Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion

Kindersley’s elected officials have shown their support to a local group looking to build a full-sized basketball court in Elks Park on Queen Drive.

Jason Hankewich, a representative of Kindersley Basketball, appeared before town council on Aug. 14 and told officials he wants to involve the Town of Kindersley in the project because other groups have been more challenging to work with on the project.

He noted that he had five kids playing recreational basketball when he first started the program. Now, the adult basketball group that includes youth has more than 80 active members. The project will not cost the taxpayers any money.

“We have the funding to be able to do this,” Hankewich said. The group has about half the funds in place and they plan to continue raising money to reach the full amount needed to build the court.

He said no trees would have to be taken down because there’s a space in the park for the court. But a podium will have to be relocated.

Deputy Mayor Ken Francis asked Hankewich if he has talked to residents in the residential area surrounding the park.

Hankewich said he hasn’t reached out to the residents, but he would be happy to do so. Francis said a basketball court could impact park users and that has to be considered. Hankewich said there has no plans to put up lights – the court is for daytime use.

Mayor Rod Perkins said he and his fellow council members are in support of the idea. He asked how much the court would cost the group. Hankewich said the capital cost to the group would be about $65,000.

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Councillor Elyse Moss suggested that the town could send letters to residents of the area. She said she believes Hankewich should talk to the residents, but the letters would make it official and the town would know of any concerns. Moss said council could direct the administration to draft a letter.

Bernie Morton, the town’s chief administrative officer, said the town’s letter would be well crafted and would inform residents that the town received a proposal from the group and the project will not use tax dollars.

“We believe it’s a great use of an under-utilized park at this time,” Morton said, referring to support from the town’s administration to help canvass the residents to make sure there are no concerns with the idea.

Perkins said he sees several positive aspects to the project, so it has council’s support. Hankewich was asked if the court could be used by anybody if Kindersley Basketball wasn’t using it. He said he hopes to build a fence around the court but it would be open to the public.

Morton said the court would have to be available to the public if it is in a municipal park.

Town administration will work with Hankewich and council passed a resolution to solicit support from residents for the privately-funded project.

Other council highlights:

  • Members of council passed a resolution to charge the same ice rental rates to the Iron Horse Kindersley Klippers that were charged in the 2016-17 season.

Council was reminded that the junior hockey club approached the town last season to ask for a break on non-prime ice rates because other teams in the league were not charged for their practice time. The town’s elected officials gave a special game rate of $900 plus GST for the previous season.

Tim Hanna, the town’s director of community services, said the Klippers were charged regular rates during the playoffs and off-season times, but the team was not charged for non-prime practice times during the regular season. The team was only charged for games.

He noted that the team paid approximately $24,000 for ice rentals during the regular season and the cost to the team was average among teams in the league. The Klippers had been paying about $40,000 prior to the 2016-17 season.

Hanna said the three options he presented to council were to increase the rates, decrease the rates or maintain the 2016-17 rates. The arrangement was only approved for last season, so council had to address the topic again. Council passed a resolution to maintain the arrangement for the 2017-18 season to show its support for the team.

  • Council passed a resolution to terminate the local Recreation Advisory Committee. Tim Hanna, the town’s director of community services, said the committee has had trouble making quorum for meetings, so he doesn’t believe the arrangement is working.

Hanna said he wants to engage recreation groups in a meaningful way to give them an opportunity to provide input, but the committee structure isn’t working. He suggested doing two round-table discussions per year to engage groups.

  • Council members have given three readings to Bylaw 08-17, to provide for incurring debt. The town plans to borrow $3.5 million to help with the cost of construction of the aquatic centre,. Council passed the bylaw.

The town conducted a Request for Proposals process to get the best interest rate over 15 years. After the town’s adjudication committee completed its work, it decided to award the borrowing tender to the local Royal Bank of Canada branch. Council heard it was the lowest rate out of four proposals.

  • Council approved the final agreement with Western Regional Landfill Inc. to purchase land 10 km west of Kindersley to build a new landfill. A safeguard has been built into the agreement to allow the town to take back the land if the agreement fails.
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