By Jeff Labine

Replacement of Kinsmen pool moves forward

Mar 28, 2017 | 5:00 PM

Financial constraints aren’t stopping the $1.125 million replacement of the outdoor Kinsmen Water Park pool from going forward.

The project was awarded to Western Recreation and Development Inc. at Monday night’s meeting, March 27, despite concerns from members of council about the financial challenges the city is facing. Prince Albert will be losing millions in grants from the provincial government and recently agreed to pay $2.81 million in a settlement with Domtar Pulp and Paper Products Inc.

 All these money troubles left some members of council less than enthusiastic about spending $1.125 million on an outdoor pool, no matter how worthy it was.

Ward 8 Coun. Ted Zurakowski said it was poor timing on the project.

“We do not know where we’re going to come up with another 8.5 per cent,” he said. “My comfort level is to put this to the budget discussion. I’m not promoting cutting this. I think we need to put this on the table with everything else because this is $1.1 million and we don’t know where we’re getting $2.5 million.”

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Ward 1 Coun. Charlene Miller agreed and wanted to put the item on hold until the budget committee could take a look at it.

Mayor Greg Dionne explained the money to cover the pool can come out of a reserve fund. He said the city still has to run despite the fiscal problems.

The project includes removing the existing pool, material and installation for the new pool, piping, a new pool deck, fencing and a $65,000 contingency. One million dollars has already been budgeted, but $125,000 is planned to come from the civic facilities reserve.

The timeline for the project starts between April and July with actual construction starting sometime in August. The goal is to have the pool open by June 2018. This also means the pool will be closed but the city has arranged a deal with Carlton High School to keep the Frank J. Dunn pool open from Monday to Thursday during July and August.

There were previous calls for an indoor multi-use facility but the price tag for that was estimated to cost somewhere between $80 to $100 million.

The waterslides will remain open for the summer.

Jeff.labine@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @labinereporter