Council expected to take rec ball

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By Jim Mosher
Friday August 31, 2007

Interlake Spectator - WINNIPEG BEACH - It was a qualified endorsement, but an endorsement nonetheless, as Beach council congratulated a group of volunteers for their effort to map a future for the town’s receration centre.
The volunteer group presented its vision for this resort town’s recreation centre to council’s regular meeting Tuesday evening.
Council listened attentively as Allan Sulyma read key elements of a report prepared by a recreation working group.
It seemed fitting that volunteers would be at the helm, as the town looks to breathe new life into a recreation centre that was built and paid for with volunteer sweat equity 27 years ago.
But what was needed more than a quarter century ago has given way to something very different. In fact, a key recommendation in the working group report is that the skating ice -- the lifeblood and raison d’etre of the centre when it was built -- be abandoned entirely.
“We as a group believe that the issue of putting in the ice should be put to rest,” Sulyma said. “There was very little support for the centre containing an indoor ice rink.”
Instead, the report recommends a multi-use, multi-generational centre that offers healthy activity for people of all ages. It highlighted four guiding values, including that a revamped centre be community driven, that it promote healthy living though fitness and activity, that it “ensure fun for all ages” and that it offer unique and innovative programming.
“It is a good start,” Mayor Don Pepe said after Sulyma’s presentation. “Now we must start to work together, and build upon your ideas. There is, though, a lot more work to be done -- I hope sooner, not later.”

Still, Mayor Pepe said some of the timelines outlined in the report may have to be extended.
“I personally think it’s a little bit tight but, hey, maybe this will keep both council and the group on their toes,” he said.
Coun. John Pellick also said there is more to do. “I think your group did a great job,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working in more depth with your proposal. I’m looking forward to moving forward on this.”
Coun. Greg Mandzuk said the group had completed an “unbelievable task” in fewer than two months.

PHASED APPROACH

Recommendations for action are broken into three phases: immediate, medium-term and long-term.
Among the immediate actions, it was recommended that the office of the director of recreation and culture be moved to the Hamilton Ave. centre. Council later adopted that recommendation in a formal resolution.
Also in the immediate term, the report suggests that the town hire a “professional facility manager” to “manage the redevelopment” and deal with ongoing administrative and scheduling issues.
The working group formed after a May 26 public meeting. It delivered its final report about the future of the Winnipeg Beach Municipal Recreation Centre at a public meeting Aug. 18.
Tony Pimentel, a member of the working group and a long-time advocate of a revamp at the Hamilton Ave. rec centre, says the mood at the Saturday public meeting was upbeat.
“Everybody was very positive about the final proposal,” Pimentel said. “The difficulty we had was whether we focus on the building or programs at the start. We decided that we want to get the building ready for different programs.”
Members of the rec centre working group are Lisa Adair, Heather Eyolfson, Ken Muracz, Bev Pellick, Pimentel, Sulyma, Keith Thomas, Marion Thomas, Gail Torfason, Jeff Wharton, Mike Wharton and Don Wilson.