Fernie city council had decided not to amend the financial plan to fund an options analysis on the closed community centre.
The community centre was closed on June 12 after an air quality test found a large presence of mold in the building.
The options analysis would look at three options: Minimum repair requirement and phased closure analysis, full refurbishment or a decommissioning plan.
Councillor Troy Nixon believed that doing the analysis would just delay what they already knew.
“I can’t in good conscience support what I believe is a misallocation of a 0.5 per cent tax increase,” he said.
“Throwing $40,000 at this to get another report in two months is a waste of time and money. I think we need to forge forward. We need a new building.”
Councillor Kyle Hamilton said that even if the mold was dealt with there are a number of other issues.
“There seems to be a sense in the community that it’s just a $40,000 fix,” he said.
“It’s not just mold that’s a concern, there are structural issues and hazardous materials of all sorts in that facility.”
Mayor Nic Milligan said the risk is too high to allow people back in.
“Unless we had a very clear, ironclad path forward that made that facility safe, I’m not comfortable putting people in there,” he said.
“It feels like a disaster in the making and that would fall on us.”
Until council has a plan in place for a new facility user groups will have to look elsewhere for space.
Neighbouring Sparwood and Elkford have already been accommodating and parks, facilities and recreation director Brett Logan said their joint agreement with SD5 will help with space come September.
“Is it going to cover all the time that’s needed, very likely not, but it is one of those things that can be utilized,” he said.
“That’s why we have a joint use agreement. It’s one of the trade-offs of allowing the school to use city facilities for essentially nothing. This is the trade-off and now it’s our turn to reap the benefits.”
City staff don’t believe an options analysis would help user groups secure facility space for the upcoming
winter.
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