Peace River Town Council held a special meeting last night.
They passed a bylaw to allow the town to borrow money on behalf of the Peace Regional Recreation Centre project.
Despite charges to the contrary, Town CAO Chris Parker denies that they were told by municipal affairs to stop work on the project.
“We informed (municipal affairs) about the project, about what we were doing,” Parker told media after the meeting. “It was under our impression that we could do it next year, but what we had to identify is where all the funding was coming. But they came back and said that no, you have to do the borrowing bylaw now.”
Some concerned citizens did show up at the meeting to express their opinion, concerned about construction going on before this bylaw passed.
One, Reverend Nathan Friedt from First Baptist Church, says this should, in fact, have been done before shovels were in the ground.
“Just moving forward, we just hope that this mistake doesn’t happen again,” said Freidt. “I appreciate Councillor (Tanin) Behnke for admitting that mistake, and that council does need to do better moving forward.”
Parker admits that the town errored in not putting this in before approving the project.
“We acknowledged that,” he said. “We talked to municipal affairs, and in fact, they have been kept informed. So we’ve had numerous conversations about this project, and have talked about how far this project has been going up to this point. So yes, they are fully aware of where we are.”
Friedt, while he may not agree with their decision to approve the bylaw, does respect that it was their decision.
“I support our town, and I support the town’s leadership,” said Friedt. “If they’re moving forward with this measure, that I’m behind them now. But I’m still a little disappointed with the process behind it.”
The new Rec Centre is set to be built in 2019.
– Posted by BET
