ARTICLE FROM THE ENTERPRISE BULLETIN

COLLINGWOOD – A couple of hundred people turned out in front of town hall, Monday night, to tell councillors to do it once, and do it right.

‘It’ is the direction council is taking with recreational facilities, and its Aug. 27 decision to buy two architectural membrane structures from Sprung Structures – one to cover Centennial Pool, and the second for a new arena in Central Park.

That will cost $10.6 million, plus another million - approximately - for site servicing. Municipal officials expect funding to come from a combination of development charges, and $1.5 million that had been set aside for the new pool at the Y. Municipal staff have also suggested the $8 million in cash realized from the sale of 50% of Collus Power to PowerStream could be put toward the project, thereby not needing to rely on tax dollars. 

ARTICLE FROM 97.7 THE BEACH

The way a recent Collingwood council decision was made prompted a noisy protest outside town hall late Monday afternoon.

About 120 people, including a number of children, carried signs and chanted "Do it once, do it right."

As councillors entered town hall, the protestors got louder. 

ARTICLE FROM THE CONNECTION

COLLINGWOOD –Do it once, do it right. This was the message from about 200 protestors outside town hall Monday.

Residents held signs and chanted to show their displeasure with a decision council made two weeks ago to cover the outdoor pool at Heritage Park and build a new ice rink at Central Park at a cost of about $11.6 million.

The group is disappointed with the process council went through to make the decisions.

As Collingwood councillors arrived for their Monday meeting,  they were greeted by a crowd of more than 100 people outside town hall protesting a decision about recreation facilities.

The crowd chanted "do it once, do it right."

A protest against town council's decision not to push forward with a 35 million dollar multi recreational facility at Central Park will take place in Collingwood today.

Town council voted last month to build a so-called bubble covering at a new ice rink at Central Park and place another one over Centennial Pool, all for about 11 million dollars.

Rally organizers say a steering committee recommended two ice surfaces, community space and a 25 metre pool at Central Park, yet council did not take the time to even look at funding options.

The rally outside the town municipal building begins at four this afternoon. 

UPDATE: Collingwood residents have scheduled a protest for Monday September 10th at 4pm outside Collingwood Town Hall.  Residents will be protesting Council's decision to sole source a company to place fabric covers over Centennial Pool and a new ice pad to be located at Central Park.

Residents are mainly upset with the fact that council has sole sourced the work, totalling about 12 million dollars, and the process that they took to arrive at that decision. 

Town staff were asked to research putting covers over Centennial Pool back in mid july.  A report was issued to the public (and to the councillors) on Friday August 24th, with council voting on the decisions on Monday August 27 - a mere one business day later.  The council meeting was the first time some of the town councillors were actually seeing the report, and a comparison of the operating costs were not complete.

Residents are demanding that council rescind their vote and ensure that the proper process, time and research have been put into determining what appropriate recreation facilities are needed for the future.  Quick, band-aid approaches are not being taken lightly by the locals and they want to see things done properly in an open and transparent process.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE PROTEST PLEASE VISIT: http://www.facebook.com/FriendsoftheCollingwoodCentralParkProject?ref=tn_tnmn#!/events/337855672970772/