Eastlink Centre regaining trust of the community, says new GM

The new General Manager of the Eastlink Centre feels the facility has regained the trust of the community.
 
Jim Weller says one big help was increasing the number of lifeguards from 9 to 97.
 
“Basically, we did it by doing what we said we were going to do, what we were supposed to do in the first place. By getting those guards back on staff and training them, that was important for us to have people come in and say ‘Oh, we can do this now? What happened in March, we couldn’t use it?’ Well, now they can utilize the facility all the time.”
 
He says the Centre was packed over the Christmas break.
 
“We had 260 people in our pool on New Year’s Day, 260 people in the pool. We probably had almost 600 people in that building at one time on New Year’s Day and so, that tells you a lot. People are coming because the trust is back and they’re coming to use the Eastlink because it’s a world-class facility.”   
 
Weller says the building is undergoing some physical changes, including a new use for the spot where the sporting goods store used to be.
 
“We’re moving our play care area down there and we’re moving our jungle unit down there as well. We’ve actually blown the wall out of where the jungle unit is so we can be exposed to the main hallway. I bought four leather couches where people can sit and you can have those great social spaces where people can sit and get to know each other.”
 
Other changes include things like play care fees now being included in memberships. 

Weller took over the General Manager’s job a little over three months ago. He spoke at Friday’s meeting of the Rotary Club of Grande Prairie.