Blind River council is not prepared to look at opening the town’s tourist information centre year-round.
A majority of council voted at Monday evening’s meeting to only have the centre open from Victoria Day weekend to Thanksgiving Day weekend and closing it the remainder of the year.
Councillor Betty Ann Dunbar was the lone dissenting vote after an impassioned plea to have council consider opening the facility year-round. The vote came after a similar discussion at council’s last meeting on Oct. 21 where the issue was deferred to the Nov. 4 meeting.
The decision came after extensive and ongoing debates at council about the fate of the building located at the east end of Blind River near the firehall and OPP station. The structure is a well-known building just off Causley Street (Highway 17) through the town.
Coun. Betty Dunbar has maintained the building should remain open to handle the traffic that goes through the community during the summer and winter months. According to Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) statistics summer daily traffic is 4,900 vehicles and 3,450 vehicles daily in the winter, she stated at the October meeting.
CAO-Clerk Kathryn Scott, in a report to council, suggested council could consider renting the facility to a local business to keep it open year-round. It was one of many options staff has been looking at for the building.
Coun. Steven Wells welcomed the report and the suggestion of possibly renting out space.
“Since there is an opportunity to rent the space to a local business since it is a prime commercial area I would certainly like to see us consider that option,” he said. “The only concern I have is if we were to open the centre seasonally if a business were to rent the space they would be willing to work with us during the tourist season.”
The report also suggested that town ambassadors could be established at various businesses to promote the community to visitors during the time the information centre is closed. Wells said he hoped any ambassador would receive “proper training” in promoting Blind River.
Coun. Jim Dunbar also wanted to know if council found a renter for the building that it wouldn’t impede the operation of the tourist information centre during the summer and fall months when it is open.
“This was an initial review,” Scott said of the rental option found in discussions with other communities. “This is a model other municipalities are using. Further information would have to be gathered before I could make that recommendation to council.”
Coun. Betty Dunbar wanted to know whether staff has explored other options that could keep the information centre open year-round.
“Blind River needs to look at other opportunities that would appeal to tourists,” she said. “I feel we are not looking at the opportunities and trends of the travel trade.”
She suggested staff should look at work being done through Tourism North Ontario and Destination Ontario to plot tourism trends.
Coun. Jennifer Posteraro also could not agree with any suggestion to keep the centre open full time at this point.
“I do see there is value to have the travel centre open,” she said. “The travel centre in its current state is not an efficient use of our dollars. When we look at our reports the MTO could say there’s a million cars going down our street but with .07 percent of people stopping is this an effective use of our taxpayer dollars? I am definitely looking at different ways we could utilize that building but currently there’s no way to look at our return on investment.”
“If there was a viable business in there…that might be a good use of funds. As it stands…looking at the building right now the needs of the building are so great to run it in the winter I wouldn’t put a human being in that building in the winter the way it is now,” Coun. Posteraro added, referring to a tour she had of the building.
It was a sentiment shared by Coun. HP Roy who said he couldn’t rely on findings in surveys about volumes of traffic coming through town and using the centre.
“The building was made to be three season maximum,” We’re wasting taxpayers dollars by keeping that building open year-round,” he said. “Surveys don’t do anything for us. We have a difference of opinion here. Doing what is right for the people is what we should be looking at. A survey can be anything.”
“Staff is looking at all options and we are looking a Tourism Northern Ontario and Destination Ontario,” Scott said of work contained in reports to council.
Coun. Jim Dunbar said the town will have to ensure the building is property closed to ensure no damage is done while it is closed due to winter weather and cold.
The decision to use the building seasonally only was endorsed by the majority of council in a 6-1 vote.