It was supposed to be a public meeting about the city’s budget.
But the overflow crowd that packed the Bayshore Community Centre Monday night wanted to talk about something else.
They wanted assurances that city council is still committed to building the regional recreation centre at Victoria Park despite delays in the project that could jeopardize the funding pledged by the federal and provincial governments.
Of the 18 members of the public who spoke, 15 of them talked or asked about the rec centre, and only one of those 15 spoke out against it.
The others received repeated applause from the crowd, many of whom brought placards and even shovels to the meeting – the shovels a clear message to the city that it needs to start work right away.
Because the rec centre is supposed to be substantially complete by March 2011, there are concerns that the government funding will be jeopardized by delays because of soil problems at the site.
That means the city could be on the hook for more than 17 million dollars instead of the original 9 million according to Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners.
The entire cost of the facility is 38 million.
However the majority of those in attendance last night didn’t seem to care about that — they just want it built as promised.
Council made no decisions last night but will hold a special meeting at 4:30 PM on Wednesday.
At that time, it will be decided whether to award a tender for excavation and servicing work at Victoria Park.
It’s expected that council will award the tender and reaffirm its commitment to the project.
Work would then begin on the site within two weeks.
As for the city’s budget, there were some questions about it, primarily related to police, fire and emergency services, which collectively account for almost half of the budget.
But much of the talk was focused on the rec centre.