Even though the town has agreed it would not be cost-effective to man the check-in building at Pither’s Point this summer, Mayor Dan Onichuk said the empty structure still could be put to good use.
“Understanding we will not be opening the kiosk there, I think there should be some consideration to offer that building to some young entrepreneur to lease it out for the summer,” he remarked, adding it could be used as a concession stand instead of just leaving it empty and unused.
Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said it might be too late to make such an arrangement for this year, and the town has to get ready for the May long weekend, and suggested the town could advertise it early next year instead.
Coun. Roy Avis, chair of the Operations and Facilities executive committee, said the matter of leasing out the building should be referred back to the committee for further discussion.
Coun. Todd Hamilton suggested the town advertise for an expression of interest in the newspaper.
As first reported in the Feb. 25 edition of the Times, the town balked at manning the check-in building as it was expected to cost $26,500. Last year, three summer students were hired to man the facility from the long weekend in May to Labour Day weekend in September.
This year, the town will be spending $2,459.93 to set up a new system described by Bruce Spottiswood, Superintendent of Works (Facilities), in a report to Brown.
This will be a five-day week honour system involving a fee box and a tag board, where the Parks working foreman will inspect the campsite at least twice a day to ensure the camping public adheres to that honour system.
New signs will be made to instruct the public on how to register and pay their fees. A campsite tag board will show campers how to pick out a spot according to their power demands.
There also will be a park map posted to show campers where everything is, such as tenting areas, washrooms, shower rooms, and a sewage dumping station.
There also will be a sign that will give information such as OPP phone numbers, where the nearest phone is, and what the park regulations are.
The working foreman also will address any campsite concerns.
After-hours, the on-call Public Works staff will address concerns. The camping public will be directed to call the town’s after-hours trouble line (274-9516).
The campground will be maintained at the same level as last year, Brown said in separate report to council. This maintenance work will be done by staff at the Sorting Gap Marina, who periodically will go to the campground to do so.
The showers will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, during the camping season.
Spottiswood noted a few concerns have come up so far. One is that there may be a revenue loss under the honour system.
A second is that the shower rooms will be open all the time. In the past, campers went to the office, paid $5 for the key to get into the showers, and then got their money back when they returned the key.
And a third concern was that there are signs at the park which identify there is a first aid station at the office. These signs will have to be removed now as this no longer is true.
The $2,459.93 mentioned above covers paint for the winter window covers at the check-in office, a “Welcome to Pither’s Point Park” sign, a park map sign, a campsite tag board sign, new camping permit forms, and a deposit box.
The town’s website (wwww.fort-frances.com) soon will be updated to inform the camping public of the method in which the campground will be operated this year.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
