Clearview council has approved $34,000 for renovations to the Clearview Youth Centre, to meet accessibility standards.
The quote from R. Talbot Carpentry and Renovations is the lowest of three received by the municipality during a request-for-proposal process and was recommended by the Clearview Youth Services Committee, which is managing the creation of the new youth centre in Stayner.
In the most recent budget, council set aside $100,000 for the creation of a space to offer youth services. The lease, over the next three years, will cost about $78,000, leaving just over $22,000 for other expenses, including renovations.
Councillor Shawn Davidson pointed out that the township has a three-year lease and is planning to make more than $30,000 in lease hold improvements.
“Basically the renovations we are doing are strictly to meet accessibility standards,” said Deputy Mayor Barry Burton, who championed the youth centre project and chairs the committee.
Committee member Robert Walker said work to widen doorways, add an accessible washroom, lower the kitchen counter and add an automatic front door opener has driven up the cost.
“What did the landlord put into this?” asked Mayor Chris Vanderkruys.
“He isn’t putting anything into it,” said Burton, “because when we negotiated the deal to rent we pounded him for a good deal on the rent and we were going to deal with the renos that had to be done.”
On Monday, May 30, Deborah Bronée was the only councillor to vote against the recommendation to proceed with the renovations.
“If we are going to approve this… I hope that we have more than a three-year plan for this and we are looking at some way to stabilize this that’s not going to cost the taxpayer on an ongoing basis,” said Bronée. “And the groups that are going to be in there, I hope you are working toward some way in order to make this continue longer than three years.”
In response to a question from Councillor Doug Measures about future funding, Burton said joint fundraisers are part of a plan to fund the facility and the facility could possibly be rented out for events.
“The whole purpose of doing this was to provide a location for these organizations, like The Door and RAY’s Place, so that they can put their funding toward programming rather than trying to pay for a facility that they can’t afford,” said Burton.
Referring to the original costing in a March report from Burton, laying out the net cost of $77,889 over three years, Vanderkruys said, “Hopefully you do have a plan in place for continuous money because we only allotted $100,000 of course so that’s something you better think of sooner than later.”
Walker said they are working with agencies and have applied for grants.
“We also have an opportunity for – I’m not going to get too far ahead here – but there are a couple other agencies that might be creating some new youth groups in Clearview with an opportunity that hopefully they might be able to utilize a night in that facility a couple times a month for their programs and hopefully would contribute to some of the finances,” he said. “There are a couple of things in the wings. I’m not willing to talk about it at this point because it is kind of a dream but it is a good dream right now and there are those avenues that we are hoping will widen to help pay some of the costs.”
Earlier this year, council agreed to lease two units at 7458 Highway 26 totalling 2,500 square feet at $2,000 per month plus hydro and heating, estimated at $100 per month.