A community hall is getting County support to repair its foundation.
The Square Butte Community Hall, located on Highway 762 west of Millarville, requires $140,000 worth of work to replace the walls of its north and east walls.
Beverley Walters, treasurer of the community association, penned a letter to residents and members explaining the situation and requesting donations to help fund the renovations.
“We discovered a serious water leakage problem along the north foundation wall of the Square Butte Community Hall,” she wrote. “We had testing done that showed the integrity of the north and east walls have both been compromised, and in a matter of years, these walls may collapse with continued concrete deterioration and the weight of the hall above.”
A matching Community Facility Enhancement grant is available from the Province for this work, meaning the Square Butte Community Association must raise at least $70,000 to cover all expenses prior to applying.
To-date, the community has put forward about $17,000 as well as work-in-kind donations, which the Province will consider toward the cost of the work, for a total of just under $33,000.
The association turned to Foothills County for help with the last $37,000-plus required.
Municipal Manager Harry Riva Cambrin said it’s not unheard of for the County to help out community associations with repairs and upgrades to their halls. He said in the past, the County has jointly funded such projects using Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding.
“It would not be very unusual for us to do this,” said Riva Cambrin. “I don’t think there’s a community hall out there that council hasn’t supported where an effort has been put in by the community.”
Council agreed at its March 3 meeting to provide tax receipts for donations to the hall over $100, to waive any developments fees and provide safety codes inspection and consultation, and to contribute up to $35,000 in funding.
Coun. Delilah Miller said she was comfortable matching the cash donation amounts, not taking in-kind donations into consideration as far as the County’s contribution.
“That’s kind of what we’ve done with other communities – they’ve actually had to raise the cash,” said Miller. “I recognize a lot of people volunteer for these halls, but without knowing just what that entails it’s kind of hard to gauge it.”
She said she was happy committing to $17,000 to match the current funds raised, and the further matching future donations to a maximum of $35,000 in order to meet the $70,000 target.
Coun. Jason Parker, who represents Div. 3 where the hall is located, said with the County providing tax receipts, the community association expected to bring in a few more larger donations.
“They’re going to continue fundraising,” he said. “They are committed to doing as much as they can. They have skin in the game, they are raising the funds, they are going to be doing a lot of work.”
He said the current hall structure was moved onto a foundation built by volunteers in 1961, and has been well-maintained by the community.
By replacing foundation walls using a provincial grant, the life of the building could be extended by 25 years. That’s why the association opted not to do an entirely new build at this time, he said.
It’s a well-loved facility, he said.
“Even though it is far out west it does get quite a bit of use,” said Parker.
He noted during COVID its bottom line was hit by a loss of rental income to the tune of $20,000.
Coun. Alan Alger said he was in full support of contributing to the repairs.
“I’m certainly supportive of helping out our community halls,” said Alger. “They are the lifeblood of our areas.”
