City pool lifeguard tells it like it is
Uses day off to give detailed presentation to councillors about problems at facilities
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/12/2016 (2693 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A part-time civic employee used his day off to appeal to politicians to spend scarce tax dollars wisely.
Kurt Morton, 21, a lifeguard, told councillors Friday that investing smarter is better for the public than simply spreading tax dollars around with little or questionable benefit.
“The city has invested a lot of money recently in different aquatic facilities, but I would argue that (the money) has been spread too thin,” Morton told the protection, community services and parks committee. “There’s a lot of tough budget decisions that have resulted in somewhat inadequate facilities as opposed to investing in a number of really solid facilities.”
The committee was reviewing the proposed 2017 budgets from three city departments: community services, which includes pools and libraries, parks and the fire paramedic service. Morton was one of about 12 people who attended the meeting to speak to different aspects of the city’s 2017 budget.
Morton, who has worked for the city for three years — two years as a lifeguard and one year as a wading pool supervisor — went to the committee meeting with a 16-page PowerPoint presentation to back up his claims.
Morton recounted the experience he had this summer working at the city’s renovated St. Vital pool. While the renovated pool has been embraced by the community, Morton said the pool wasn’t expanded to handle demand, and as a result, there were long lineups when the pool quickly reached capacity.
“It sucks to have to tell five- and six-year-olds, ‘Sorry, there’s no space,’” Morton said.
“This could have been avoided with a slightly larger investment,” to expand the pool, he said.
Morton is concerned about the planned $8-million renovation to the Seven Oaks pool, where he principally works. He told the committee he’s concerned questionable spending decisions on other pool projects will be repeated at Seven Oaks.
“If you don’t do a project right, then you’re stuck with it for 30 or 40 years,” Morton said. “I feel the city can do better than what it’s doing. We should be investing in our own communities, our own facilities, rather than giving money to other organizations.
A recent upgrade at the Westdale pool was done poorly, he said. Cracks have appeared between the old and new concrete, the deep end no longer meets requirements for a diving board and foulings in the splash pad go unnoticed because it’s not monitored.
At the Transcona Centennial pool, the city spent money on an outdoor change room that can only be used two months of the year while facilities at the indoor pool remain inadequate; the outdoor change rooms were constructed near the pool’s deep end, which poses a safety hazard to young children.
“Those kind of things could have been avoided with a proper investment,” Morton told the committee. “It’s budget cuts like this that just end up with safety concerns and inadequate facilities.”
Morton said the Seven Oaks pool is no longer capable of meeting the needs of the growing northwest quadrant and said the cost appears excessive for what’s being accomplished. The project involves renovating the change rooms and constructing an indoor splash pad but Morton said the $8-million price tag works out to a more expensive square-foot cost ($640) than what was spent constructing Toronto’s two-year-old Pan Am Sports Centre ($506), which has two 50-metre pools, a gym and other training facilities.
Morton said he questions the city’s decision to give the Winnipeg YMCA-YWCA $50 million to offset its costs for building three super facilities, adding he believes that money should be used to improve city facilities.
The city could generate more revenue and more public use, Morton said, by expanding its indoor pools with fitness facilities, which require little supervision or additional operational costs. The city knows that model is successful, he said, after similar expansions were done at the Cindy Klassen Recreation Centre and the St. James Civic Centre.
“If we could re-direct the money we’re giving to the Y into our own facilities. It’s an investment that would pay off in many different ways,” Morton said.
“I know the city isn’t in the best financial situation, but I know people appreciate investments in front-line facilities.”
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
History
Updated on Saturday, December 3, 2016 8:15 AM CST: Edited