It’s been several years in the making, but the Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre (SLSFSC) Society is hopeful that an operating agreement has been reached with the facility’s two owners: the Town of Cochrane and Rocky View County.
“We have come to an agreement in principle in terms of a new lease and an operating agreement,” explained society president John Cook, adding the agreement still needs to be ratified by Cochrane and the county – will be presented to county council in June.
“Hopefully by mid-June everyone has signed,” said Suzanne Gaida, senior manager of community services for the town. “It’s really the rules of engagement or expectations of how the society operates the facility,”
The lease term and operating agreement is for a 15-year period and does not pertain to capital or operating costs, only to operating and capital guidelines.
The owners ensure that the society is properly insured and run. From the operator’s perspective, it ensures that they operate autonomously – that it’s a community facility, being run for the community, as explained by Gaida.
For the last 16 years, the society has operated the facility at the request of the owners since 2001. The current agreement is set to expire in 2021. With facility renovations and the new aquatic/multisport addition coming online, it was an opportunity to revise and extend the existing agreement.
Cook explained the facility has operated on a user-pay model with a small surplus that has gone back into operations each year.
With the aquatic/multisport facilities opening over the next couple of months, the user-pay model will not cover a predicted operating shortfall. It is anticipated to take at least a few years until cost recovery resumes.
The current shortfall for the existing pool is roughly $500,000 – matching preliminary predictions for next year. The town, through a separate funding agreement from the operations agreement, will cover this shortfall.
Any life cycling or capital costs are reviewed and shared annually between the two owners and the society, through the regular budget process.
Phase four of the SLSFSC expansion – the aquatic/multisport facility – received $2.2 million in capital contributions, or about one-third of the town’s request from the county.
Coun. Jeff Toews and Mayor Ivan Brooker have both expressed concerns in the past about the county’s perceived shortfall in capital contributions to the new facilities – given the continued growth in the region and increased usage of Cochrane’s facilities by country residents.
“One of the biggest challenges is that the county is not contributing even close to what they should,” said Toews with reference to the latest capital project.
