Pool, spray park eyed in service cut proposals

Public input is needed quickly to help Turner Valley council determine if it will make cuts to its recreation facilities.

Administration proposed reducing operating hours of the Dr. Lander Memorial Swimming Pool and Turner Valley Spray Park, among about a dozen cost-saving initiatives, to town council at its Feb. 4 meeting as the Town prepares to complete its 2019 operating budget.

The proposal calls for reducing pool hours from 95 to 80 hours per week and opening it June 14 or 28, rather than May 18, to save $54,000. The spray park would operate the same hours, revealing a savings of just under $12,000.

Council will determine if, or how much, to cut back with help from a public survey that runs Feb. 5-12. The survey results will go to council at its Feb. 19 meeting and a draft operating budget will be presented on March 5.

Coun. Barry Crane, who resigned Feb. 5 to run for mayor in the April 8 municipal byelection, called the pool “sacred” and said he’s concerned about opening it after Discovery Days, the first Saturday in June.

“It’s really important that the pool and the spray park is open for that,” he said. “I look forward to the public participation and seeing what they have to say.”

Crane had made a motion late last year that administration look for ways to cut operating expenses by just under $200,000 to keep costs consistent with 2018.

“Administration did a fantastic job and came back with $281,425 (in potential savings) so we have some wiggle room,” he said. “It’s fantastic that every department dug down and found small saving and they all add up.”

Another proposed cut is changing the Turner Valley Municipal Campground online reservation to self-serve, a savings of $16,000.

Corinne Middleton, manager of finance and corporate services, said it would eliminate the need for staff to manage that component of the campground.

Other proposed savings Middleton presented is $6,000 in restricting colour copying, $3,000 to provide the option of online utility bills, which are mailed every two months, and $9,500 in telephone bills.

Administration is currently in negotiations with Telus for a more favourable contract, Middleton said, which includes eliminating unneeded land lines.

Other proposed cuts include $15,000 to scale back hours required for an in-house contractor for the Occupational Health and Safety program and $29,000 to eliminate a full-time equivalent parks worker and use additional summer staff instead.

She said another $5,000 can be reduced in eliminating software and hardware that’s not being used to its fullest potential and $104,000 in engineering and project management costs.

“We’re exploring opportunities to bring a project manager in-house,” she told council. “For a large portion of our capital projects we engage third party engineering. We’re paying a considerable amount in engineering fees. It will allow us to gain expertise in-house with having a project manager.”

Middleton said expenses for an in-house project manager would be moved to capital expenses, but it would also see savings.

Coun. Garry Raab said he supports the project manager idea, adding he would like to see the cost savings associated with that kept track of by administration, as well as the proposed savings for the campground.

“We were sold a bill of goods that the online reservations were supposed to save all kinds of money, but that hasn’t come to fruition at all,” he said. “We’re still paying too much for the campground, as far as I’m concerned.”

As for reducing the pool and spray park hours, Raab isn’t sold.

“We get so few services in this town I think that’s something we need to maintain,” he said. “For me the biggest albatross is salaries, wages and benefits. By closing the pool we save some money in salaries but I don’t think that’s the major problem here personally.”

Interim deputy mayor Cindy Holladay expressed concern over the tight timeline to get public feedback, adding that without the service cuts the other savings total close to $200,000, including $20,000 previously budgeted for a Municipal Development Plan that’s since been removed from the 2019 operating budgeted.

Copies of the survey are available at the Sheep River Library, local recycling centre and town office, as well as online at turnervalley.ca