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An information gathering meeting called by Mr. Gord Meiklejohn, Alderman responsible for Parks & Recreation, entitled "User fees" to which residents of White City Rural, Copper Sands, and Emerald Park were invited to attend, at the Village Hall on March 2, 1987 at 8:30 p.m. White City Village: Gord Meiklejohn, Rob Mitchelson, and

Clarence Woloshyn.

Emerald Park: Glen Collins, Robert Seipp, Myron Suwala, Al Johnson, and Sylvia Sanderson.

White City/Emerald Park : Pat Karapita.

Mr. Mitchelson presented those attending the problem that Council faces, that being our residents on average will in 1987 pay about $200 per household through taxes toward recreation and our being questioned why village residents pay that amount and Emerald Park residents do not pay any amount.

Questions or critical points brought forward:

Suwala; What is the norm for fees charged in other communities? Learned in talking with many towns and villages at SUMA that the amount really varies so no real norm.

Suwala: Have to be careful with User Fees as someone only qe=t:s mad and the end result is lost revenue. Council has no intention of creating a situation where we loose volunteers and participants.

Collins: Having used Great Plains for two years at no cost to the Village should be considered as a benefit to White City. Recreation Board use of Great Plains was at the decision of the Owner and it was his choosing to charge or not to charge. What we are dealing with are taxpayer dollars of the village paying the full cost of a facility that we want everyone to use.

Seipp: Emerald Park residents have each paid $500 through lot purchase to the school playground that we will all use. The School playground is a welcomed asset. The problem is that the village to be fair should have contributed an equal amount or greater than that of the R. M. as we are much greater in size. Any amount that we would have contributed would have to come directly from tax dollars of White City. Schools are operated on the basis that the entire school division pays and that should also apply to the grounds.

Suwala: We in Emerald Park feel bad that White City would not contribute. We are disappointed that we could not contribute. The community centre was our committment and that was made well in advance of the playground proposal. We just now do not have the funding resources.

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Suwala: Has there been thought about what or the number of activities a person could participate in for a certain fee. There are to two types of users. The Jazzercise group for instance will be paying room rental so a user fee would not apply as it is built into the Jazzercise participation charge. Programs such a beavers, youth group, guides use the facilities for fee. The user fee would apply.

Johnson: It should be considered that all groups pay a fee, and then it is up to the person if they want to be a member. That is a user pay system in which case the village would not pay the community centre operations from budget but that a community association

Suwala:

would raise funds and pay the operating costs. That is an option that some of the White City people would like.

User fees have a sad point in that participation is limited by dollars that the person has. Another point is that White City charging user fees now may come back to haunt in the future. For instance, if Emerald Park builds some facilities like a rink. What happens then. These fees will only create more division between our communities.

Sanderson: Is there potential for Emerald Park participation on the White City Parks & Recreation Board. Not at present as much of the board funding is out of taxes. That could change if all recreation was provided via the community group concept.

The Breakdown of Negotiations for Emerald Park in White City. The matter was a question of guarantees that central water was available to the village boundary. Mr. Seipp acknowledged that. We wanted a performance bond as our security in case the developer should decided to quit operations or fold. We could not take the chance because our main interest was everyone on ground water including you people in Emerald Park. the R. M. on the other hand was willing to take that chance. Other than that the agreement with the R. M. is a carbon copy of our agreement that was not signed. Mr. Collins noted his lot purchase agreement provides a six year guarantee. Suggested to look at the guarantee should the developer decided it was not feasible to proceed further in development of more phases.

The Road/trail. the Village could not say yes to the road because it was not intended to be a road. Liability was the issue so we had to say no. Put yourself in our shoes. We admit it was an error on our part to demand the side walk, and that was the route of much of the problem but when we did decide the road should be built, Lloyd took a lot of time probably through no fault of his, to get it built. We approached him in early spring to build it and it was not done until October.

