Appeal for help with pool project

The September 22 swimming pool project referendum result has been welcomed by fundraising committee president Corrie Scott.
Now she has encouraged the 186 people who voted to delay the project to attend committee meetings and help with the fundraising effort.
She said the fundraising group was approaching the burn-out stage.
“We need a few more hands on deck,” she said last Friday.
She appealed for thinkers, and particularly doers, to step forward.
Scott said the committee planned to hold more fundraisers through the fall, winter, and spring.
Details would be released once the fundraising committee had reconvened.
Maple Creek Town Council agreed on July 27 to hold a referendum on the swimming pool project after a letter from former mayor Barry Rudd expressing concern about costs.
The referendum asked the questions:
• I do agree that the swimming pool project should be delayed until half the funds are raised; and
• I do not agree that the swimming pool project should be delayed until half the funds are raised.
On September 23, Gary Schlageter, the Town’s Chief Administrative Officer, released the results: 186 votes for a delay; 343 votes against a delay.
“I am very pleased with the results,” Scott said, while acknowledging that a significant number of people were concerned about costs.
She believed that public excitement about the pool project would pick up once progress could be seen at the site.
Scott was hopeful there would be activity soon.
A solution has been presented, she said, for a water-table issue that must be resolved before construction can begin; it involves redirecting water into the sewer system.
Scott added that a plan had also been put forward to begin building the pool house in the fall, leaving the interior work for the winter.
Tina Cresswell, who won the September 22 by-election for a vacant seat on Maple Creek Town Council, also welcomed the referendum results.
“I did a lot of hard thinking about that, and I ultimately came to the point that we need to proceed with caution. We need to pick the options that are realistic to us in that pool. But we can’t wait because prices are just going up. And it’s proven that they are going up like 40 per cent a year.
“This pool that is budgeted at this point at $2.9 million, is going to be a $5m get by the time we build it if we wait. And I am glad that people read the question. It was a very difficult question to read. I am glad they didn’t get mixed up.
“I think we have to acknowledge that people are worried about money. We have to conserve money and choose options that we can afford, rather than what we want.”
At the September 8 public meeting the Armouries, it emerged that the Town expects to receive Gas Tax totalling $864,226.08 for the swimming pool project.
According to a Town information sheet available at the meeting, $376,891.40 was received in 2021; $224,750.88 was received before 2021. Combined, those figures come to $601.642.28.
The amount to be received until 2024 (2022-2024) totals $262,583.80.
So far, fundraising has brought in $208,273. Expenses to date for the project total $164,787.17, covering demolition, geotech, surveying, consulting, and construction drawings.

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