The privately-operated fitness centre in the Okotoks Recreation Centre will be given rent relief following an Okotoks council vote Monday.
Back in April, Natural High Fitness requested a reduction in rent due to financial challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
At council's April 11 meeting, a decision was made to advertise the granting of a full rent waiver to the leaseholder from Jan. 1 to May 31 of this year and a half rent waiver for June 1 to Dec. 31, conditional on continued operation of the fitness space until the end of 2022.
To adhere to municipal bylaws, a waiver must be advertised for 60 days to allow for the possible creation of a public petition in opposition to the proposal. The deadline for such submissions was June 27.
Administration told council July 18 that no petitions had been received by that deadline, so it was appropriate to move forward with the final decision on the matter.
The rent reduction passed 6-1 Monday, with Coun. Cheryl Actemichuk being the sole nay vote.
Actemichuk pressed community health and safety director Susan Laurin, who has headed up this file, for Natural High's revenue numbers so far this year. The councillor even made a request to move in-camera to discuss confidential matters relating to the decision, presumably finances.
Though Laurin was not able to provide exact figures, she said traffic is beginning to increase and the facility is back on track for pre-pandemic numbers.
Coun. Brent Robinson said users returning to the facility shows that providing relief was the right decision, as it allowed the business to recover and welcome back patrons.
Actemichuk disagreed, saying that returning customers that generate revenue show the leaseholder should have the finances to make the rent payments as set out in the original lease. She added that many other private businesses in Okotoks were faced with similar hardships through the pandemic and were forced to go about it on their own.
"I just don’t see it being a good idea for council to do this," she said.
Following the decision back in April, chief administrative officer Elaine Vincent made a video which was posted to the Town's Youtube Channel on May 9.
In it, she explained that council was concerned about how to ensure continued service delivery in the community and considered several factors in its decision.
"The difficult decision council had to make was not only to balance the financial considerations of how much lost rent there would be, but also the financial considerations of what it would mean for the Town to take over those operations and operate it itself, as well as potentially obtaining the necessary equipment to operate a gym, and the potential lost revenue the Town would also face if it had to issue a refund on joint membership," she explained.
Vincent added that coming out of the pandemic, another disruption in service to the fitness centre was something the Town wanted to avoid.
She acknowledged there were concerns emerging from the public surrounding the decision and so the choice was made to produce an explanatory video on the subject.
During Monday's meeting, Actemichuk said she had received feedback from several members of the public that were against the move. She added that a petition was started but didn't get enough signatures by the deadline.
Coun. Ken Heemeryck and Mayor Tanya Thorn both spoke in favour of the motion, with Thorn explaining that regardless of what option council chose, there would be a cost to the taxpayer. She said this was the lowest cost option and the most responsible one.
"Council is choosing an option that allows our community back and operating and reconnecting on that social wellness framework," said Thorn.
