By Sheldon Spackman

westerner park turned down

County council denies $1M funding request for Centrium upgrades

Jun 8, 2021 | 4:02 PM

Red Deer County council has voted unanimously to deny a $1 million funding request from Westerner Park to help pay for upgrades to the Centrium.

Tuesday’s vote was in regards to Phase 2 of the Centrium Life Extension Project, which identifies replacing the ice plant and HVAC Chiller systems that have been in place for 30 plus years and nearing the end of their life cycles.

The Westerner is looking to start work on replacing those systems next May. The system upgrades are said to be not only critical for events currently being hosted at the Centrium, but also to ensure the Westerner can be prepared to attract future major national events.

The total cost for Phase 2 is $2.1 million. Westerner Park has the opportunity to apply for a $1 million provincial Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant, which requires matching funding. The deadline for the annual grant application is June 15.

Westerner Park’s request was that Red Deer County contribute $1 million in matching funds over a three-year term, with only the commitment of funds and a support letter being required by the June 15 application deadline.

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However, councillors were not on board with the idea.

Councillor Richard Lorenz said he’s not satisfied with Westerner Park’s current plans for rebuilding moving forward

“Some of the things that they’re saying that needs to be replaced, they knew they were 29-years-old last year. They decided to do other face lifts and so on and so forth,” says Lorenz. “I guess if this equipment was getting close to its lifespan, then maybe they should have looked at that a little sooner.”

“We honestly already do give grants for community facilities to the City of Red Deer and surrounding communities,” added Councillor Connie Huelsman. “At this time, this is for a specific request that I just don’t support, as I don’t feel that it’s Ag related and that’s what the County of Red Deer is for specifically.”

“There’s no guarantee that they’ll get this Community Facility Enhancement Program grant,” noted Councillor Jean Bota, “and I do agree that the items listed on here are more related to the capital costs. I would like to see something more agriculture (based).”

Councillor Philip Massier noted quickly depleting County reserves, which Director of Corporate Services Heather Surkan confirmed.

“Our Community Services reserve at the end of (20)22 is $237,000,” said Surkan. “That’s where the reserve would actually be with budgeted items already, so we don’t have this currently in the budget. We do have municipal reserves but they’re not eligible for this type of a purchase.”

“It’s premature,” lamented Councillor Christine Moore, who sits on the Board of Directors for Westerner Park. “We need to see what the future holds, what the track record is, and find our place – whatever that might be. Right now, it just seems too soon.”

Mayor Jim Wood admitted to being torn over the request.

“I would feel way different if the ‘ask’ was not for the ice,” Wood suggested. “This is probably no different than the time we gave a million dollars, left a million dollars on the table for trails because we were waiting for a grant that disappeared. If this is the way that it (the vote) goes, I don’t think that that’s any reflection at all on Red Deer County’s perception of the importance of Westerner Park to our community.

“Sometimes there’s only a certain amount of funds to go around and I would like people to understand that this may be something that we just can’t afford at this time.”

The Centrium is said to account for approximately 70 per cent of Westerner Park’s overall economic activity, which equates to nearly $100 million in economic impact for the area.