The divestiture of the West Coast Training Centre is becoming a real concern and something Stephenville Mayor Tom O'Brien would like to see delayed.
The issue was discussed at a Southwest Coast Joint Council meeting on April 20, prompting the group to write a letter stating a number of concerns to Terry French, minister of tourism, culture and recreation.
Mr. French had announced the closure of the facility for the end of March.
After an outcry from the community and conversations with Mr. O'Brien, Mr. French issued a three-month extension on the closure until the end of June, but said the province would advertise divesting of the building before then.
Mr. O'Brien said he is worried the centre could end up in the hands of a private entrepreneur who may later make use of it for some other purpose, such as an apartment complex or a grocery store.
The Stephenville town council has asked the government to put the divestiture proposal on hold so the town can try to secure the building for the region, and that whatever entity it is divested to would operate it for the sole purpose of a recreational facility.
Kippens Mayor Cator Best, who brought the issue to the joint council meeting, said he figured it was a topic for the group to take on. He said communities have to be involved, and agreements that the building has to be used for recreational purposes must be part of it.
"I'm afraid that, where government is rushing it, the building will fall into poor hands," he said. "A year to get this done is not asking too much. (Our communities) need to sit down with government and ask for time and start negotiating what we'll do with it and who will run it."
In the letter from the Southwest Coast Joint Council to Mr. French, it was stated the facility should receive, at a minimum, the same 90/10 or 80/20 funding that all newly built facilities receive under the province's capital works programs.
But Mr. O'Brien disagreed with that, and questioned why a regional facility should be put on the Town of Stephenville's capital works budget. He said the government should pay the full cost of modernizing the building before handing it over to the town, which in turn would take the responsibility of divesting it.
Mr. O'Brien said Stephenville already has several facilities, including the Stephenville Dome arena and the Regional Aquatic Centre. He said when the aquatic centre was built, there was a 20-year agreement between Stephenville, Kippens, Port au Port East and Port au Port West to operate it jointly.
"Now that the 20-year agreement is up, the other three communities are trying to walk away from contributing to the operations," he said. "One hundred per cent of our capital works money from last year had to go into maintenance for the pool, leaving many other areas without money.
"For the town to take on another regional building and put that cost and liability on the taxpayers of Stephenville is not going to happen. Stephenville is not going to carry the load on this."
Regarding the West Coast Training Centre, Mr. Best said he hasn't discussed anything with his council yet, but Kippens could find a way to put something into the centre if it were run as a regional facility.
"If we want to keep facilities for people in the region, we have to put money into it," said Mr. Best. "It's all about regionalization and we will have a stronger voice going to government together."
There is concern from the joint council that it is discriminatory to end provincial support for the training centre when the province supports swimming pool facilities in other communities.
In addition, the provincially funded university operates swimming pool facilities in St. John's and skating rinks in Corner Brook, which are open to the residents of those two cities.
"If you treat one a certain way, then treat them all the same way," Mr. Best said.
