By Spencer Kemp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After decades of struggling with expenses and how best to tackle major repairs that are needed at Rocanville’s indoor pool in order to keep it operational, the town received some welcome news on Wednesday that it will receive a $1.27 million grant for the pool through the federal-provincial Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP).

The money is a major shot in the arm for a facility that had the town council and rec department discussing regularly how best to deal with major infrastructure improvements that are needed at the aging facility.

The town will be receiving $1,269,782 through ICIP and will be contributing $461,818 as the town’s portion, bringing the total investment in the pool to $1,731,600. Of the town’s $461,818 portion of the funding, the town and rec department are hoping to be able to raise at least $250,000 in donations.

Work on the facility must be completed by December 2022, meaning the town must move quickly to get work started this winter, so the pool can be operational for the spring 2022 season.

Rocanville Mayor Ron Reed says the town will be meeting with engineers to assess everything that needs to be done at the pool so they can come up with a plan of action for starting on the project and bringing in donations.

“We do have a lot of work to do there. It’s just going to be a matter of meeting up with the engineers and figuring out the best path for the money,” says Reed. “Whether it is repairing the pool tank and the deck and piping, or the building, we need to get a cost benefit analysis done on all those types of jobs, an approximate cost, and then make a decision on what we want to do. We’ll work closely with (Rec Director) Andrea (Logan), because she is so invested in the pool, to come up with the best game plan.”

Reed says the grant is a welcome relief.

This item is reprinted with permission from the Moosomin, SK, World Spectator. For the complete article, click HERE

If you wish to comment on this story, click HERE for the Discussion Board at TheRegional.com/AlbertaChat.com