A motion put forward by Division 9 Coun. Crystal Kissel to donate dollars back to Cochrane’s new pool was met with unanimous Rocky View County councillor support.
The county will be donating $255,000 it was recently paid by Cochrane for two-jointly owned small parcels of land to the board that governs the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) to be used at the discretion of the society.
“The Spray Lake Sawmills Recreation Park Society board was very appreciative of the news about the capital funding announcement,” said SLSFSC general manager Robin Mitchell.
“Some of the money will be used to fund the new elevator and the paving the one remaining parking lot. The remaining funds will be used for future capital and lifecycle projects, not yet identified.”
Initially, the motion was to give the funds back to the town to go toward the existing expansion, but council settled on expanding the parameters to enable the dollars to go toward future projects.
“What a great gesture ... it’s a breath of fresh air and a good icebreaker to get us off on the right foot,” said Mayor Jeff Genung.
Genung unofficially met with Reeve Greg Boehlke last week and came out of it with a positive tone and shared enthusiasm to work together.
Kissel announced last month that she planned to bring the motion forward and said that she felt it was a good step in the right direction to mend the sore feelings from the town that the county was not contributing its fair share to the SLSFSC addition - only $2.2 million, or one-third of the town’s request.
Kissel said she felt the consensus spoke to the ability of the newly-elected council to work together.
“I was really pleased with the vote,” she said.
