After six managers in six years, the Town of Fort Frances is looking to add some stability to the recreation department by bringing in a long-time manager to give guidance to the Recreation and Culture department.
Craig Miller has been the Environmental Superintendent for the Town of Fort Frances since 2018, and recently stepped into what was once the role of Recreation and Culture Manager following the departure of Elisa McLeod, who has taken on the role of CAO/Clerk in Red Rock, Ont.
With Miller stepping into the role there has been some restructuring and a change in the job description.
“The role was re-envisioned a bit after Elisa McLeod left, and it’s now Community Services and Facilities manager,” Miller said.
“So we’ve brought that piece back under the Community Services umbrella of the facilities crew as well, so that the programming, the facilities and the staff are all kind of working together now, as opposed to when facilities were separate under operations.”
Miller says he’s aware of the complications having had six managers over six years has brought to the department and hopes that, having been a long-term resident and employee of the town, he can bring some stability to the role.
“I openly acknowledge that we’ve had six managers in six years, and various other supervisors come and go,” he said.
“One of the big things that I’m looking to bring here is stability. That’s kind of the message that I’m trying to bring to everyone.”
Miller feels his involvement in the local hockey community, as well as getting to know community members, positions him well for the role.
“We’ve got three girls, my oldest being 20, my youngest being 15. When we first started out here, they were all involved in hockey, girls hockey. I’ve been on the girls hockey board since 2014. This is my final season, just partly because I have been planning to retire from the board, but also there’s obvious conflicts with this job, so it’s time to step away and focus on other things,” he said.
“That experience of being on the board has lent itself to a lot of skill sets and the experience that I think will benefit me here, as well as relationships. I know a lot of lot of the different people in the hockey communities, and not just girls hockey, but I know Luke Judson, lot of the minor hockey people past and present, figure skating club, you know, all those different groups we’ve had interactions with over the years, and then more broadly, just as my kids have gotten older and into different things, I’ve expanded into different parts of the community, like my youngest plays volleyball now, you know, the middle one’s more of an academic and that sort of thing, but she still has activities and stuff that over the years have given me pieces that add to the skill set needed for this role.”
The department has supervisors who are working in the recreation, aquatics, and facilities roles now which Miller says is a great help in his new role.
“We have Ria Cuthbertson, she has really done a good job at keeping both aquatics and the programming running here,” he said.
“We have Ray Calder looking after the facilities team, he has a vision in his mind about his duty both to taxpayers, but also providing a good, solid recreation experience for the users of the facilities all around. He has a vested interest in these facilities being the best they can be. We’ve recently hired Donna Wieliki, she’s moved home from southern Ontario and has a strong background in fitness and programming and we’re really going to be leaning on her to grow our programming, and that will allow Ria to further focus more on aquatics.”
Miller says he’s pleased with how Cuthbertson has stabilized the aquatics department after the town was left with very few lifeguards as things reopened following the COVID pandemic.
“We have a very healthy lifeguard pool with multiple years of teenagers taking their certifications,” Miller said.
“So, she’s really established that that pathway for the town, which is great”
Miller also added that the Community Services Secretary Melissa Belluz who has helped keep things running through the turnover over the last number of years.
“She’s been here for many, many years and knows everybody, with all the management turnover, you really lean on some of these staff members to keep things going and they have over the years,” Miller said.
Some of the challenges Miller sees upcoming are certainly around the facilities in town, including the Memorial Sports Centre.
“One of the biggest challenges, in my eyes, is the facility, the main Sports Centre itself, the new part is over 20 years old, and on one side of it is a 75 year-old hockey arena and on the other side is a 50 year-old pool,” he said.
“We have certainly invested a lot of money in terms of maintenance and things like that, but at the end of the day we’re still holding very old assets that have lots of challenges with them. I took the opportunity when Minister Rickford was here for funding announcements a couple of weeks ago to let him know that we still need provincial support.”
Miller says that in the long term he’d like to see the plans made for a new pool facility given the challenges around accessibility and other issues the current pool area faces.
“Long term, I would love to see some foundations laid for a new pool facility. We have accessibility and functionality issues, we have storage issues, dressing room issues that have been highlighted in the media in the past year,” he said.
“To gain access to the pool, I don’t love that the public has to walk down the dressing room hallway. These are all challenges that I’d like to address over the time that I plan to be here. And that’s where I say, like, kind of having stability and a plan.”
Overall, though, Miller believes that the Town has a great recreation culture and he thinks it can be made even better.
“Another thing that I’ve said to some of the staff that I’ve worked with is I’d like to give people from Fort Frances the feeling like they’re living in a larger centre than they’re in, and we can do that by offering them some amenities through programming and that sort of thing,” he said.
“I really do think some of our programming, like our swim lessons, our recreation camps in the summer, the Rec’n Crew, the PD day camps that we offer, I think these are all top notch programs. Plus, we have programming at the museum that Lisa and Katrina offer. We’ve got the partnership with the school and the theatre, so we work closely for that kind of programming. I’d love to get the Rainy Lake square more vibrant in the summertime, maybe work with Tour de Fort or whoever the case maybe, to bring more musical acts and that sort of thing. I see that as being a key piece of our downtown scene in Fort Frances.”
While the position is currently interim, Miller is unsure of the duration at this time. He will be in the role for at least six months then see how things have gone.
“Myself and the CAO Marcel [Michaels], we were talking about some different terms. So right now I’m on a six-month interim position. Part of that is just to see how my fit is with the role. If, for whatever reason, it’s not a good fit, then we agree and I can go back, no harm, no foul. I’ll go back to my other job. But, the initial month feels good so far. Like I say, I’m thinking long term, me pulling out just adds to further instability to the place. I think the staff are owed some stability and some consistency.”
