It’s official. The Town of Kapuskasing is forging ahead with the construction of a new public pool, which will be located alongside the Kapuskasing Curling Club and the Kap RCC as part of a complete recreation complex.
Council went with option two as presented for payment for the new facility, which includes repayment over 30 years, corporate and public fundraising of $500,000, utilizing $500,000 from 2016 Evacuation Surplus, utilizing $1 million of the PUC reserve and the implementation of a one per cent tax.
The motion approving construction of the new facility was passed by a 5-1 vote, with councilor Martin Dinnissen being the sole member of council to vote against.
Dinnissen, while not against the idea of a new pool, said he had fielded concerns from people on fixed incomes about a rise in taxes.
“These aren’t the people who use the pool,” he commented. “They’re people on fixed incomes that want to be able to stay in their homes and raising taxes raises concerns for them.”
Councilor Laurier Guillmette also expressed concern over the way the pool was going to be paid for, more specifically the utilization of $1 million dollars of the PUC reserve, but ultimately voted in favour of the motion.
Councilor Rick Lafleur, who is the Chair of the Recreation Committee, while he understood the concerns on the parts of both Dinnissen and Guillemette, was very pleased with the decision.
“This is something that’s been talked about for 15 years and the time to do it is now,” he commented. “The old pool needs $4 million in repairs and it still won’t be what the stakeholders and the community really needs.”
Numerous stakeholders in the pool were on hand for Monday’s vote, which was met with raucous applause.
Article originally published by Kevin Anderson, The Northern Times