CRCA Staying Strong and Moving Forward

For the past year, the future of the Chestermere Regional Community Association has been a touchy subject within the City of Chestermere and the county of Rocky View. Gossip, rumour and half-truths and been tainting both organizations and with the fear that a valued piece Chestermere’s history could be locking its doors. With the election of a new board earlier this year, it was the hope of many that this would be the end of all the controversy and negativity and although it has been a struggle for all involved and a lot of hard work is needed, it looks like there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
When we last checked in on the CRCA (Chestermere Regional Community Association) and RVC (Rocky View County), the CRCA had just been given a $200,000 emergency grant from the City of Chestermere. The following day the CRCA presented a similar request to the RVC council, asking them to reinstate their funding to the CRCA. At that council meeting on July 14, 2015, it was the decision of Rocky View council to table their decision for funding as they would be sending the CRCA board some requirements that would need to be met in order for them to consider reinstating their funding.
CRCA President Mel Foat stated that, “The emergency funding request to both the City of Chestermere and Rocky View County was necessary because basically we were in a cash crunch situation and we were afraid we were going to have to close the doors. We went ahead and did negotiating with the County and was turned down there but the City of Chestermere stepped forward. We didn’t want to cut into our reserves any more than we had. We’re in a position where we can’t borrow money, because we don’t own the land – we own the building, but not the land”.
Since that July meeting, those requirements have been provided to the CRCA board along with a suggested set of bylaws that the county feel appropriate and acceptable. Foat states that, “Where we are moving ahead now, we are going to go ahead and conform our bylaws to their suggestions in order to keep this moving ahead. We hope that the suggestions that we use will help with this situation”.
Foat also states that through all of this, the county has sent them additional requests of things they would like changed or revised. “They (RVC) would send us some things that they asked us to do, we would do them – maybe not totally to their satisfaction, but then they would send us more. We thought the new bylaws were the final straw but they now are requesting that we change our lease with them – which doesn’t come due until 2029”.
Foat explains that what the county wants to see revised with regards to the lease is “that as it states in the bylaws right now, if the lease was to be terminated, the county would have to stroke us a cheque for approximately $16 to $18 million and the reason is because that is the way the lease was written. What they were trying to do was to get the board to resign originally, because if the board would have resigned, the county could have come in because there would have been no one to govern the thing and make the decisions so they could have just come in and took over”.
Another request from RVC is that the CRCA board needs to re-organize themselves so that their board has six City of Chestermere residents and six Rocky View County residents. Foat explains that as the board is elected through the democratic process if there were no residents of Rocky View that put their names forward or that were voted in by the members of the CRCA that is something that they can’t change.
Foat states that the original letter that came from Rocky View County showed eight items that the CRCA needed to do and says that they have done them and that the bylaw change is the last thing. Foat adds that they have also removed any conflicts of interest, as requested by RVC. “As for Edge Fitness, we (CRCA) are taking that over. It generates income for us. We’ll give it a face lift and there will be a bit of a change over period”. Foat also confirmed that the forensic audit they have had done by Deloitte is just wrapping up and states that, “they have found some interesting things that went on and we as a board plan on reveling that at our AGM. That will be when everyone will get to know the total story”.
The CRCA President says that this is not a board that is doing this for themselves and for their personal gain. They are working hard for the better of the community, to keep recreation in Chestermere and that this is for the kids. “It’s for my grandkids, the kids and grandkids of all of Chestermere. We have worked way to long and way too hard to give up”.
This no doubt comes as great relief to the user groups of the Chestermere Regional Recreation Centre who stated that they themselves and parents of the kids in their programs have been nervous about the future of the rec centre. As there is a draught for program space in the city, the loss of the recreation centre would be felt in all aspects of the community from hockey, to curling, to figure skating and even the events such as the Country Fair and the Spring Fair. But Foat confidently states that programing and community events will continue as planned.
“There are some life cycle things that need to be done,” explains Foat, “but we just don’t have the cash at this time. We are repurposing some of our programs, we are going through all the programs and checking them really close and making sure that they are profitable. It may upset a few people, we don’t mean to, but this facility costs something to run. As far as locking the doors – that isn’t going to happen. As far as repurposing the curling rink ice – that isn’t going to happen”.
The CRCA board has expansion and improvement plans that they are planning on moving ahead with. “We want to put some business in here that generates income so that basically we don’t have to go back to the City of Chestermere or the County of Rocky View and beg for money every year. We feel that within a year, if we can get our fitness centre up, our bowling alley up, our pub for families, a yoga studio, a cross training facility – we get those things up and running, we could be self-sustaining. We’re bringing ringette back to Chestermere as well. We are even going to go as far as for the fitness centre, putting in child care so that while mom or dad are working out, there is a place for their child to go play. That’s the kind of twist we’re going to go. We’ll continue to sell memberships which can be purchased at the office. We’re bringing on new staff – very competent staff”.
Corwin McCullagh, Rocky View County Manager of Recreation and Community Support commented, “The County has asked for assurances that any public funds provided to the CRCA will benefit County residents. We continue to work in good faith that the Board and the CRCA membership will alleviate Council’s concerns and see the value in adopting these assurances since they simply reflect sound governance expected of any charitable organization. The process is moving forward as expected, it is promising to hear that the Board plans to adopt the County standards for addressing conflicts of interests. We are optimistic that an outcome mutually satisfactory to both parties can be achieved.”
McCullagh continues, “The CRCA Board will need to have their revised bylaws reviewed by County Administration and approved by their membership, with eventual submission to Alberta Corporate Registries. Once the bylaws have been approved by Corporate Registries and other assurances are in place, Rocky View County will review the CRCA’s eligibility under our funding policy. The whole process could take three to six months”.
Foat confirms that they will continue to work with Rocky View County and work through the issues surrounding the lease and are hoping to be able to solve it amongst the involved parties. “We don’t want to fight”, says Foat. “We want this for the residents. The only reason we’ve been able to stay alive, is because the previous boards have always saved a little money on the side. We’ve got to take this thing and turn it from a negative to a positive, both financially and as a community. I want this place to be a beacon in Chestermere. That people know that this thing is here to stay. We have 27 acres to develop on. Some things that we want to do down the road are we want to put in another rink, an indoor field with a running track. Personally I’d love to see a fenced dog park be built. An overnight RV park would be a great asset as well. We need to look at the betterment of the whole – not just one entity. We welcome all residents – whether they be City of Chestermere or County residents – we invite all residents to utilize the rec centre”, explains Foat.