North Bay City Council passed a motion on Tuesday night calling on staff to develop a proposal for change rooms at the Omischl Sports Complex as part of the 2019 budget process.

Councillor Mike Anthony authored the motion.

Anthony says council only found out two weeks ago about the situation but it’s important that it be addressed.

“This is a 9 year old project. We’ve got funds that have been in reserves for 9 years building up interest that weren’t spent on this project. We saved money on this project. My thought is now it’s time to use them to rectify this project,” Anthony says.
He says considering the importance of sports tourism something needs to be done. He says if they get an early answer in the budget process work could start as soon as next spring.
Councillor Daryl Vaillancourt supported the motion.

“Should we have done it 2 or 3 years after the complex was built maybe. But what I’m saying is to be in a council meeting and say we have all these reserves we’ll build it is not the right approach,” he says.
Vaillancourt says the  complex was built 9 years ago and he isn’t against adding change rooms.

He says when the complex was built they had to stay within their budget and change rooms weren’t included because they would cost money to build them.

Filed under: change rooms, City Council, Omischl Sports Complex