CENTRAL MANITOULIN—Discussion over a new recreation centre for the municipality arose during recent budget discussions, along with consideration of moving the community to a single arena in the interim. Although councillors voted to remove funding for upgrades to the Mindemoya arena and associated funding for the Old School to the tune of $215,000 in anticipation of going to a single arena and building a single multi-purpose complex, Central Manitoulin Mayor Richard Stephens cautions that it is early days yet.
“That got out of the gate quite quickly,” he said, “but there is a long, long ways to go yet. I don’t think you will see anything happening until five, 10 years down the road.”
Mayor Stephens cited the need for consultation with user groups, “where it is going to go, financing, structures—we are looking at examples, existing ones, I don’t want to reinvent the wheel here.”
When it comes to the million-dollar question, Mayor Stephens was adamant. “There will certainly have to be some kind of funding from somewhere,” he said. “In the current environment I don’t see that popping up any time soon.”
The February 14 council meeting that had anticipated having the appointment of a new councillor to fill the vacant seat for Ward 3, Sandfield, was cancelled. “We had to cancel a number of committee meetings,” said Mayor Stephens, “so there really wasn’t anything on the agenda for us to discuss that was important enough to make people drive in during bad weather.”
