said the CRCA’s offer of $2.5 million was a “small fraction” of what the building is worth. According to McCullagh, the expectation of taxpayers would be for the County to sell the recreation centre at “fair market value.”
The County proposed amendments to the organization’s lease of the facility, which were voted down by the CRCA’s membership at the AGM. According to Foat, the amendments were “for the betterment of RVC” and not for the organization’s membership. McCullagh said RVC will continue to adhere to the existing lease, which expires in December 2029.
“They wanted to change it to a two-year lease, and change it so that if CRCA was terminated, they would be able to take over the building,” Foat said. “It seems that the list of things we are being asked to do just doesn’t quit, and it does create some concern for us.”
The CRCA does have a plan in place to hopefully become self-sustainable, Foat said. According to Foat, the group intends to lease or rent some of the 20,000 square feet of undeveloped space in the facility to local businesses and community groups, who will “give back” to the CRCA.
“We’d like to bring crossfit back in, open up our own fitness centre and put in a training centre to make this facility the home of Spartan hockey. We also have some interest in building a family pub in this building, in between the two ice arenas,” Foat said. “If RVC isn’t going to fund us, we are hoping they will at least let us move forward.”
