Rocky View County (RVC) council voted unanimously to delay the reclassification of the Chestermere Regional Recreation Centre (CRRC) from regional to community (district) status until the Dec. 8 meeting.
“This is a complex issue with many stakeholders,” said Corwin McCullagh, manager of recreation and community services with RVC. “Since the County is dealing with a voluntary organization, we wanted to be fair and give the CRCA (Chestermere Regional Community Association) membership time to become informed.”
Developed in 1980, the CRRC has been operated through a long-term lease agreement between the County and the CRCA. However, according to McCullagh, as the “summer community” of Chestermere’s population grew to more than three times the population of county residents in the area, RVC’s financial contributions to the CRRC was “disproportionate.”
In 2014, RVC and the Town of Chestermere signed a cost sharing agreement, committing to contribute equally for capital funding and life cycle replacement costs for the facility, but according to McCullagh, the City of Chestermere withdrew from the agreement as of June 3.
“Since the City exited the cost sharing agreement, the facility is no longer ‘regional,’” McCullagh said. “Reclassification to ‘district’ status better reflects resident accessibility and usage, and ensures that the level of investment in recreation is fair to the majority of County ratepayers.”
According to McCullagh, the reclassification would have “minimal” impact on county residents, as he said statistics show that “overwhelmingly,” the majority of facility users are from the City of Chestermere. The reclassification would, however, result in the CRRC receiving less County funding.
“Only about eight per cent of minor hockey users are county residents, and less than six per cent of the users for other activities are from the county,” McCullagh said. “It will be up to the CRCA to determine how it makes up any shortfall in its revenues.”
McCullagh said RVC has also requested a review of the current lease to consider the “integration of municipal best practices” for non-profits that operate recreational facilities on public lands. Funding to the CRCA was suspended in July 2014 by both RVC and the City of Chestermere, due to concerns regarding transparency and conflicts of interest, and McCullagh said the organization is still ineligible for County funding.
“Last October, the County suggested bylaw revisions that would see the reinstatement of County funding,” he said. “The (current) bylaws do not adequately address the avoidance of conflicts of interest and appropriate board representation given the fact that the County has a majority interest in capital investment. Before funding eligibility reinstatement and any facility improvements are approved, the County must feel confident that this partnership is sustainable and mutually beneficial in the short and long term.”
According to McCullagh, the County expects the CRCA to take the bylaws suggested by RVC to its membership for consideration at the CRCA’s Annual General Meeting in November, and a motion for reclassification will be brought back to RVC council in December.
“Our relationship with the CRCA is like many other non-profits that operate facilities and provide access to county residents,” McCullagh said. “For us, this is the most effective manner to provide services to our residents without having to directly provide them ourselves. We’d like to ensure that the residents get best value possible for our investment in recreation.”
