St. Thomas City Council was not prepared to jump off of the diving board into a funding application for a new community centre with a pool for the City. In a recorded vote on Monday night only councillors Lori Baldwin-Sands and Steve Peters voted in favour of the City moving forward with an application through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program that is providing $30 billion to municipalities through cost-sharing with all levels of governments.
The due date for an application is November 12th and while staff advised council that an application could be submitted, there would be several unknowns included in it.
Councillor Gary Clarke says that in addition to the unknowns, he’s not sure the City could afford a new aquatic centre right now.
Clarke says that the funding would have only covered 75% of the building cost.
Clarke also says that the consulting firm that the City has hired to help develop their Parks & Recreation Master Plan is advising council that one is not needed right now so he feels that they should decide exactly what a new facility would consist of for future planning.
Council did pass a motion for staff to move forward with a funding application for the Curtis Street Square project that is in partnership with the St. Thomas Public Library.
