Meeting called by Head & Hands with Gilles Bergeron, Director of Culture, Sports, Leisure and Social Development for the borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce

May 25th, 2010 8:45-9:15

Present: Marlo Turner Ritchie, Executive Director, on behalf of the J2K and Head & Hands' teams.

Please note that this text does NOT represent a word for word exchange.  If you would like to reach M. Bergeron to confirm his position and responses, please contact him directly.  The purpose of making this conversation public is to respond immediately to concerns regarding the 'recommended' closure of the NDG Rec and to make information more accessible.

Marlo: I am here because my team is concerned, the public is concerned and the youth who access our centre are asking questions that I can't even answer, given the lack of information available right now.  The wording of the recommendations in the Master Plan has had really terrible impacts.  For example, the 'possible closure' of the NDG Rec Centre isn't accompanied by much information at all.  The recommendation to 'possibly' re-locate our Jeunesse 2000 centre is listed as an 'optional'  Does this mean that our centre AND programming is at risk?  This has caused fear and frustration for all.  We found out about these recommendations at the same time as the public and given that we have been 'doing business' for 20 years, we deserved more.  Your team should have met with us in advance.

You have already had some public consultations.  What have you heard? Do other citizens have similar concerns?  What messages are you getting about the NDG Rec?

What do I tell people when they ask "Why do they want to close the Rec?"

Gilles:  I am sorry to hear that this has had the effects that it has.  We never intended to have these impacts.  We have heard the concerns already, emerging around the NDG Rec Centre and as a result, we are changing the wording of the recommendations in the Master Plan.  People have to understand that we had to start somewhere and our intention wasn't to make people feel shut out of the process.  The consultations started in 2008 and with a forum.  The borough chose to not outsource the work to expensive consultants which is often a waste of taxpayers money.  The process hasn't been perfect but citizens have many opportunities to get involved.

The NDG pool stats don't show that the participation is high enough to warrant keeping it open.

We are going to change the text and recommendations in the Master Plan re: the NDG Rec.  We've heard many concerns and realize that the wording isn't appropriate.

The new wording will refer to council mandating our dept. to evaluate the feasibility of certain recommendations and bring them back to council.  i.e. "Evaluate, with community partners, the possible closing of the NDG centre after the closing of the Benny complex."

We can review and change the Master Plan text up until June 30th. The dept. will then depose at the August 16th Council mtg.

Marlo: We weren't given enough time to prepare for these consultations.  What kind of timeframe are we know talking about?  I saw that the dates changed on the website.

Gilles: I recognize that you weren't given much time to prepare documents, so can just present verbally on the 26th and then submit docs in writing afterwards (until June 30th).

Marlo: Is there negotiation room to keep the NDG Rec Centre open?  What do I tell youth, families and staff who want to know if this is a done deal or not?

Gilles: We will change the wording to 'evaluate the possibility of closing the centre' vrs. 'closing the centre' ...

Marlo: What about the money?  Apparently the borough needs between 5-8 million to address the renovations needed at the NDG Rec?

Gilles: The Manoir needs 5 million. The NDG Rec needs approx. 8 million.  We closed the parking space out front after a safety review.  There shouldn't be any weight on this area.

Marlo: We know that the NDG Rec centre has required maintenance and upgrades as we have lived the consequences.  We had a flood last December that put us out of our offices for six months.  Thanks to the NDG BCA, we had a space where we could operate out of. I visited Michael Applebaum before the election and asked him what his plan was with these centres.  He said that they were reviewing the situation and that we would find out more when the Master Plan was released.  He talked about needing to analyze the costs and benefits.  I reminded him that in the meantime, he had an obligation to maintain these buildings so that our programs and staff weren't at risk in any way. He talked about the new Benny Area Site and having to recognize that the older rec buildings are really a liability for the borough...

Marlo: In the current wording of the recommendations, there is reference to a possible private / public / community org partnership to keep the NDG Rec open?  Tell me more about that.  We have a hard time imagining a private developer who would be open to this right now and fear that the building would just be ripped down and condos would go up and that we'd lose a valuable opportunity to maintain and grow much needed community space.

Gilles: This is the vision for the Walkley centre, too.  We see other examples of this in the borough (6767 Cote des Neiges).  NDG needs a similar building, where 10-12 community orgs could be housed.  The idea is that the developer would build it and the borough would buy some of the space in the building. This is a good formula to work with, but the borough would have to come up with the cash to buy some of the space.  The idea is that nobody loses anything.  We will need an architect and advisors to help envision how best to use the space.

Marlo: Regardless of what happens - our team can't afford to incur any expenses.  As you know, our operating budget accorded from the Ville de Montreal hasn't even included basic indexation over the past 10 years!  We don't have any room in our budget to pay out salaries for staff if they are 'laid off' due to a move, for example.  We can't afford to cover any moving costs.  Do you have a fund set aside for this?

Gilles:  Yes - there will be money set aside.  We are doing this for Terry (Prevention NDG) for the Walkley Centre situation as well. I recognize that your programs are underfunded and there was momentum on this awhile ago, but then it was lost.  I think that we should meet in the fall and prepare some demands around this for City Centre that would recommend increases in our budget.

Marlo:  Who 'chapeauters' this?  Who is the decision maker for this envelope?  Maybe it makes sense to contact them now?

Gilles:   Gilles Rioux - au centre ville - nouveau Director depuis janvier.  He seems quite sensitive the needs for programming for youth and children. He would help figure out how to put this subject back on the agenda.

Marlo: Can you re-cap the timeline for me again?

Gilles:

• Janvier 2011 - Benny Area centre opens.
• Master Plan deposed to Council in August.
• Consultations continue into the fall.
• (Have to make a decision about Benny Library).
• 2011, bring in 'l'aide des services professionnelles' to evaluate the details of the NDG Rec Centre.

The only exception will be if security issues arise with the health and safety of the premises.  We may have to move more quickly.

Marlo: See you at the consultations on Wednesday.  We should then set up a series of meetings where we know we can continue these conversations.  Our team needs to be at the table.