By Justin Dionne

Price changes coming to Eastlink Memberships and Dave Barr’s childcare services, and other council highlights

Mar 11, 2019 | 10:30 PM

City Council has passed some changes that will see Eastlink Centre memberships decreasing in price, and daycare services at the Dave Barr Community Centre increasing.

Financial Business Advisor Shauna Hanson explains the changes will include an increase in capacity to how many children Dave Barr can support.

“These changes are going to impact the community in a very positive way,” says Hanson. “For Dave Barr Childcare Services, it’s going to open up another room. There will be a space for 12 more toddlers to come in. For the Eastlink Centre, this is going to increase the affordability of memberships for all residents of the City of Grande Prairie.”

The Eastlink Centre’s prices are set to change on April 1.

Dave Barr Community Centre Supervisor Cate Amaro notes out of 159 registered children, only three parents submitted feedback on the cost changes. She adds we can expect prices to change for Dave Barr’s childcare services close to fall.

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“Ideally by September first we’ll be ready to go. We do have to go through the licensing process, the accreditation process, but it will be easier for us because we already have a license at Dave Barr for our daycare programs. So, we just need to amend it to the toddler age group and it should be good to go by September.

Amaro adds currently over 20 people are registered on their wait list.

The new prices for the Eastlink Centre will see Family, Adult and Senior memberships decreasing by 15 percent, Student Memberships will decrease by 20 percent, and Youth and Child Memberships are going down by 25 percent.

Here’s what the new prices will look like:

Family:

• Annual Prepaid: $1,325.50          
• Six Month Prepaid: $802.00         
• Annual (monthly): $121.50

Adult:

• Annual Prepaid: $662.75               
• Six Month Prepaid: $401.00         
• Annual (monthly): $60.75

Senior (60+):

• Annual Prepaid: $487.00              
• Six Month Prepaid: $294.75         
• Annual (monthly): $44.75

Student:

• Annual Prepaid: $458.25               
• Six Month Prepaid: $277.25         
• Annual (monthly): $42.00

Youth (13 – 17):

• Annual Prepaid: $429.75               
• Six Month Prepaid: $260.00        
• Annual (monthly): $39.50

Child (3 – 12):

• Annual Prepaid: $310.25               
• Six Month Prepaid: $187.75         
• Annual (monthly): $28.50

The changes coming to Dave Barr’s childcare costs include:

• The Kids Place Daycare Room’s full-time rate moving from $850.00 to $900.00
• The Kids Place Pre-K Room full-time rate increasing from $215.00 to $250.00
• The Kids Klub After School Care’s full-time rate would jump from $280.00 to $350.00 in 2019, and then move to $420.00 in 2020.
• The Kids Klub After School Care’s part-time rate would climb from $120.00 to $180.00.

The part-time rate is based on attendance of two days per week.

Other Council Highlights:

City Council also voted to give its support to the Resource Communities of Canada Coalition. The Coalition was created by The Urban Municipalities Association along with other municipal associations throughout Western Canada to offer a municipal perspective on resource development, share information about resource development interests, and promote a responsible resource industry.

Amendments to the Arts Development funding guidelines were also a topic of conversation. Council voted in favour of limiting individual arts scholarships to $1,400.00, as well as not allowing funding requests to be more than 20 percent of the entire project budget.

Some parks throughout the city will see some upgrades. Council approved the allocation of money from the Annual Parks Improvement Grant Program. The places set to receive the grants are:

• Signature Falls Neighborhood Association: $14,350.00 is being used to install and supply a multi-use/multi-season play surface at Hibbs and Fredette Family Park.
• Cobblestone/Riverstone Neighborhood Association: $3,150.00 is going toward three new waste receptacles in three parks in the Cobblestone neighborhood. The parks are R.H. Watcher, C.S. Hook, and Cpl. Archie Harvey.
• Country Club Neighborhood Association: $2,500.00 is going to be used for the installation of an edible orchard at a park in the Country Club Subdivision.

Council also approved a leave of absence for Clyde Blackburn until June 3, 2019. Blackburn was diagnosed with leukemia and is being treated in Edmonton.