Plans to replace the Flin Flon Aqua Centre is inching ahead during COVID-19.
City council mentioned the project during their July 7 meeting, noting that council has begun working with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) to make Flin Flon’s case for a new pool facility with provincial and federal granting authorities.
“We’ve been pressing the AMM on a continual basis. It’s never taken a backseat at this table, but we haven’t heard,” said Mayor Cal Huntley.
Councillor Karen MacKinnon, one of the Aqua Centre project’s most ardent supporters, said the project had been presented to the province but had not yet been shown to the federal government.
“The group that was picking out projects presented it to the province before February. As of two weeks ago, it hasn’t been passed on yet. It has to go to the federal government,” said MacKinnon, adding she was hopeful that an Aqua Centre project would pass muster once presented.
“A good sign is that Minister [Catherine] McKenna has said ‘We’re looking for shovel-ready projects.’ This would be a shovel-ready project.”
City of Flin Flon chief administrative officer Glenna Daschuk quipped, “[City recreation director] Nicole [Hartman] and I are willing to dig the hole ourselves.”
Last September, city council approved a plan for a new Aqua Centre totalling around $8.8 million. The City committed to borrowing around $1.8million, combining with local funding to cover about $2.36 million of the price tag. The rest of the funds - just over $6 million - were anticipated to come from provincial and federal grants, but no money has been confirmed yet.
The original Flin Flon Aqua Centre was permanently closed Jan. 28 after the roof over the pool area began to noticeably sag, making the building unsafe to use.
“We’re very, very interested and very hopeful that we’ll be successful in that initiative. I can’t express how disappointed we will be if it doesn’t happen this time for us. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and let them do their due diligence and hopefully, we’ll hear something about this in the near future,” said Huntley.
