Two more courts will be added to the tennis courts in Bud Miller Park after City Council approved giving the contract to Bexson Construction for $273, 000.
This was not without some debate, as Councillor Stephanie Brown Munro voted against approving the contract.
“At this point in time, I just think $273, 000 is a lot of money without me necessarily knowing the exact usage of the tennis courts.”
During council, Munro did ask for the numbers of people who are using the tennis courts, however no one was able to provide her with an answer.
“Without having those numbers and the exact amount of people that will be using the facility, unless it’s going to benefit our entire community as a whole and we’re going to have a lot of people with traffic going through there, I personally couldn’t vote in favour of it.”
All of the other councillors and Mayor Gerald Aalbers did vote in favour of the expansion.
“It’s a challenge, I do understand Councillor Munro’s concern about usage numbers. I had the opportunity personally to talk to a lot of people that had asked for additional tennis courts so it was an easy decision on my part to support the motion. I think it’s challenging because without numbers, as I can appreciate what Councillor Munro is saying it’s important that we justify each and every expenditure going forward at this time,” says Mayor Aalbers.
The project is set to begin during this construction season.