By Trevor Greenway
The membership has spoken.
The Centre Wakefield-La Pêche (CWLP) cooperative has voted to transfer the building to the municipality.
After three long years of infighting, “finger pointing,” and struggling to keep up with the aging building and its pile of bills, the membership sent a clear message that it wants to see real change.
In a landslide vote June 20, close to 82 per cent of coop members voted in favour of handing the keys over to the municipality. While an agreement has yet to be finalized, the plan is for the board to continue to focus on programming and keep the centre buzzing with events, while the municipality will handle pretty much everything else – from the aging roof that will need to be replaced to plumbing problems to upgrading the centre’s audio-visual equipment. The details still need to be worked out, and an agreement must be signed.
“This is a point in time where we can embrace the opportunity to let go or move forward from the past and to connect and step into what our possibilities could be for the future,” said CWLP Board President Julie Coté. “It’s less about the finger-pointing and the angst. I’m really hoping that we can get together and really start to create that culture of art and recreation back into the community centre.”
The “past” she refers to is years of poor governance that saw the centre go through five director generals in as many years, controversial firings and several years of disputes between past and current board members over financials.
However, with 225 out of 276 members voting in favour of transferring the building to the municipality, it’s clear that the coop wants to move forward rather than keep the status quo.
“I think it’s a move in the right direction,” said former board member and employee Carly Woods. “I think it’s a final step, a big step, moving forward in where we need to go.”
When she was a board member, Woods worked long hours on the draft agreement that is now the framework for the municipal transfer. She has experience on both sides—as an employee and as a board member—and said she has no doubt that the deal will be a boon for both the community and the municipality. With the municipality managing the building, the board can look ahead instead of struggling through each day.
“It’s always been a burden on the centre’s board,” added Woods, referring to the ongoing challenges of heating, repairing and maintaining a large building, which took them away from programming, rentals and events. “[The board’s] focus should be on the future, and not the ‘now.’ And it was always the ‘now’ with the building. So now they can really focus on the future of our coop and centre.”
She also knows how many hours volunteers put into the centre and said removing the responsibility of maintaining the building will be a relief for current and future board members.
“Being on the board for the centre has been exhausting for, I think, at least since Sally Swan was president on the board in 2016.”
Under the current framework of the draft agreement, the municipality of La Pêche will essentially become the landlord of the building and will allow the coop to run the centre rent-free. All repairs will become the municipality’s responsibility, while the board will still maintain control over the centre’s programming, staffing, and its youth centre, the WAY.
Coté said the board will now create a transfer committee within the board to start negotiating a final contract with the municipality. If there are any significant changes, the membership will be made aware.
“We’re definitely happy to have this behind us,” added Coté. “It’s been a very it’s been pretty tumultuous. It’s been tough.”
La Pêche Mayor Guillaume Lamoureux said the 82 per cent vote shows that the membership is confident that the municipality will act in the coop’s interest.
“People are confident that this can only help the coop and the board,” said Lamoureux. As I have said many times before, the municipality wants to help the coop be more viable. With the municipality taking care of the building, the coop will finally be able to focus all of its energy on programming.”