City council agrees to help fund pool elevator

Regina city council has agreed to pursue making accessible upgrades to Wascana Pool's waterslides after turning away from the project two weeks ago, albeit on an interesting conditional basis.

City council first said yes last spring to adding an elevator to the tall waterslides at a budget of $550,000, but put it on hold in December when a probatory quote from administration came back at a cost of $ 1 million.

The executive committee instead opted in March to pivot that funding to smaller accessibility upgrades at five other city-operated facilities, setting aside Wascana Pool indefinitely.

A successful motion crafted by Couns. Terina Nelson (Ward 7) and Dan Leblanc ( Ward 6) put the project back on the books Wednesday, though with some conditions.

City council voted unanimously in favour of committing to all five facility upgrades as planned and including an accessible elevator at Regina's new yet-to-be-constructed aquatic centre. Council also voted 6-4 in favour of an addendum to allocate $175,000 to fund “an accessibility upgrade” to the tall waterslide at Wascana Pool.

Terms of the funding state that administration is to issue a request for proposals (RFP) and bring back the best response to an in-camera meeting for consideration. If that bid is above budget, the city won't build until “other sources of funding” are obtained to make up the difference.

The RFP must be returned by this July and full funding found by July 2025, or the project ends up scrapped.

Nelson said the wording of the motion leaves the directive open to alternative solutions, not just an elevator. She also says she has private donors waiting in the wings to supplement costs if needed.

The original version of the motion asked for $300,000, but after city staff said there may be difficulties sourcing that amount, Coun. Lori Bresciani (Ward 8) made a friendly amendment to the figure.

Staff said there should be $175,000 in carry-over left after completing the five facility upgrades as proposed that could be immediately available, but finding another $125,000 would mean delaying other projects in the future.

“The five facilities have to be a go,” Bresciani said, reminding her colleagues that a recommendation came from the Accessibility Advisory Committee while a public survey supported prioritizing those projects.

“It will benefit more people across the city (and), if you only have so many dollars, you want to spread it out best you can.”

Delegate Sarah Turnbull and five-year-old daughter Blake, who uses mobility aids and said she'd be very excited to use Wascana Pool's waterslides, waited hours to ask city council to take a second look at the elevator. “We're not here to say who has a disability and what they can do,” Sarah Turnbull said, calling on council to consider commitments to equality and inclusivity.

Turnbull added that the city could be put “at risk of human rights complaints” and other liabilities.

“It shouldn't be a race to the middle for scraps,” she said. “That pits marginalized communities against each other, and that's not right.”

In her professional expertise in capital planning for the provincial health authority, Turnbull didn't think the elevator design quoted to city administration was an accurate picture of the project.

She likened the design specifications to an “elevator designed for a potash mine,” not a recreational pool, and said there would certainly be ways to cut costs while maintaining safety standards.

Barry Lacey, deputy city manager of financial planning, didn't disagree but advised that history shows it would be unlikely any potential reductions would be “in the magnitude of hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“We have staff that are professionals, and I believe they have done their professional best to bring forward cost estimates,” he said.