OLDS — Mayor Judy Dahl says the Mountain View Parks Recreation and Culture Master Plan, presented to town council late last month, was good value for its cost.
The study, which led to the plan began about a year ago, cost $176,222, including $15,000 for a tourism component added later.
When the plan was outlined to council during a meeting in November, Coun. James Cummings called it “a report calling for another report.”
“I’m not looking at it that way at all,” Dahl said during an interview with the Albertan.
“Prior to my absence of the past four years, it’s always been in the works with the regional municipal area partnerships and in conversations. It’s just slow moving, is what it is.”
Dahl said because six municipalities are involved, such studies and reports can be complicated and time-consuming.
“It’s a matter of being able to have great dialogue and understanding of the needs,” she added.
Dahl said it’s not known if all the municipalities will agree to fund and build a regional multi-purpose leisure centre (MPLC) recommended in the report, much less where it should be located.
“We’re still a long, long, long ways away from that and we’re just going to have to open the door and sit down and talk again,” she said.
“And we don’t know where we’re going to end up; whether we’ll do another report or not. None of that’s been discussed again yet.”
In light of all that, Dahl was asked if she considers the cost of the study and report to be good value.
“I totally agree it is, yes. Because you’ve got to remember, it was grant funding that we received and the report itself, it’s deep,” she said.
“I mean, it reflects absolutely every one of our municipalities, which is a real head start for us to get moving.”
