Town declines donation ask on Dr. Brosseau School playground

Bonnyville town council will not be chipping on the inclusive playground at Dr. Brosseau School, following a decision at last week’s meeting. 

A $10,000 ask came forward from Lea Cousins, President of the Bobcat Fundraising Association, requesting a donation from the Town to help pay for the remaining expenses associated with the all inclusive playground that was constructed at Dr. Brosseau Middle School. 

This playground was built in 2018, but the costs from funding the play equipment are still a reality. 

The Town did not previously fund this equipment when asked in 2017. They instead chose to build an inclusive playground at Little Leap Park. 

“We are responsible for about a dozen parks in Bonnyville ourselves,” said Deputy Mayor Byron Johnson during The Morning After. 

“We have an upgrade program that we have been doing, and we’ve done some inclusive equipment down at Little Leap Park, and we want to look at continuing that and growing that at Little Leap Park and to other parks in our area, right? Being that schools are provincially funded, it’s a separate entity. If you do it for one, you’re going to have to do it for all. Because we have our own parks to take care of, and that kind of falls more under the provincial jurisdiction of things, that’s why we declined it.” 

The playground is built more accessible so a wider range of abilities can use the equipment. For example, there are wheelchair ramps, a rubber cushion base, and lower features on the playground that make it easier to reach.

The decision was not unanimous around the council table, with councillor Kayla Blanchette advocating to help out the fundraising.

“Although this park is built on a school property, it functions as a community resource,” she said during the meeting.

“We’ve got one park in in town that sounds like it’s similar to this, and this group took the initiative to put something like this in our community. It functions as a community resource, 365 days a year, and the ask is only 16 per cent of the cost of it.”

According to the disclosed financials submitted as part of Bobcat’s request, there is roughly $60,000 in costs outstanding, at least up to July 6, 2023.