The fate and operation of the town’s Tourist Information Centre failed to garner support one way or another at last Monday evening’s council meeting.
A motion put forward by Mayor Sally Hagman regarding having the centre open from Victoria Day weekend to Thanksgiving Day weekend annually prompted considerable discussion about the centre operation.
Coun. Betty Ann Dunbar opened the debate acknowledging that in the Algoma area there are nine travel centres with, “five kept open year-round and four are seasonal.”
“It is no secret that tourism is an economic driver in our region and specifically for the town of Blind River,” she said. “Our strategic plan emphasizes the importance of tourism as a growing economic driver for Blind River.”
“Our information centre is ideally located to stop travellers as they travel through Blind River,” she added of the building’s location at the east entrance to the town and visible from Highway 17 (Causley Street) near the OPP station.
According to Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) statistics summer, daily traffic is 4,900 vehicles and 3,450 vehicles daily in the winter, the councillor said.
Coun. B. Dunbar indicated that the province promotes tourist centres as a place for motorists to stop and make inquiries about the immediate area.
“With no effort on our part this gives us the opportunity to promote our local businesses both summer and winter,” she said. “Across our area, visitation to travel centres has gone up, not down and if this is not true of our information centre we have to ask ourselves why and what can we do to correct that.”
She said residents have already indicated the importance of the information centre to promoting the community.
The councillor said the building, constructed in the 1980s, could also serve as a site for town employees and relieve current overcrowding at the municipal office.
“Keeping the travel centre open expands our office space for three people at the travel centre.”
Coun, B. Dunbar said council should consider whether to close the office through a portion of the year, leaving it derelict during the winter or consider utilizing the facility all year. She urged councillors to reject the motion put forward.
In the past year, the building underwent a study by Kresin Engineering that found it needed some $200,000 in renovations to replace the roof, windows and siding.
Kresin also estimated the cost to replace the building at between $700,000 and $900,000.
Discussion about the state and use of the building has been before council several times over the past three years.
During that time council has paid to keep heat on in the building despite no one working there.
Mayor Hagman said council has already agreed to support climate saving initiatives it should consider for its facilities.
“If we’re heating the building where there are no people working in the building this flies in the face of our climate awareness.
She said staffing the centre full time would also impact on costs council would pay.
Coun. Jennifer Posteraro said keeping the centre open year-round could be considered by council at a later date. For now, she said, heating the building year-round did not, “seem like an economically fiduciary way to spend our money.”
Several councillors acknowledged that tourism centres are being closed down across the province.
Coun. HP Roy said the building was not built for year-round use.
“That building was never made to operate in the winter,” he said. “It’s a two-season building,”
Coun. Paula Summers said she could support moving staff to the building to operate it year-round.
Coun. Jim Dunbar agreed about possible use by town employees.
“If we don’t have any plan about moving staff…we can’t go around and around like we’ve done for three years,” he said, referring to a long-term plan needed for its operation.
Coun. Steve Wells also said the “issue has been going around for years.”
He said council’s plan to promote the community as a destination for tourism and businesses could lead to the centre opening year-round. Coun. Wells also acknowledged the cost associated with closing it part of the year.
He called on deferring the mayor’s motion which council agreed to do pending getting more information.