Pembroke – City council voted unanimously last week to proceed with repairs to the Kinsmen pool pending a commitment of financial support from surrounding municipalities, community partners and other sources.

Council is seeking 25 per cent of the estimated $1.4 million repair cost from these sources and is hoping neighbouring municipalities will come to the table sooner than later to help.

During a two-hour parks and recreation committee meeting last week, council was also unanimous in directing city staff to order a building condition assessment of the pool’s infrastructure so there are no hidden surprises after the structural repairs are made.

The committee, which is made up of all members of council, met last Tuesday night, one night after a public meeting to discuss the city’s 2024 budget at which the message from the public was loud and clear they wanted repairs made immediately to the pool.

The city is on a tight timeline to get the wheels in motion, tender the project and get the pool reopened by the fall of 2024 to hold on to the current pool staff. The city is reaching out to surrounding municipalities seeking financial support based on the percentage of residents from those municipalities who use the pool, bearing in mind all municipalities are facing tight budgets and have either passed or are working on their budgets. Another immediate challenge is municipal representatives are attending the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association convention this week in Toronto and so there no municipal council meetings scheduled.

Councillor Pat Lafreniere, chair of recreation, opened the meeting saying council is aware of the need for the pool adding council needed to talk about the pool, speaking to the point and not getting off topic.

“We are here tonight to decide what we want do,” she said. “Rehashing things that were said last night (at the public meeting) isn’t necessary. We all know that the need is there.”

Deputy-Mayor Brian Abdallah said he was in favour of the motion brought forward by Mayor Ron Gervais to proceed with repairs immediately, suggesting letters go out to neighbouring municipalities and at the same time direct staff to come up with a couple of recommendations as to how the money can be found to proceed with the repairs.

“I know there is a fundraising group that would like to raise money,” he said. “I would like to see the tender go out as soon possible.”

Councillor Andrew Plummer said he was in favour to move ahead with the repairs, but said it was important to talk about where the funds will come from.

“This council has already talked about … we are at six per cent or 5.95 (levy increase) so we’re getting up there,” he said. “If we are going to fix the pool, what other contributions are being made by the other municipalities?

“If it’s a commitment we need to make tonight to get other municipalities to the table, I’m prepared to make that. Say ‘yes, we’ll fix the pool’, but surrounding partners need to come to the table. I will support the motion understanding that it’s not all coming from the backs of the (Pembroke) taxpayer, that we’ll be working as a community to fundraise or there will be other contributors to help fund the repairs.”

Councillor Ed Jacyno said it is obvious there is a passion from the public to repair the pool.

“And we heard it from the medical staff as well. Doctors who were in attendance spoke about how prominent that was in making their decision to come here,” he said.

He felt there should be contributions from the boards of education and as well from the hospital budget as the pool is used for therapeutic reasons by people who have undergone hip replacements.

Calls For A Full Assessment

Councillor Troy Purcell was the one to bring up the need for a complete pool assessment beyond the structural deficiencies.

“To put $1.4 million towards a canopy is a lot of dollars,” he said. “Imagine spending $1.4 million of hard-earned tax dollars just to find out that the basin is cracked or there are some other urgent repairs.”

He said there is still some original equipment in the 51-year-old facility and called for a true engineering assessment of all the systems in the building.

“I don’t want to be rushed into agreeing to repairing something that we know is at its end of life,” he said. “It’s on life support and it’s not just the structure. There are some serious issues in that building that need to be resolved. And I hate to tell you, if we are just talking canopy and HVAC, $1.4 million isn’t going to cut it.”

Coun. Purcell said he heard at the public meeting how important the pool is to health and wellness but added it’s important to look at the bigger picture.

Councillor Ian Kuehl said he needed to know how the repairs were going to be financed before supporting the motion.

“My only problem is I’m not going to sit here today and direct staff to proceed with repairing the pool when we still don’t know how we are paying for it,” he said. “I think we are going too quickly. If our (municipal) partners want to know if there is a majority of us around this table that are willing to look at the repair plan, I think it should be good enough for them to know that a majority of us do generally support this $1.4 million repair.

“I don’t want to direct staff though until we hear how we’re either closing that 30 per cent gap or what money is out there because at the end of the day the last thing I want is for us to get stuck with the pool because people start seeing construction on the pool and they say, ‘well it’s being built, council voted to build it. We don’t need to fundraise’. I’m not saying everybody is going to do that, but I think it is generally accepted once something happens, fundraising starts to plummet, people lose interest.”

He said people are interested in fundraising now because the doors are closed.

“I don’t want to say that’s the only reason they are interested but let’s talk about reality. They weren’t here a month ago asking us to fundraise for the pool, because it was open.”

Coun. Kuehl said sometimes people, including himself, only move when push comes to shove.

“We close the pool and now we have robust community support,” he said. “I believe that their sentiment is positively valued. I just think they themselves will have a hard time fundraising once the pool is opened again.”

He said the decision to proceed with the project needs to be made once the financial plan is in place.

“We could say ‘no’, we’re not repairing it, we’re going to wait five years and we are going to focus on the new one. What I heard last night from the community was, they want this stop gap option and a number of them said they will continue to fundraise for the new pool.

Coun. Lafreniere said she came away from the public meeting knowing council had to do something.

“If we wait until the fall to make a decision on whether we’re fixing it, it’s going to take nine-10 months before we can fix it. It’s going to be two years and we’re going to lose staff. We’re going to lose the expertise and we are going to tick off a lot of individuals who possibly moved to this community because we had a pool.”

She agreed with Coun. Kuehl when it comes to securing funds from other municipalities.

“We heard it loud and clear last night that 48 per cent of the users are Pembroke and the other 52 are between Laurentian Valley and other municipalities.

“We’re in this together,” she added. “We are not an island, so let’s reach out to those other municipalities.”

She agreed with Coun. Purcell’s suggestion of a full assessment on the facility, but that the repair be expedited, know how much it is going to cost and then plan to keep the facility open for perhaps 10 years to give the city enough time to work with its partners on a capital debenture plan where everyone is sharing in the expense of a brand new complex.

“We’ve been kicking the can down the road for how many years? We can’t kick it anymore. I say put those dollars back in the budget. If we’re fixing the pool, if we have to bring that (levy) percentage up from 5.9 to 6.6, I would rather that because our ratepayers have to know we are moving forward and we are improving recreation.”

CAO David Unrau said the biggest thing with the repair project is for the city to make the commitment that it is going to do the repair and trust that the surrounding municipalities and the fundraising will occur.

Coun. Jacyno said there is an enthusiastic group of people willing to fundraise but the worst thing one can do is put them off and tell them they are not ready to proceed with the project.

“The iron is hot, let them strike, let us help them and give them the tools to help them achieve their aim,” he said.

He suggested people involved in the fundraising should include a champion from each municipality so it is not perceived as Pembroke shoving something down their throat again.

“There are people out there in other communities who will understand the financial implications and if we have those groups working as champions within the region, I think you could come up with a lot of money. I think you would be surprised.”

Deputy Mayor Abdallah said it was time to pass the motion and get the wheels in motion.

Letters seeking 25 per cent funding for the project were sent out late last week to the Town of Petawawa, Laurentian Valley, Bonnechere Balley, Whitewater Region and North Algona Wilberforce townships.