Civic centre replacement talk returns to council table

By Ian MacKay

Town councillors glanced into the future during a recent meeting, reviving talk of a replacement for the civic centre.

During a Prosperity Credit Union meeting at the civic centre, executives from around the province wondered about the building’s condition and whether the town planned to replace it, Coun. Jason Hunter said during council’s April 20 meeting.

Local officials briefly discussed the fate of the civic centre during their April 20 meeting and planning for a replacement. The former high school was the location for a dance competition on Friday afternoon. Photo by Ian MacKay

“It wasn’t an overly negative thing,” Hunter said. “They were a little surprised,” with visitors thinking that since their hometowns are smaller, Rosetown would “have something a little nicer than this,” he said.

The former Rosetown school division transferred the one-time high school building to the town after students moved into a new building in 1988.

“Long term, that building’s got to get replaced,” Hunter said. “It’s never going to get cheaper to do it,” he added, suggesting that replacing it become part of the town’s long-term planning.

He advised taking a modular approach and putting a replacement together in stages.

Decisions must be made on the size and what a new structure would contain, Mayor Trevor Hay said.

“You don’t need what the civic centre is because they were just using space that was already there,” Hay said. “You cut it down.”

The civic centre is undergoing some repainting and other improvements are planned there this year, noted Amanda Bors, the acting chief administrator.

“Sooner than we would prefer, we’re going to have to figure out something, and if we don’t start to plan, nothing will probably happen,” Coun. Kimiko Otterspoor said.

The town has had the structures of the civic centre, arena and curling club assessed and learned they were sound, Hunter and Hay said.

The town “invested in” the AGT Centre and adjacent curling club “to keep it modern, because the replacement of it is a quarter of the size,” Hay said. Seating capacity would drop to about 700 from 2,300 in such a case, he said, calling that “a downgrade.”

The civic centre gym is one of the few local places capable of holding a large wedding or an event such as the recent Ositis supper, Coun. John Kadler said.

“Realistically, even though it’s not the most wonderful building, it’s still a functioning building and it is the only place we can have a lot of these things in,” Otterspoor said.