A New Era in Ultra Lites
Future of Medicine Hat's event centre uncertain
astephenson@medicinehatnews.com
The future of Medicine Hat’s proposed $94 million Regional Event Centre remains up in the air after council narrowly rejected a proposed funding model for the project in January.
By a 5-4 vote, city council decided against a funding scheme that would see the facility constructed using $30 million from the Community Capital Fund and $3 million in grants from other levels of government, with the remainder to be borrowed. However, a 2007 motion by council stating that the city will build an Event Centre remains on the books, leaving city officials the task of figuring out another way to do it.
City staff are currently looking into other funding options, everything from selling bonds to seeking corporate sponsorship. Ald. Jamie White, who served on the city’s Regional Event Centre committee, says while they do this, his committee will be taking a break to regroup.
“I think council itself needs a break from it,” White says. “It’s very emotional, and I think the community needs to calm down a bit. . . it got to be such an emotional issue in the community that it pitched side against side — and it’s not healthy.”
It appears that there is an appetite to get something done, if a more palatable funding proposal can be found. Ald. John Hamill, who voted against the funding option presented on Jan. 4, says he would like to see the facility built — just not at any cost.
“One of the reasons I voted against it was I did not feel comfortable with the funding options that were presented,” Hamill says. “It would be lovely to have the Event Centre, but let’s do it if we can afford it.”
Hamill says he would like to see the city open a special account for the Event Centre, so that money put into it can’t be touched for any other purpose.
“I think $20 million would be a good figure for us to transfer from the Community Capital Fund into an Event Centre Fund,” Hamill says. “We can go to other levels of government then and say ‘we’ve got $20 million, can you match that.’ We’d soon be up to the 50 per cent (of the total cost), if not more, in which case we can get going.”
Mayor Norm Boucher says he believes support for the Event Centre has actually grown since the Jan. 4 decision.
“It seems to me the people who were thinking yes have gotten a little more vocal,” Boucher says. “I think people are seeing there’s an economic development side to this — that it’s not just the building itself, it’s what can happen around it.”
Boucher says he doesn’t want the fact that there is a municipal election looming to delay the project.
“We’re elected for three years, not two-and-a-half years, and I think we have to do all we can during those three years. . . We need to do it because it’s the right thing to do for our community, so I think we’re going to move ahead on this one.”
www.cactusrv.ca
Visit our website to View Floorplans at: www.cactusrv.ca
1153 TransCanada Way SE Medicine Hat, AB Ph: (403) 526-0088 Fax: (403) 526-3284
rvbroker@cactusrv.ca
53626800•03/30/10
REPORT ON SOUTHEAST ALBERTA 2010 ■ Celebrating our Community — 25
2010 281BHS BULLET
Dry Weight 5,060 lbs
2010 294BHS BULLET
Dry Weight 5,575 lbs
2010 230BHS BULLET
Dry Weight 4,360 lbs
FEATURED COVERAGE
2010 180FBS BULLET
Dry Weight 3,555 lbs
2010 246RBS BULLET
Dry Weight 4,795 lbs
THE BULLET IS THE EASIEST LIGHT WEIGHT TOWABLE. THE WIDE STANCE AXLES PROVIDES MORE STABLE TOWING ALUMINUM FRAMED MORE FLEXIBLE AND LIGHTER WEIGHT. FLOOR TO ROOF INSULATED R11 AND SIDEWALL R7. NEW CURVED FRONT END TO DIRECT AIR FLOW AND A THERMAL PACKAGE. ONE OF THE NEWEST HOTTEST LINES HAS COME TO THE HAT. A MUST SEE!
A MUST SEE!
2010 250RKS BULLET
Dry Weight 4,885 lbs
2010 278RLS BULLET
Dry Weight 4,900 lbs
See Ya Sooon!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120