ATHABASCA – A beloved community hall is getting a helping hand from Athabasca County after its members made an urgent appeal to their councillor for help.
Athabasca County councillors approved a $3,800 grant for the community hall in Atmore, which will go towards buying new pipes for the hall to help mitigate back-flooding that has taken place all summer.
“Atmore Hall is one of our most utilized halls in all of Athabasca County,” said Coun. Kelly Chamzuk, who was elected in Division Seven, which includes Atmore. “It’s used at least twice a week, they do fundraising, and they’re very active in our community.”
The hall, which was first built in 1967, has been maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers over the last six decades and has dealt with its own fair share of problems. When asked when the flooding started, long-time community member Howard Hyrnyk laughed, noting it has been flooding for 30 years.
“We’ve had issues with our water system off and on over the years. We’ve had two bad floods in the basement that we were fortunate insurance covered,” said Hyrnyk, who moved to the community with his wife in the 1970s.
“We’ve got a well that the weeping tile drains to, and it then bumps out to the ditch that we made. But it got saturated and now the water goes back into the hall.”
Community members are planning on volunteering their time and skills to install the 20 feet of piping the county’s money will pay for — the funding request specifically asked for a certain style of piping, which volunteers found to be the cheapest option.
Hyrnyk said the hall is mostly paid for by the members, and that grant funding has been hard to come by for the group.
“We’ve found for whatever reason, either our population is great enough or we’re in the wrong place, but it’s very hard for us to get any sort of grant credit,” said Hyrnyk. “We’ve been doing it on our own.”
'Jewels in our region'
The Athabasca and District Ag Society will also be receiving funds from the county despite opposition from one councillor.
A $500 request for funds for the group’s annual harvest dinner, which celebrates local ranchers, farmers, and businesses, faced unexpected opposition from Coun. Tracy Holland after she took issue with the group putting surplus funds towards repairs for the horse arena.
“There’s already a projected surplus, and then it mentions on the bottom that any surplus will go towards the riding arena,” said Holland. “As much as I appreciate the agricultural societies and all that they do, we have to be responsible with taxpayer dollars.”
Other councillors disagreed with Holland’s statements, pointing out the work that the societies do across the county.
“Ag societies, as societies go, they’re jewels in our region in terms of the good work they do and the hard work they do,” said Reeve Brian Hall. “I think societies should be encouraged to generate surpluses to further the good work they do.”
Hall also said the Athabasca society has a tough time securing funding compared to its peers, as it is located on the very edge of town limits.
“Every other ag society within our perimeter gets it. Their dirt is located inside the Town of Athabasca … the people I see at their events are Athabasca County residents, and this is a way we can support people that live and pay taxes in our region.”
Coun. Camille Wallach, the president of the society, didn’t comment on the proposal, although she did vote in favour of it.
“Ag societies do incredible work in our community, and if they can pull off a fundraiser and host an event at the same time, that’s fantastic,” said Coun. Ashtin Anderson.
“The fact they’re going to use any surpluses to maintain a community building is great — whether it’s supporting a local community centre trying to raise money with a chicken and perogy supper, or keep a park or playground going, these are fantastic events for us to support.”
The motion to approve the request passed 6-1, with Holland opposed, and councillors Joe Gerlach and Gary Cromwell absent.
