News Release
Fairbanks Centre Gets Eleventh Hour Reprieve
(Thursday, February 8,2001)-- The Fairbanks Centre in Shubie Park has been given an eleventh hour reprieve, thanks to some intense negotiations by the Councillor for the area, the municipality's two Deputy Chief Administrative Officers and members of the Shubenacadie Canal Commission.
Councillor Brian Warshick (District 6-Westphal/Waverley Road) said the future of the facility, which is located along the Shubenacadie Canal, was in doubt since last fall when the Province of Nova Scotia announced that it was cutting funding to the centre.
Councillor Warshick encouraged the municipality to become involved and an agreement was reached for the Halifax Regional Municipality to lease the Fairbanks Centre from the Shubenacadie Canal Commission for one year, effective February 1.
The Councillor said "Shubie Park is to the people of Dartmouth, what Point Pleasant Park is to the people of Halifax. The Fairbanks Centre literally ran out of operating money on January 31st, but thanks to the tremendous efforts of staff and members of Commission, we were able to save this facility for the community."
He said "Even though we have this agreement, I am going to continue to press the provincial government to restore funding to the Fairbanks Centre. We came very close to losing the Centre... it is very important to the community."
Councillor Warshick praised the efforts of Deputy Chief Administrative Officers Dan English and George MacLellan; Allan Waye, Manager of Community Projects, and other members of staff for working so hard with him to find an alternative to the potential closing of the Fairbanks Centre.
As a result of the lease agreement, Councillor Warshick said HRM plans to transform the facility into a learning centre, concentrating a number of training efforts there.
HRM intends to maintain the existing interpretive program offered by the Fairbanks Centre, which attracts a large number of school students and tourists each year.
In addition, the Human Resources department will use the meeting room facilities at the Centre for high-performance management training and other training courses for staff.
Councillor Warshick said HRM's YouthLIVE program will be undertaking a number of new initiatives at the Fairbanks Centre, with a strong emphasis on learning. Also, it will be encouraging increased rental of meeting rooms and other facilities at the Centre by the public.
"I believe that this new arrangement with the municipality will create a more vibrant facility...it will certainly offer new activities in the area and this is bound to attract more people to the Fairbanks Centre, " the Councillor said.
The Halifax Regional Municipality will lease the Fairbanks Centre from the Shubenacadie Canal Commission for $1 a year and assume the operating costs of the facility.
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Councillor Brian Warshick
(902) 488-3800
John O'Brien
Corporate Communications Officer
(902) 490-6531
