The Centennial Park ball diamonds are in for a new irrigation system.
Council voted, Sept. 2, to allocate funds ($24,900) to the project, as well as to resurfacing the pool ($70,000) and purchasing certified structural turnout gear for the Jasper Fire Brigade ($5,135), siding for the aquatic centre ($36,000) and heating units for the activity centre ($30,955).
The projects, which total $166,990, will be funded with Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) Operating Grants from the provincial government.
The municipality has $101,615 in grants carried over from 2013, as well as an additional $65,375 grant for 2014. It had the choice of carrying forward all or a portion of the 2014 allocation to next year, but it must spend the funds from 2013 before December.
In July, administration brought forward a list of possible projects the municipality could support with the funds. A slightly revised list appeared before council Sept. 2 and was unanimously approved, with Coun. Gilbert Wall absent from the meeting.
The list was revised to ensure that each of the selected projects was without other funding options.
Alice Lettner, director of finance, assured council that the selected projects aren’t included in the 2014 budget and couldn’t otherwise be funded this year.
“There definitely wasn’t any money allocated for the irrigation system or the turnout gear; for the siding for the aquatic centre, there is an allocation from restricted funds, but only for a portion of the siding ... so [MSI funding] will increase that allocation and they will be able to complete the siding all at one time, rather than doing it in bits and pieces.
“Resurfacing of the main aquatic pool: they can do it within the restricted fund allocation for this year, but they will get what they feel is an inferior product.
“And because we recognize that the heating units in the activity centre do need some funding, any funds that were left from this allocation would be directed to whatever heating solution operations [choses].”
That includes a rooftop heating unit for the temporary library, which has been without a functioning unit since April.
Lettner referred to the funding allocation as “creative” and said “it would provide some solutions to items that [the municipality] would otherwise not have money for.”
The provincial government is phasing out its MSI funding for municipalities, with its last allocation coming in 2015.
Lettner said next year she expects the municipality will receive anywhere from $25,000 to $32,000.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
