M.D. council comes to aid of Hays arts society

By Cole Parkinson
Vauxhall Advance
cparkinson@tabertimes.com

With roof damage sustained by the Hays Community Complex, repairs are needed in the short future.

A delegation from the Hays Arts and Crafts Society, who use the facility along with Fun & Fitness Exercise and Local Museum, were in Municipal District of Taber council chambers hoping for some financial support.

On top of the repairs, the group was also potentially looking at replacing the roof with tin material.

“We have to repair our roof on the building,” said Margaret Kress, chairperson for the Hays Arts and Crafts Society, at a previous M.D. meeting. “The deductible is $5,000 or if you’d help us upgrade to tin. The difference between the two, asphalt runs roughly around $13,000 and tin is $20,723.”

The group had obtained two different quotes and council suggested they look at more local contractors in the Vauxhall/Hays area to see if that lowered the cost.

Council seemed in favour of covering the deductible cost and discussed covering a portion of the tin upgrade.

“A roof is a scary thing. If you don’t fix it, the building is worth almost nothing,” said Reeve Brian Brewin.

Brewin also suggested covering 50 per cent of the cost to upgrade to a tin roof on the facility.

Councillors pointed out that it was necessary to support local community groups in their time of need if they wanted people to continue living in their hamlets.

“People like to age in their communities and we encourage people to stay in their communities. I think this is one of the asks we can be generous on,” said Deputy Reeve Merrill Harris.

A motion was made to cover the cost of the deductible, to cover 50 per cent of the tin upgrade to a maximum of $4,000 and for the group to acquire more local quotes.

The motion was passed by council unanimously.

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