麻豆社区

This time around, the Whitehorse Curling Club hopes to wrap up its lease issue with the city long before the 11th hour.

With another curling season over, talk has again turned to the issue of the club's lease with the City of Whitehorse.

It took until September for council and the curling club to agree to a makeshift one-year lease agreement for the use of the Mount McIntyre Recreation Centre for $35,000.

The club had turned down the city's proposal of a 10-year lease which would see the annual lease rate rise to nearly $64,000 by the end of the term.

The Whitehorse Curling Club held its annual general meeting last Wednesday, and most of the discussion dealt with the lingering lease issue. The board of directors wants to broker a deal long before the ice goes in next winter.

Uncertainty surrounded last year's curling season until council's decision in early September.

"It's got to be soon,鈥� board president Mark Evans told the Star yesterday. "I do not want it to come down to the wire as it did last year.鈥�

Evans declined to talk specifics on the lease proposal he will present to the city, saying he would prefer to present it to administration first. He hopes to have an opportunity to do so in the next two weeks.

The club's membership gave the board a clear mandate to work out a lease that will prove affordable over multiple years.

"The lease as presented is not sustainable for the club for exactly all the reasons we stated last year,鈥� Evans said.

"Nothing has changed.鈥�

The club, which featured a steady 310 members last year, lost $20,000 overall.

"It's just not affordable,鈥� Evans said of the city's current lease proposal. "We can't come up with $64,000 on top of whatever the club needs to run.鈥�

Profits from bingo and bar sales have diminished in recent years, for reasons Evans cannot figure out.

"We need to be more aggressive in generating revenue, without question,鈥� he said.

"The numbers at the end of the year proved that.鈥�

Acting city manager Brian Crist has been working with Evans to hammer out a lease proposal to present to city council this summer.

Crist said the city is willing to negotiate figures with the club.

"I don't think we'd even be sitting down at the same table if there wasn't some give,鈥� he said. "It's a balance. We have policies that call for a recovery of 50 percent, so we're trying to stay within that and still accommodate, and still kind of hit that spot where it can be acceptable.

"What the city does cover is picked up by taxpayers, so for that reason, we have policies in place that we try to treat all the clubs and everybody equally,鈥� Crist added.

"So our proposal is still in the spirit of that policy, but there's some give.鈥�

Evans 鈥� who said city administration has been "very understanding鈥� 鈥� stated the curling club will look to propose a multi-year lease option of their own.

"We need to go back to council to make a case for some deviation from this (cost-recovery) policy, because this policy 鈥� as it's applied to the club 鈥� is simply not affordable,鈥� he said.

While the issue of the lease dominated discussion, the curling club also made a few changes to its board of directors as well as how the club support fee will be collected in the future.

The club support fee of $200 will now be collected prior to the season, and will be reimbursed to members in lieu of their respective 20 volunteer hours. Prior to that, it was collected retroactively 鈥� a task that proved difficult.

Two board positions 鈥� sponsorship and volunteers 鈥� were eliminated, as much of that work is now being completed by the club's office staff.

"Those positions have been vacant for three years,鈥� Evans explained, calling them "redundant.鈥�

The board did add a director at large position, however, which was filled by Lance Madore. That position will give the board some flexibility in the future as priorities shift.

Other than Madore, the rest of the newly-elected board was set as follows: Mark Evans (president); Mike Nugent (men's vice-president); Cheryl Meger (women's vice-president); Lorne Diakow (treasurer); Ron McMillan (secretary); Laini Klassen (junior programs); Wes Huston (membership); Nicole Baldwin (publicity); Lee Malanchuk (ice standards); and Trent Derkatch (draw master). The position of past president remains vacant.

The club will also enter next season with a new club manager 鈥� Sandy Miller. Miller's assistant will be Linda LaCoste.