Council voted to reopen both the Crestwood Pool and Moose Recreation Centre for 2022 (file photo/CHATNewsToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Council votes to reopen Crestwood and Moose Recreation centre for one year

Dec 21, 2021 | 3:06 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — It was a highly contentious issue during the municipal election, and now the future of Crestwood pool and the Moose Recreation centre is a little more clear, at least for one more year.

Council voted unanimously to support funding the reopening of the facilities for their 2022 budget.

Both the Crestwood pool and Moose Recreation center closed during COVID-19. Struck with aging infrastructure, and the challenges of the pandemic, the city has kept them closed ever since.

Despite a unanimous vote, the decision to reopen the facilities wasn’t without a lengthy debate.

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Coun. Shila Sharps argued the facilities need to reopen for the betterment of the community while a better plan gets developed and put in place.

” We have citizens, it doesn’t matter if it is 20 percent of 70 percent they are all our citizens, and we have to take care of all of them, and I would like to see that we open this up, get it functioning so that people can go in there, exercise, and take care of their fitness, and their health and their mental health,” she said,

Coun. Sharps also questioned why the previous council didn’t consider the costs of maintaining the smaller facilities in previous budget cycles .

“I guess I’m not appreciating that we are acting like it is a surprise because it is not a surprise. We knew these facilities were aging. Less than five years ago we dumped $500,000 in HVAC in The Moose so we knew we were going to do some work and then obviously when COVID-19 hit we had to make some decisions,” she said.

Coun. Robert Dumanowski a city councilor since 2001, responded and said the previous council had to make some tough decisions during COVID-19 which ultimately led the Crestwood and Moose shutting down.

” It wasn’t arbitrary ‘no lets shut it down,’ when you look at the timeline of COVID-19 and its impact. We can look at it today backward with clarity. We know where all the pivots were ….. We had no such road map going forward. What we did have is the need for Accelerated Financially Fit. That shouldn’t have been the first one going forward. But we had to find considerable savings. At the same time, we are in the midst of the pandemic where there was a shutdown of everything,” he said.

Since the facilities have been closed, councilors said they have heard loud and clear about its impact. From families having to travel outside Medicine Hat for ice time, to grandparents not being able to watch their children play due to the far distances.

Coun. Allison Van Dyke said she’s heard many concerns about the closure of Crestwood Pool from both user groups, and locals.

” There was a lot of frustration from the swim club in that facility, aquafit classes. Seniors that use that facility and rely on it for a variety of reasons because of the distance, it’s closer than the Big Marble go Center and the cost is less than other facilities,” Coun. Van Dyke said.

But the cost to reopen the Crestwood pool comes with a $600,000 price tag, and Ramona Robins, chair of the public services committee said the life span of the Crestwood Pool isn’t projected to be lengthy due to its aging infrastructure.

“It may last five years, it may not last that long. So we have a wonderful facilities department and they are keeping careful eye on it,” she said.

The Moose Recreation Centre also requires money to reopen. According to a report from city staff, $1.2 million is required to replace the ice slab and $300,000 is required for operational costs .

” This one is actually a little bit harder for me ironically, not because they operational costs are less but because we have to invest at least $1.25 million to reopen it. And to say for one year, I’m not saying we wouldn’t go beyond that but that’s a pretty expensive price tag, stated Coun. Dumanowski, who noted that while reopening the facility will add more ice times, it won’t necessarily cure the need for people to go outside the city.

” That was the case when we had this facility open, and it will continue to trust me because people want ideal ice time,” he said.

Funding to reopen the two facilities will come from the city’s operating and capital reserve fund.

An exact date for when the facilities will reopen has not been set. The city said the Moose Recreation Centre needs to have its new ice slab installed and the Crestwood pool also needs to hire lifeguards before anyone can strap on the skates or swimsuits.