The meeting ended at 11 : 20 p.m., on the note that the Emerald Park residents would call a follow-up meeting in April.

March 2, 1987

Collins; The building is not yet opened, we were not initially consulted, and now you are asking us for support. A joint use would have saved operating costs as the school would have paid that cost. We participated in discussion for a joint use . We were asked to give an equal portion of $65,000 to that of the developer, which would help to provide showers and a weight room amongst other things. We easily saw that $130,000 would not give us much and what we were i nterested in was providing those activities that our studies identified such as play­school, jazzercise, daycare, that a joint use would not provide during the day.

Collins: A meeting was called by Cliff Code to plan the school playground . Only Emerald Park people attended. Now the impression is that the project is a Cliff Code-Emerald Park playground. We can understand why White City people did not take an active interest. White City people built the first playground and contributed many hours of volunteer time. Their not showing interest now is only normal as they have given there energy. You are the new people here now and you have the energy that comes with new people so it is expected that you would contribute the most. The same would apply if you ran for White City Council. You have the energy and you would easily be elected because of that energy.

Johnson: The bottom line is user fees but the question is the amount. You should be mad if you had to pay user fees as they are a form of tax and you already pay enough taxes. If I were you I would ask the R. M. to show me where my taxes have gone as you know the amount you have paid. I would if I were you, want to have control as to where the recreation portion of my taxes were spent.

Sanderson: What we should do is form an Emerald Park community association, get the recreation portion of our tax money and spend on our priorities, and one of those priorities may be a lump sum for use of White City recreation services. We could in line with

___ , that come up with a bulB:-_:f~~ ~p~r-_Y-ear and ~-~~= thE= __ surrounding R. M. Association-·1 raise ~~- th~ - funds needed for that fee through the

R. M. and other means.

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A special meeting of the Counc i l of the Village of White City was held on March 3, 1987 at the Village Office for the purpose of Budget Review and to deal with matters relating to the Community Centre construction and grand opening .

Mayor Mr . Rob Mitchelson , Deputy Mayor Mr . Jack Ramm, and Alderman Mr . Brian Wolfe, Mr . Don Leier and Mr. Gord Meiklejohn .

The Deputy Mayor called the meeting to order at 8 : 00 p . m. as the Mayor was late to attend .

Meiklejohn : ''Resolved that the agenda for this meeting be changed from a meeting wi th the Saskatchewan Water Corporation to a meeting to deal with Budget Review and the Community Centre Construction and grand opening .

Carr i ed.

Poirtts of discussion during the initial go at the proposed budget :

Community Centre Rentals should be spent½ as a reduct i on of operating costs and½ for furnishings &

enhancements toward use of the facility.

Council can e xpect to hold 30 meetings during 1987.

Council budget $500 each to the White City Observer and to Heritage Cable for communicating to the public . . t:!i'J' White Ci ty F i re Department budget ~ $6,600 for capital expenditures and $5 , 250 for maintenance expenditures .

Village do a pilot project to smooth the Gregory Avenue surface by spreading sand and covering with oil , funds out of the road maintenance budget.

Council set an administration budget for the Recreation Board of $1,000 and the community hall operating budget at $2,500 .

Council decided on a community centre operating budget of $12,000 and a Library budget of $5,000 for set-up and $2,340 for membership to the Library Association ~

Further review of the budget deferred to a sp~cial meeting to be held on March 17th .

Decided Mr. Ramm purchase ~ 150 chairs as those available from the Knights of Columbus were stolen . Mr. P4e i klejoh n w c em l a;et Mr. Gorl i uk a. sk i 1tg th al lie szoJ r ,n t cer time Lo :make: 15 t 1b J e s . 1, CJOt) Recreation Board contributing ~ toward the tables, 4 four foot track lights ($900), and six 4X8 stage risers each costing about $100 .

Leier : "Resolved that the meet i ng be adjourned . " 11 : 20 p . m.

Carried.

~~-Clarence Woloshyn,

Village Clerk .