Warren Williams, centre, at town council's meeting Monday. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

New project

Town hears Rotary’s proposal for new splash park

Jun 20, 2023 | 8:38 AM

The Rotary Club of the Battlefords made a presentation at the Town of Battleford council Monday looking for support for its proposal to build a new splash park in the town.

Rotary board member and past president Warren Williams discussed the project.

“What’s near and dear to Battlefords Rotary Club is we like kids,” he said, adding that Rotary especially wants to help support disadvantaged children, to enable them to have more opportunities in the future.

That’s why the club came up with the idea of building a splash park in Battleford.

The local Rotary Club offered to raise $50,000, for their part, with a projected goal of about three years. In turn, they asked the Town of Battleford to contribute an additional $50,000 in monetary or in-kind support for the partnership project.

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“The town would own the splash park; the town would maintain [it], and the town would run the splash park,” Williams said. “We would just be a funding partner, and we would want some name recognition.”

Rotary also asked to have the splash park built in an area of town that is more “economically disadvantaged,” where it would provide more services to children and parents.

After hearing Williams’ presentation, Coun. Shelley Boutin-Gervais said she always thought a splash park would be “a good thing for our community.”

Coun. Doug Laing also liked the idea, saying it would be “another great asset to have in the town.”

Rotary previously made a separate proposal to the City of North Battleford to build a new splash park beside Connaught School in North Battleford, partnering with the city and Living Sky School Division on the project.

Following the town’s meeting, Battleford Mayor Ames Leslie said potentially council could give the go ahead on the concept for the project as early as their next meeting on July 17, to agree they are willing to work with Rotary to make the proposal a reality.

“For a full commitment, it would have to go through the [town] budget deliberations for 2024, if that is something Rotary feels they can have ready by then,” Leslie said.

He noted the location for the splash park will be discussed later, if town council gives the green light for the project.

If they go ahead with the proposal, the town has a few options. Either it could fund the whole project for 2024, with the expectation Rotary will provide its share when it reaches its goal. Or council could say the project is not in the town’s long-term financial goal and not proceed. As another option, the town could wait until after three years when Rotary has its share of the funds in place, and start the project in 2025 or 2026 instead.

“There are a few different options council has to discuss,” Leslie said. “But I think everyone around that table is excited about adding another entity within our community that the kids can use, to keep them busy.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow