Town of Claresholm office. (Supplied by Explore Southwest Alberta)

By David Opinko

Claresholm residents vote to borrow $2.8-million for multi-use facilities

Oct 1, 2019 | 3:26 PM

CLARESHOLM, AB – The people of Claresholm voted 80% in favour of a major motion Monday night.

1,018 went to the polls, 813 of which said they supported taking on $2.8-million in debt to build town-owned buildings for administration, daycare, a playschool, and other uses.

Mayor Doug MacPherson says he was not surprised by the results.

“I knew the feeling of the town from talking to everybody. The reason we had the vote was just to get a clear mandate because there were, of course, there’s always people against anything that’s going on.”

The daycare and playground are going to be on the same grounds as West Meadow Elementary School, while the other one will be on the site of a former, now-abandoned school.

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The town’s current daycare was built in the 1940s and still had all of its original plumbing and electrical systems. The municipality says the site “has been pushed long past its useful life and without any major renovations, it can’t continue to support operations.”

The other building will house amenities such as the Town of Claresholm office, Family and Community Services, Economic Development, the Chamber of Commerce, the Claresholm campus of Lethbridge College, and will allow for additional community groups to set up shop in the future.

Now that the vote has come back, staff will double-check the numbers and ratify the borrowing bylaw in the coming days.

Then, at the next council meeting, they will vote to approve releasing the tender for the projects.

MacPherson is looking to start construction in the spring of 2020.

He hopes to have the playground and daycare open in the fall of 2020, while the one with the town office should be complete the following fall.