By Thia James

Kinsmen Club takes over campaign to save water slides

Mar 17, 2015 | 6:30 PM

The Prince Albert Kinsmen Club officially announced on Tuesday that it will be taking over the campaign to save the water slides at the Kinsmen Water Park.

While the move is no secret – Mayor Greg Dionne first broke it to the public during his State of the City Address at the end of January – the Kinsmen Club is now outlining some of its plans to raise the remaining funds needed for the water slides’ restoration.

“The Kinsmen’s one of the lead service groups in the city and we built the slides originally on our own dime, no taxpayer dollars in there at all,” said Lance Alexander, chair of the Save our Slides campaign. “So, we wanted to make sure they’re up and running and they have our name on it. It’s been on it since [19]85 when they were built and we want that to keep going.”

The Kinsmen Club spearheaded fundraising efforts to build the Kinsmen Pool and Arena and it raised more than $1 million in 1985. It has continued its involvement over the years by holding Kinsmen Toonie Nights, which allow the park to remain accessible to all.

Mayor Greg Dionne said it was prudent for the City to have the Kinsmen Club involved in the campaign. The Kinsmen helped build the park and it’s named after them, he said.

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“So, whenever you get an incident when you need extra funds, I do believe you have to go to the people that started the project because they wanted to continue it on,” he said.

Dionne said this campaign is a perfect fit for the Kinsmen and their goal is to raise funds in the community for youth.

The club is stepping in again at another critical juncture in the water park’s history. The slides were closed to the public in 2014 due to safety concerns. The closure followed a safety inspection conducted by Prakash Engineering. The report that came out of the inspection revealed four areas of concern, which included a shifting centre slide, rusting metal structure, exposed fibreglass and a buckling tube slide.

During the 2014 budget discussions, council set aside $60,000 out of the original estimated cost of the project, $260,000. Council instructed administration to seek external funding for the remaining $200,000 needed for the repairs.

The Kinsmen Club is looking to raise $110,000, which includes the remaining $62,250 to address the safety concerns. The rest of that target includes the close to $48,000 needed to fund cosmetic painting work to finish the project.

Alexander said the painting work finishes the project completely so the patches on the main structure won’t be visible.

The total cost of the project is now $320,000, and of that, $210,000 has been raised. All but $100,000 of those funds are from external funding sources. The City is committing $100,000 to the slides’ restoration.

“We were, like everyone, very disappointed that they weren’t going to open. But they do need maintenance, and the City … past decisions were made that the maintenance wasn’t [kept up], but now, moving forward, that’s being rectified because there’s a fund being held to keep them going,” Alexander said.

On Monday evening, city council approved agreements with three firms to restore the water slides. The bulk of the work will be completed throughout April and May, with the aim of having the four main slides open to the public when the water park re-opens on June 5.

The City plans to add a fee on to the price of admission to the water park. The money generated by the fee will go into a reserve fund dedicated to future repairs and maintenance of the water slides.

With the Kinsmen stepping in, it doesn’t mean that the City will be hands off when it comes to raising funds. Dionne said if the City gets a lead on a potential donation, it will pass the information on to the Kinsmen.

He said the City is steering this towards the Kinsmen, as not to be in conflict. “You want to sort of have it under one umbrella,” Dionne said. “So, anything we do get and can help them with we’re going to steer towards the Kinsmen Club, because at the end of the day we both have the same common goal and that’s to raise the $110,000 that’s left.”

The Kinsmen plan to make an announcement about specific fundraising events in the near future, Alexander said. He said they’re trying to firm up some of the plans first.

“We’re hoping to have it wrapped up by the time the slides open.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames