And to consider funding existing facility
GORE BAY—While neighbouring municipalities to Gore Bay are going to consider the possibility of providing additional financial support towards the continued operation of the Gore Bay arena, Western Manitoulin municipalities will also be considering the concept of working together towards development of a future arena, in a central location, with possibly other amenities such as a swimming pool.
“We had a very good discussion with the other municipalities (Billings Township, Gordon/Barrie Island, Burpee and Mills) representatives and they will be taking the proposal (to provide an annual contribution to the current arena) back to their councils for discussion, which is a good sign,” said Gore Bay Mayor Ron Lane, after the recent meeting. “And we talked about looking at a future arena location, knowing that our (Gore Bay) arena is only going to last a certain amount of time longer.”
“We had a good discussion and in the next few weeks the task force will discuss the proposal for a new multi-use arena facility with possibly a swimming pool,” said Mayor Lane. “Central Manitoulin will also be invited to take part in the discussions. This is very preliminary at this point, but everyone agreed to move forward to discuss working together.”
BREAKDOWN OF SUGGESTED COST-SHARING ON EXISTING FACILITY:
Lee Hayden, reeve of Barrie Island/Gordon said the township has always provided an annual funding donation toward the Gore Bay arena every year. “I’m not sure the request from Gore Bay (for an annual contribution) will be accepted by council, but it was a positive meeting and the idea of working with our neighbours together on a new multi-use arena facility is a good idea. At this point this is very preliminary, but everyone appears open to exploring any possibilities.”
“This would be a huge project involving all the municipalities and possibly First Nations on Western Manitoulin, and there was discussion of asking Central Manitoulin if they would be interested as well,” said Reeve Hayden. “From my perspective this is at least worth exploring.”
“No single municipality on Manitoulin can afford the construction of a new arena on their own,” stated Reeve Hayden. “Personally, I am very much in favour of the municipalities working together on a multi-use arena facility. Gore Bay has an arena and Central Manitoulin has two and they are all older buildings. I don’t know how feasible all of this would be; this would need multi-level funding, but if we all work together, and have a project proposal that is shovel ready it might be something that is possible. It could be the first step toward an alliance of Western or Central Manitoulin west.”
Bryan Barker, mayor of Billings, said when the municipalities met, Harry Schlange, Gore Bay town manager outlined all the things that the municipalities already partner on. In talking about the arenas, both Gore Bay and Central Manitoulin have had issues with their arenas, even M’Chigeeng First Nation has had issues with its arena. They are all older facilities. Harry had done research on how many people use the arena from each community and is requesting that the townships provide an annual contribution towards its continued operation.
“This includes a request for a contribution of $11,000 from Billings,” said Mayor Barker. “We know $11,000 would be a substantial cost for our municipality. We have been providing a donation of about $2,500 per year all along, but that may not be enough.”
Mayor Barker pointed out the town has indicated it costs about $100,000 to operate the arena on a yearly basis, and based on a recent engineer’s report, it will cost about $653,000 over the next five years in repairs to maintain it and keep it safe for users. “So, this also prompted a discussion on how long the arena is going to last and to set up a task force to look of the municipalities and include Central Manitoulin to look into the concept of a new multi-use arena facility, possible a swimming pool, meeting rooms and other amenities. This would all be dependent on funding being provided, and the chances would be better for this if multiple municipalities are working together.”
“This is very preliminary, but we all agreed that it is at least worth looking at,” said Mayor Barker. “And of course, all of this would need public input,” he stated.
Mr. Schlange said, “I think it was a really constructive meeting. The group saw that the use of the arena is spread across all four municipalities. Gore Bay is currently paying 89 percent of the annual costs of the facility and paying for all the capital costs.”
“We all realize the arena is a hub for the communities and is a very important amenity,” said Mr. Schlange.
