The future of the Meadow Lake Civic Centre may still be undecided, but at least one Meadow Lake resident says he respects its value and wants to see it remain standing. Recently, Richard Levesque – a former city councillor and long-time town administrator/city manager – wrote a letter to council, sharing his opinion on the current state of both the civic centre and city hall. He was encouraged to write his letter after reading comments made about the current condition of city hall by mayor Merlin Seymour in a story appearing in the May 2 edition of Northern Pride headlined ‘City hall’s fate to be determined’.
“I personally support the construction of the new arena, field house and city hall,” Levesque wrote in reference to the Co-op Centre currently under construction on the city’s east side and which will additionally house a new city hall and an events centre. “Assuming the city can afford the new office, a new addition will allow better access for the disabled, have an updated council chambers and, since there are more office employees than there were a few years ago, more space.” Levesque went on to note the current state of both city hall and the civic centre comes down to a lack of maintenance.
“Some parts of the city office have been neglected and left in a state of disrepair for a long time,” he stated. “I am also unaware of how much, if any, black mould is in the city office (Seymour claimed the building has black mould in the May 2 Northern Pride story) or if the building could be repurposed for some other type of business. It would be a shame to demolish the structure since it is one of the few heritage buildings in Meadow Lake. But, if no other use is found for it, so be it.”
When it comes to the civic centre, however, Levesque is steadfast in his opinion. “I am not sure why administration is so fixated on demolishing the structure since it is still put to good use,” Levesque’s letter reads. “It has had a lot of major functions lately and it costs the city very little to operate. There have been reports about the condition of the roof and the cost to repair it, but other than some occasional leaks in the centre of the roof – which is a separate section – I feel the building is in relatively good condition and could be possibly leased out to someone interested in operating and properly maintaining the structure. Even if it lasts just a few more years, it would still be more economical than a demolition, especially since there is a bomb shelter in the basement. It could still generate some revenue and it would just be an extra facility that could be used when there are multiple events on the same weekend.” During council’s regular meeting held this past Monday (May 13), Levesque’s letter was a topic of discussion. “I read this letter, and the last part about the civic centre says we’re going to tear it down,” remarked councillor Marty Bishop. “We really haven’t made a decision on that. We’ve talked about what we might do with it, but we haven’t decided yet.” Bishop also made note of Levesque’s desire to see the civic centre leased out to someone interested in using it.
“I don’t think it’s the city’s responsibility to go out and get somebody to do that.” he said. “I think that should come from the citizens. If they want to save the building and use it, they should perhaps circulate a letter with signatures and bring something to council to express they are very interested in keeping that building.” Meanwhile, city manager Diana Burton reiterated Bishop’s earlier point. “The future of the civic centre hasn’t been decided and council will be the ones who make that decision,” she said. “The intent is for it to remain operational until the new facility is fully functioning, but no decision has been made beyond that.”