A mural outside the Veiner Centre is shown Tuesday.--NEWS PHOTO
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The City of Medicine Hat will contract out operations at the Veiner Centre as early as this spring after council approved a proposal submitted by the Calgary-based Kerby Mission to operate the building and handle seniors programming.
The move was approved by an 8-1 margin as council members argued it was the best route to boost attendance while saving the city money.
Coun. Julie Friesen said those were the two goals of a management model review launched two years ago, and argued that a majority of council members made it clear the city must tighten its budget.
If membership numbers didn’t improve and more seniors drawn in by new programming, momentum may build to find another use for the space, she said.
“Trying this gives us the best chance of sustaining it in the future,” said Friesen, chair of the public serves committee, who also addressed an alternate proposal by committee member, Coun. Kris Samraj. “Just dealing with food services doesn’t bring in more people.”
Samraj argued that savings were less than expected – about $190,000 per year according got a general outline of contract terms between the city and the Kerby Mission. That’s about half what was initially estimated in a new management model.
Samraj felt more could saved by outsourcing only food services while maintaining a club-based model managed by the city.
“I have no doubt Kerby can do a good job, but my concern is broader,” said Samraj, stating that it was “unfair” to judge the attendance of a centre in 2019, the first year open again after bad flooding in 2013.
“I don’t know if we’ve given it a chance to come back from disruption,” said Samraj.
The Kerby Mission has operated a seniors centre, the Kerby Centre, in Calgary since the 1970s. Medicine Hat civic and Kerby officials say it has the ability to react more quickly to membership requests and explore new offerings.
In Calgary, Kerby offers seniors programming, fitness, and supports, and more recently began an elder abuse emergency shelter.
“We’re very excited,” Kerby CEO Larry Mathieson told the News. He predicted few changes in operations in the near term. Changes and programs would be developed in concert with a local advisory board made up of members.
Another member of the public services committee, Coun. Jim Turner, also supported the bid.
“I was hoping for more savings,” he said. “The taxpayers of Medicine Hat have a $12-million investment in the building and it’s important to get more people using it.”
Administrators will now work to finalize a contract in the next three months that would comprise an initial three-year term with four options to extend the contract in three-year blocks beyond that.
Coun. Phil Turnbull said the area of seniors programming, in general, needs an update, and that could occur more quickly outside city management. He also said membership likely suffered as the facility was closed and a debate swirled about a new location.
“The seniors got fed up and rightly so,” he said.
Coun. Jamie McIntosh said the change and new operator could be a “turning point” to reinvigorate the facility that is “an absolute gem.”
“Maybe it’s a new switch that the public needs to get involved after this COVID (pandemic) passes,” said Coun. Robert Dumanowski.
“As easy as it is to hold onto the tradition of it being run well by the city, it’s probably time.”
The city estimated that in 2019 only four per cent of eligible Hatters, those aged older than 50, were members. Demographic analysis shows that age group is currently 38 per cent of the total population, and about half of those are older than 65.
