Wellington North councillor Dan Yake believes something needs to be done about the condition of the old Mount Forest council chambers.
At a recent council meeting, he said, “The old council chambers in Mount Forest is a mess. The floor is filthy; there is garbage in there.”
Yake was in the room in the past month showing someone around.
“There was garbage all over the place; there were coffee cups … the floor was a mess.”
He said the carpet needed to be cleaned or replaced, and if the municipality is to continue to use it, it needs to maintain it to a certain level. He asked that someone else check it.
Yake added there was a considerable number of people using the room during the Fireworks Festival when it was used for a book sale.
“It’s just not being maintained to my standards,” he said.
Mayor Mike Broomhead said someone could do a cleaning.
However, Broomhead said the other issue is that at some point, council was considering to turn that portion of the building over to the Mount Forest heritage committee to be part of the local archives.
“We’d talked about that before,” Broomhead said.
He added that council needs to consider contacting current user groups that the issue is coming up.
Yake agreed it needs to be addressed, but added the group is working on other items in regards to taking it over.
“I think for the time being, someone should go up there and have a look at it. People are using it and we need to make sure it is kept up.”
Clerk Lori Heinbuch pointed out the original arrangement was the user groups were supposed to clean up.
Yake said even a fresh coat of paint at some point would be good.
Broomhead asked the timeframe of a takeover.
Campbell Cork, speaking on behalf of the heritage committee, said the group would be pleased to move in, once council makes its decision.
Heinbuch said the idea is to wait until the current library renovations are complete, otherwise the user groups would not have a location to use.
Yake said his understanding is that there have been tentative offers of other space for those user groups.
Cork suggested if council is considering handing the space over, there should be some discussion sooner rather than later.
Broomhead suggested the matter be discussed at the building and property committee with the intent of weeding out the other user groups from that location.
“Maybe we can accommodate them in other spots.”
