Whitecourt facilities and programs looking in tip-top shape following annual report

Whitecourt Town Council recently received an annual report from the Community Services
department, giving a snapshot of 2023. The report detailed usage data and maintenance work
completed at town facilities such as the arena, AJMC, and food bank, as well as services like
transit and programming, comparing last year to the previous year. Department Director
Chelsea Grande provided the report to Council during the February 26 regular meeting and was
joined by Angie Mitchell, Manager of FCSS and Kelly Sadoway, Manager of Recreation, Arts,
and Culture.
Grande kickstarted with a focus on the twin arenas and a big dehumidifier project completed last
year. “We needed this addition because our seasons are getting longer and starting up sooner,
so we operate a lot in the warm and hot weather. We have a dehumidifier on the McLeod (rink),
but this one services the Athabasca (rink). We were getting fog on the glass and drips, which
would make it kind of like a curling rink, with little droplets all along the ice. We would have to
shave those off which was a lot of ice maintenance without that dehumidifier. It’s in now, and it’s
working well.”
The arena also faced power-related issues last year with two power outages, one in October
and one in November. Grande explained that Fortis had placed monitoring equipment in place
for two months following the second outage. “We thought there wasn’t an issue (anymore)
because they didn’t see anything. They took it off on a Wednesday, and we had a surge on a
Saturday (mid-February 2024). We are still working on it because it does take us down for quite
a bit of use. It also wrecks some of our equipment and requires a lot of staff time.” Ice time at
the arena increased by 300 hours from 2022 to 2023, thanks to several significant events held
in the community.
One more extensive project at the arena complex last year was the installation of six hot water
boilers and a reconfigured system. “We went to on-demand, and it freed up a lot of space and
(improved) the quality of hot water in the arena. You don’t have to wait and run the showers
forever to get hot water. It was a win for us as well. It freed up a lot of room and is a lot safer in
the zamboni room. We have about a meter extra around the one wall of space from taking out
that system.”
Mitchell, FCSS Manager, shared statistics from Senior’s Week and was happy to report that
attendance had jumped back up since 2022, with 540 taking part last year, compared to only
128 the year before. She said they also held the first intergenerational bus trip during Senior’s
Week, which brought youth and seniors to Fort Edmonton Park for a day together. Mitchell said
feedback was very positive, with seniors eager to do it again.
The Whitecourt Family Violence Initiative (FVI), which began in 2004 and is a stakeholders
group, focuses on reducing the incidence of family violence through intervention, support,
awareness and referral. Trends showed increases in high-conflict child exchanges and custody
disputes, property disputes/retrievals, and breaches of No Contact Orders. The RCMP received
273 domestic-related calls last year, and 474 individuals were contacted by the FVI for support;
both victims and accused can use this support.

Mitchell said, “We are higher in almost all aspects for family violence,” when comparing previous
years, but noted that there were successes to recognize. One big one was that there had been
an increase in victims of domestic abuse who were in long-term committed relationships,
leaving their partners. The FVI provides a high level of support to victims, with over 350 client
referrals made for community and provincial supports last year alone. A recent grant obtained
for this year will allow the group to offer more programming and staffing.
Mitchell said the food bank had also registered an increase. “We had a fourteen percent
increase from 2022 of clients served in 2023. That does not include any of the evacuees that we
had. Those numbers are separate.” Mitchell said evacuees received perishable boxes and other
options like bagged food, but those numbers did not account for the increase in usage at the
food bank. The increase came from the local community.
Ridership in transit rose significantly last year. In 2022, there were 23,193 riders. Last year, over
35 thousand rides were registered on Whitecourt’s transit system. “We are seeing a lot more
people using transit especially during our peak service hours for getting to school and to work,”
said Mitchell. An increase was also seen at the Doors Open Youth Program at the AJMC, a free
after-school hangout from 3:30 to 5:30 pm for grades 6-12. Last year, staff added a grade 4/5
program to introduce younger children to the main program.
The Youth Advisory Committee, an appointment-based committee for youth aged 13 to 18,
accomplished two big goals. They started their “Here for You” Menstrual Product Campaign,
which provided free menstrual products in town-run facilities, including the AJMC and FIC. The
second goal accomplished saw them spearhead the movement of two outdoor community
bulletin boards to higher-traffic areas to increase youth communication.
Sadoway, Manager of Recreation, Arts & Culture, then explained how staff at the AJMC are
working to find the “magic combo” between complimentary fitness programming and registered
ones. “We saw complimentary classes increase in popularity last year, which is nice, but maybe
a little bit of a decrease in registered classes. We’ve seen a bit of an upswing now in 2024. We
are continuing to work on finding that balance.”
She said that membership revenue for the AJMC increased last year, saying, “It’s going in the
right direction.” Sadoway also said that recreation programming continues to grow in popularity.
“It was just amazing last year. We had an increase of over 2,000 people involved in our rec
programming, which is awesome.” Programming includes things like Community Fun Nights,
homeschool programs, and summer programming.
Mayor Tom Pickard spoke to the state of Town facilities and the staff. “It has been noted on by
people from many other communities. Their first impression is the cleanliness and the upkeep of
our facilities. That first impression is then followed up with the professionalism of all of our staff.”
He said the programs offered receive numerous compliments. “This report reflects that. The
numbers show that increase and the variety and inclusiveness of our programs is
commendable.”