At the regular meeting of Wellington North Council on Monday evening, in a recorded vote, council approved a motion that Mayor Mike Broomhead, on behalf of council, “send letters requesting support for operational expenses for recreation in Wellington North to municipalities, other than Wellington North and Southgate, who have residents using our facilities.”
The motion was made following a report from the recreation coordinator titled “Non Resident User Fees in Surrounding Townships”. At an earlier meeting Linda Spahr and the Recreation Committee had been asked “to review non resident user fees and prepare a report and recommendation to council with respect to additional fees being charged to all non residents using the township’s recreation facility.”
In the report, part of the council package Monday evening and dated Nov. 5, it pointed out that South Huron, the Township of Mapleton, the Town of Minto, the Township of Saugeen Shores, the Municipality of Huron East, Centre Wellington, North Perth and Kincardine do not charge user fees to residents of neighboring municipalities.  In fact, the Hanover Recreation Department is one of the few municipalities who does charge a non resident user fee.
The press was unsure if Monday’s motion meant that Mayor Broomhead would be sending out a letter proposing user fees, or if he would be sending a letter asking neighboring townships to support operational expenses on behalf of their citizens who use Wellington North facilities. The Township of Southgate pays 20 per cent of the net operating costs at the Mount Forest & District Sports Complex, to a maximum of $40,000 and contributed $1 million to the cost of building the facility.  When questioned, Mayor Broomhead and council did not seem to know the answer either. In fact, the mayor said that until it was suggested Monday evening such a letter would have “more weight” coming from council, he didn’t know he was drafting it. He thought the recreation committee would send it out. (Councillor Yake asked Monday that the entire council see the letter before it’s sent.)
At the end of the recreation committee’s report, three options were given to council.
One was that a user fee of $300 per person be implemented, the $300 based on the money provided by Southgate at the present time. Treasurer John Jeffery and Mayor Broomhead visited West Grey quite some time ago, proposing a $300 user fee per West Grey resident using the facility and were turned down flat.
The second option was to charge a user fee of 25 per cent extra on all registrations, rentals and programs to all people who live outside of Wellington North, except for Southgate. “We could exempt such things as public skating and public swimming,” the report said. “For someone that registered for hockey and it cost Wellington North and Southgate $500 – it would cost the non-resident $625,” the report said.
Third option was for council to put all rental rates, plus programs, up in price.
Councillor Bob Mason, who sits on the Recreation Committee, said, “there’s a good likelihood there could be user fees”, adding that it is unfair that Southgate contributes to operational costs and others don’t.
Council was also given a chart of how many non-residents were using the facility in January. Of the 85 registered in Skate Canada two are from West Grey and the rest were from Wellington North and Southgate. In Mount Forest Minor Hockey, 22 of the 270 registered are from West Grey and 20 from Minto. The Junior C Patriots, on the other hand, have nine players from Mount Forest and eight from Southgate – eight are from West Grey, one from Minto, two from Dufferin and four from Centre Wellington. (When questioned by Councillor John Matusinec, it was pointed out that the Junior C team could be exempt.) As for Wellington North Ringette (Mount Forest and Arthur) six of the 55 players are from West Grey, one from Minto, three from Mapleton and one from Bruce. Of the 63 registered in the Arthur Figure Skating Club, five are from Southgate, four from West Grey, five from Minto, one from Mapleton, five from Dufferin and one from Centre Wellington.  Arthur Minor Lacrosse has six from Southgate, one from West Grey, nine from Mapleton and 10 from Dufferin. And Arthur Minor Hockey has five players from Centre Wellington and one from Guelph/Eramosa from among the 164 registered.
It was very telling when Councillor Mason said “if West Grey would come to an agreement, we wouldn’t have to force its hand.”
It almost seems this whole exercise is designed to get back at West Grey for refusing to “play ball” with the mayor and treasurer when asked for the $300 per West Grey resident involved in recreation in Wellington North.  But, our council would never say that. It’s true that, if West Grey is forced to pay non-resident fees, other municipalities will have to as well.  Let’s not forget, however, as pointed out in the recreation report to council, “people come into our community and spend money at our local businesses while their children are participating in sports.”