Image

Alvinston Optimist turn down municipal loan

December 28, 2020

Private financing was secured before council approved an $80,000 loan

Heather Wright/The Independent

It looks like the Alvinston Optimist won’t be going to the bank of Brooke-Alvinston after all.

At a meeting Dec. 10, council agreed to secure an $80,000 loan for the club so the long-talked about pavilion project can go ahead. At least one person, Mayor Dave Ferguson, is concerned the club is using the township as a bank.

But now, Councillor Jamie Armstrong, who is also an Optimist member and was once the head of the building committee, says it will not be needed since the group has secured its own loan.

It’s the latest in a long running saga to improve the Brooke-Alvinston-Inwood Community Centre with a pavilion.

The issue goes back six years when, before he became a councillor, Armstrong came to council as a member of the Optimist proposing a massive renovation of the complex. The Optimist goal in 2015 was to raise enough money to renovate washrooms and dressing rooms, build a new canteen, provide a heated viewing area, and build a pavilion in a project which was estimated to cost $1 million at the time.

But Armstrong and the Optimist grew frustrated as they applied for grants and failed to get funding.

The project was broken into phases, but as that happened, the cost of construction climbed and the Optimist put fundraising on hold saying people in the community were not donating because the municipality was spending tax money to renovate another part of the arena.

In 2019, council agreed to work with Armstrong – now a councillor – and the club on a pavilion attached to the arena near the ball diamonds.

After years of debate, the project seemed ready to move forward with help from the municipality. Councillor Wayne Deans and Deputy Frank Nemcek asked council approve a motion by Armstrong which would see the town take out an $80,000 loan for the project which is now estimated to be about $356,000.

Ferguson objected, concerned in part about the optics of the municipality lending a service club money.

“Are we now a bank or a lending institution? Which group now heads to the municipality for a long-term loan for new buildings, such as the Legion which is looking forward to putting up a new facility across the road; they are a service club in the community also.”
Armstrong argued the Optimist pavilion would become municipal property, unlike the new Legion.

And while Ferguson was sharply opposed, other councillors were more concerned about the interest rate the municipal treasurer suggested – six per cent over five years.

It was the interest rate, in the end, says Armstrong, which led the Optimist to turn down the municipal offer and move ahead with private funding.

“We thought – the club thought – that was a little bit excessive. So (the municipality) did send back different terms and we just decided that it wasn’t worth continuing to argue about something like that.”

Armstrong says the funding “was actually secured before we went to the council meeting, because we didn’t know how that would turn out… So, in order to quell everybody’s fears that the taxpayers were going to pick up the bill for it, we already had other plans to get money cheaper.”

Armstrong is hopeful that since financing is now in place more people will come forward and donate to the project.

Share This

Image
Front Page

‘I’ve been silent far too long,’ says Pinsonneault

May 17, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent Lambton-Kent-Middlesex MPP Steve Pinsonneault took to social media Friday night to reassure his constituents he still opposes the York1 Environmental project. Pinsonneault has been keeping a low profile since the Ford Government reneged on the promised Environmental Assessment for the project at the derelict dump just outside of Dresden. He released a statement expressing his disappointment when

Read More

Image
Front Page

Fraud pilot project in Lambton saves $160,000 in six months

May 16, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent A unique program in Lambton is saving seniors from telephone scammers and catching the eye ofbanks in Canada. Lambton OPP Inspec. Chris Avery told Petrolia councillors Monday an anti-fraud program has stopped scammers from pocketing about $160,000 from Lambton residents in the last six months. Frauds are big business in Canada. Over $638 million was stolen in

Read More

Image
Front Page

Five LCCVI athletes win at Day Two of LK Track and Field meet

May 16, 2025

Five LCCVI athletes were at the top of the podium at the Lambton-Kent Track Meet . Meagan Munro, Kole Chapman, Jamison Helps, Jayden Davis-Lumley and James Grant all placed first in their events Wednesday at Great Lakes Secondary School. Munro won the 300M Junior Women’s Hurdles in 44 seconds. She had already won in the 80M Hurdles and second in

Read More

Image
Front Page

One person seriously injured in accident near Rutherford

May 15, 2025

One person was taken to hospital by air ambulance after an accident near Rutherford. Lambton OPP were called to Lambton Line near Pantry School Road just before 4 pm Thursday for a collision between a large fertilizer truck and a farm tractor towing a wagon with a water tank. Ornge air ambulance was called to the scene to take one

Read More