Councillors question NPCA priorities

Use of properties needs review: Gibson

Much of the recent focus on NPCA has resolved around interim chief administrative officer Dave Barrick’s performance.

But questions from councillors at the Jan. 29 Niagara Region council committee-of-the-whole meeting illuminated how the new board may end up changing the direction of the agency.

One of Barrick’s PowerPoint slides showed Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority park revenues trending upward while expenses mostly flat-lined.

Lincoln Coun. Rob Foster and Wainfleet Mayor Kevin Gibson, who are also members of the NPCA board, wondered about the direction of the agency when it comes to its properties and at what cost it was achieved. Those are some of the questions the agency’s board will face once governance issues are settled and a new CAO is in place.

“There is nothing in the Conservation Act that says conservation authorities are supposed to be money makers,” Foster said in an interview last week. “Kevin Gibson and I both made mention of the fact that a lot of the facilities are not what they should be. With Long Beach in Wainfleet, if the idea is to let the thing grow over, and do nothing, they have succeeded in spades.

“I’m not pleased Ball’s Falls lost its museum status under the last term of the NPCA and council … As part of the cost-cutting measures they got rid of the curator and the people doing the programming. They couldn’t meet the criteria to be referred to as a museum. To me that was dumb. The previous board thought it

was a superb thing to see if they could ram more weddings through and use other facilities on the property to bring even more weddings in.

“There will be a zip-lining thing in Binbrook. Why? I’m not exactly sure zip-lining in Binbrook will be the draw they think it will be. There is a whole lot of work to be done that is to put the NPCA on a much firmer ground. Once everything else gets sorted out, I think the board is up to the challenge.”

Gibson called service delivery at Long Beach Conservation Area lacking.

“There are RVs all over the place,” he said. “There is noise into the night. There doesn’t seem to be anybody looking after the facility. Your move to all-summer camping there has created less than ideal optics. There are sheds all over the place.

“I had an interesting experience talking to some people up Toronto way, who packed up with their kids and said it was the worst experience of their life. Karaoke machines going at two o’clock in the morning. People singing, partying.

“If you are saving money to make the line go up, I think it is very irresponsible. Part of the NPCA’s responsibility in the camping aspect is to provide a service and make some money or at least break even, but I don’t think you should cut services and create a very unlikeable experience for people coming from outside Niagara.

“The idea is to increase tourism, and when people leave with their kids in the middle of the night, that goes by word of mouth and goes in the wrong direction. Reduce the amount of profit and spend the money where you need to spend it for people coming to Niagara.”

The increased revenues are the result of decisions such as charging for pavilion usage at Long Beach, Binbrook and Chippawa and increasing rates for facility rentals at Ball’s Falls and its centre of conservation. Adding a value package for barn weddings at Ball’s Falls also boosted the revenue stream.

Stewart Beattie, a Hamilton member of the board, said it only makes sense to increase revenue at the four conservation areas that generate income for the agency — Ball’s Falls, Long Beach, Chippawa and St. Johns. He said the parks are well maintained. The added revenues ultimately ease the burden on taxpayers who fund the levy.

“Look at Ball’s Falls, it is a living museum,” said Beattie, who has been on the board since 2011. “When you are down there, you can walk through the mill and buy the flour. If people have a problem with losing museum status, there isn’t any reason we couldn’t bring it back to the board, make some decisions, resubmit for the accreditation.

He also said NPCA raised rates at its operating properties to ensure the agency wasn’t undercutting the private sector.

“We want to compete ethically with the private sector, and properties are a way of raising revenue,” Beattie said. “We could just sit back and levy the whole dam thing.

“A lot of the criticism directed to the board wasn’t so much about what we did, but how we did it, and how people reacted to it. A lot of that is Niagara politics, and I do my best to stay away from it. Some of the criticism is justified. Some of it is make-believe.”