Pembroke – The city will be looking to review its recreation agreement with neighbouring Laurentian Valley (LV) Township sooner than later after several members of council expressed their frustration at the current agreement that has been in place since 2011.
“They need to come to the table and pay their share and that’s the bottom line,” said long-time councillor and chair of the city’s recreation committee, Pat Lafreniere during a marathon budget session on Friday.
It was the second day of back-to-back budget deliberations and a meeting where several members of council expressed their frustration. At the same meeting, Councillor Troy Purcell told council and staff they have to do better and get back to providing the basic services to residents and blamed previous councils for not doing their job. With several long-time council members around the table, including a former mayor, his comments did ruffle a few feathers.
The issue for Pembroke is the high cost of running facilities on the taxpayer’s dime. The issue of reopening the recreation agreement with the neighbouring municipality might ease some of that burden. Currently, LV pays 30 per cent of the operating costs of the two arenas – the Pembroke Memorial Centre and Pem-Ice II — and the Kinsmen pool. The city pays 70 per cent. Under the agreement, LV will pay up to $59,100 of any capital costs related to those three facilities.
Coun. Lafreniere said the agreement needs to be re-opened now, adding there is no COLA (cost of living allowance) increase or anything of that nature.
“I was on the original negotiating committee to get that agreement established and there was no cap on capital,” she said. “And then our partners asked us to come back to the table because they were finding it insurmountable the amount they had to pay towards capital. But I really do think it’s time we open up that conversation again because as we all know $59,000 does not go very far.”
Council had not yet voted on a motion to close the structurally unsafe Kinsmen Pool, which passed later (see separate story), and Coun. Lafreniere was asked if council decided to close the pool, is LV going to say they are providing funds based on three facilities but now there are only two.
“It would mean the following year’s revenue would be significantly decreased because they pay 30 per cent of actual operating costs (of the previous year). So, if operating costs are minimal, they are paying 30 per cent.”
Coun. Purcell wondered what other agreements are in place that need to be looked at.
“I am just surprised that an agreement is that old,” he said. “I know it probably doesn’t surprise me in terms of some of the things I am seeing in the last term since November of last year.
“But we’ve got to do better. Come on,” he added. “The increase in fees has to happen on a regular basis. These things have to be looked at on a regular basis. These agreements have to be not long-term agreements.”
He said the city leases a building to The Grind for a dollar, but it costs $10,000 for insurance.
“Like come on. We’ve got to start thinking a little bit more appropriately, thinking about the taxpayers.”
Coun. Purcell issued a challenge to all of council and staff saying they have got to do better with this year’s budget.
“We have to look at each line and really identify, is it really a necessity. We can’t be everything to everybody. We’ve got to get back to the basics. What are our core roles and really identify those and start working towards those and start looking at efficiencies.”
He said the city cannot continue with eight per cent increases.
“Yes, I understand the pressures we are under with regard to some capital issues but shame on our previous councils for not putting a dollar away. And we’re stuck with this.”
Look at the Mirror
Obviously aware of the reaction of Councillor Ed Jacyno, a former mayor and long-time member of council, who sits across the chamber from him, Coun. Purcell continued saying, “Yes Ed, look in the mirror.”
In response, Coun. Jacyno said while he appreciated the comment he said he didn’t take it personally because previous councils did outstanding work and they kept taxes low.
“It’s because of inflation, etc. we’re faced with problems,” the former mayor said. “Not based on previous history but based on good judgement which we are making here today.”
Deputy Mayor Brian Abdallah, who was chairing the meeting, interjected saying discussions were getting off topic but Coun. Purcell continued.
“In terms of good judgement, a 71-year-old PMC with not a dollar put away, a pool that’s falling down, 18 years that we’ve had the same structural assessment report. Come on. Let’s start thinking about what makes sense,” he said. “Do this the right way, hold people accountable, get this budget down. There’s some work to do here. We’ve got to get this down to make it manageable for the taxpayers.
Coun. Lafreniere said she didn’t disagree with everything Coun. Purcell had said, but with the way he said it.
“But that’s fine. I agree with what you are saying,” she continued. “I think we need to get that LV agreement done and I have mentioned it many times over the last … Ever since they got that cap on capital, I have not been happy with it. I mentioned it to the previous mayor and I have mentioned it at many meetings and you know me, I don’t pull any punches and I don’t make any friends in the other municipality because of it.”
Coun. Lafreniere said no one predicted COVID or 30 to 50 per cent increases on all capital projects, maybe past councils should have been putting more away.
“But we were listening to the taxpayer and they were saying ‘you can’t raise it more than three per cent’ so yes, maybe we should just have just pushed ahead and put more money away.
“We can’t turn back the clocks. We are here and this is what we have to deal with. Moving forward, yes, let’s make notes that this is a project for this year and I hope the mayor hears me about opening up that agreement and in a serious way.”
Later in the meeting, Coun. Purcell said his attack wasn’t personal.
“It’s about the frustration,” he said.
However, Coun. Jacyno said the attack was personal.
“You mentioned me and my facility when I was mayor and I resent that but we will move forward. Let’s stop it and move forward,” he replied.
Challenging Position
Treasurer Angela Lochtie-Crispim cooled the discussions urging council to work together as a team.
“Everyone has differences of opinion,” she said. “Everyone has their own approach as to how we are going to approach the problems of the city and I think that conflict can be a good thing because if we all contribute, offer our take on different situations, I think we come to better decisions at the end of the day.
“But we still have to work as a team and I would just ask that … when we have differences of opinion that we stick to the issue and we don’t make it personal because from what I have seen from this council and previous councils is that everybody is very committed to the city. They want to represent the city the best way they can. We can’t change what’s happened in the past. We can only look forward and change what’s in the future and I do want us to work really well as a team and I would just ask that you keep that in mind.”
She said working with other municipalities on agreements is a very complicated issue, adding she sometimes wishes they were one municipality because a lot of time is spent is negotiating with each other on who pays for what as opposed to simply offering the best services they can to the community.
“I do find and do appreciate everybody’s frustration having been a part of the negotiating committee for our water sewer agreement,” she said. “It took an outside arbitrator to help us resolve our differences and work together to, I think, come out with what I think ended up being a fair agreement but there was a significant amount of effort just between the two parties just before that to arrive at the point where the only way we are going to resolve this is to have an arbitrator.”
She said these kinds of conversations with outside municipalities are complicated because they also have significant pressure from their taxpayers.
“They don’t want to have to pay a dime more than they have to,” she said. “They have their own infrastructure pressures.”
However, it’s a bigger problem for the city because it owns all the assets and if a neighbouring municipality doesn’t pay it Pembroke still has to pay the bill.
“We’re definitely in a more challenging situation than they are because our citizens still expect us to operate these facilities that are located in our city,” she said.
Dep. Mayor Abdallah said renegotiating the rec agreement would depend on what happens with the P3 proposal the city is seeking.
LV paid about $315,000 towards the recreational facilities last year.
