Groups that use the YaraCentre will soon have a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities to use the building, based on changes to the booking and usage policy.
A clearer description of some of the rights and responsibilities of user groups is not the only change to the policy. Based on suggestions from the parks and recreation advisory committee, several other items were added to the document:
- Turf allocation timelines and booking processes for prime tenants, regular users and new users
- General usage and booking conditions for activity at YaraCentre
- Payment, refund and cancellation policies that will be acknowledged at the time of bookings
The suggested changes were presented to city council during its Dec. 9 regular meeting. Council voted 5-1 to adopt the updated booking and usage policy. Coun. Brian Swanson was opposed, while Coun. Chris Warren was absent.
The main concern Swanson — a retired school teacher — had about the policy was how badly it was written. He pointed to several sections in the document where words had been left out of sentences or sentences were simply grammatically incorrect.
Coun. Heather Eby raised the issue of the YaraCentre no longer allowing a winter golf program to take place inside the building.
Scott Osmachenko, recreation services manager, acknowledged this to be true, saying anything related to balls of any kind being hit inside is a concern, along with concern about damage to the turf.
A new baseball training centre has started up at Hillcrest Curling Rink, with many community teams going there to use its batting cages since they believe the YaraCentre outpriced itself, Eby said. She wondered if the parks department notices any trends when it loses user groups.
“We do do an analysis of our competition,” said Osmachenko. “We understand there are a lot of professional sports groups in Moose Jaw and they are using their own facility. They feel they need more time (and) more space … .
“We are aware of that and we continue to engage (user groups) to make sure they have proper time (and) proper location, but cost definitely does appear … to be one of the issues.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Dec. 16.
