Anmore Child Care Centre
SD-43 Will take over potential liability for Childcare Centre in the Heritage Middle School on the boundary between Anmore and Port Moody.
Councillor Chris Sedergreen, MD, on the Anmore Daycare Debacle (21-07-11) Click Here
Heritage Middle School Discussed at July 12, 2011 Anmore Regular Council Meeting -- report on presentation by delegation from School District 43 -- Dan Derpak and Carey Chute.
Heritage Middle School will incorporate a Neighbourhood Learning Centre. Initially this concept was initiated to save schools in Vancouver where enrolment had declined. Now it is a means of adding 15% to the size of new school construction.
School District 43 has three Neighbourhood Learning Centres already built or under construction. Centennial has incorporated a New Canadian Learning Centre. Pitt River Middle School has an Aboriginal Welcoming Centre. Heritage Middle School will utilize its additional 15% space as Day
Care space in conjunction with the grant from the Minister of Children and Families.
The Day Care will be run by an outside agency after a Request for Proposal process. The School District will assume all funding liabilities and
obligations required.
It is possible that additional community partnership programs will be available for Anmore including the possibility of community library services. The library will be slightly larger than what is usual for a Middle School
the size of Heritage Middle. Elaine Willis (13-07-11)
"Well done Anmore Council! We have Lift Off!"
Editors' Note: Well done Council! This solution allows for a childcare centre in easy commute to anyone in Anmore. It utilizes the generous grant of close to $500,000 from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) so adeptly negotiated by MLA Iain Black. The location will ensure a larger population base of children from both Port Moody and Anmore from which to draw in order to sustain viable numbers.
The solution also puts the concerns of Councillors Piamonte and Sedergreen about the potential short and long-term liabilities for Anmore, identified in the contract with the MCFD, into the hands of School District 43 and not the taxpayers of Anmore. SD-43 will be responsible for matching the MCFD grant contribution and the 10 year commitment to pay back the grant if the Centre ceases to operate. As well, having SD-43 in control puts to rest concerns about possible cavalier management selection into an accountable Request for Proposal process to select the operator of the operation.
And finally, and most importantly, the solution honours the results of the 2008 Anmore referendum results where by a 2-1 margin voters rejected the question: "Are you in favour of the Village of Anmore adopting Anmore Day Care Facility/Community Centre Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 451-2008, which would authorize the borrowing of up to $1,263,000.00 to construct a Day Care Facility/Community Centre?"
Thank you Council. Thank you Iain Black. Thank you MCFD. "It appears we have lift off." Now the only hurdle remaining is to get Anmore taxpayers off of the hook in the resolution of the lawsuit against the Village by the low bidder Avion Multiplex about tampering with the bidding process. (14-07-11)
Anmore Day Care Boondoggle - The Shocking Truth! A Message from Dr. Chris Sedergreen, Anmore Councillor (01-06-11) Click Here
Builder files lawsuit over Anmore daycare Click Here
Nominations for Champions for Young Children Awards of
Excellence Click Here (19-01-11)
Check out the Ministry of Children and Family Development Child Care Search function by Clicking Here
Update on the Status of the Anmore Childcare Centre
2008 Election Referendum Question:
"Are you in favour of the Village of Anmore adopting Anmore Day Care Facility/Community Centre Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 451-2008, which would authorize the borrowing of up to $1,263,000.00 to construct a Day Care Facility/Community Centre?"
2008 Referendum Results:
Yes: 231 votes
No: 432 votes
December 17, 2010 updated results from Diane Lee of the YMCA Child Care Resource and Referral Centre for the Tricities area presenting the results of the 2010 Child Care Provider Program Evaluation survey showing: 43.9% providers with no increase in enrolment over the past year, 63.9% not considering expanding their childcare facility, 44.4% with no waitlist, 24.10% with decreased enrolment, and 53.4% with vacancies. Click Here
At the Regular Council Meeting on December 16, 2010, under Unfinished Business, Mayor Anderson announced that she has come to the conclusion that, although she would still like to go ahead with it, there is insufficient money available to build a stand alone Child Care Centre in Anmore. She said that in her conversations with Ministry of Children and Family Development representatives they indicated that most Child Care Centres they are involved in funding are in old buildings, church basements, but never stand alone.
Mayor Anderson indicated that she sees three options for the proposed Anmore Childcare Centre 1) stand alone, 2) part of another project, and 3) not to build it. In a memo to Council in the Agenda package, Mayor Anderson proposed that staff explore the possibility of setting up a Child Care Centre in the Middle School that is being built near the East Road entrance to Anmore. She said that since SD-43 is planning a Neighbourhood of Learning they might entertain such a possibility.
Mayor Anderson also said that a ‘for profit” operator might be a possibility as well, instead of the not-for-profit society identified in the grant contract with the Ministry of Children and Family Development. She reminded people that this is just to explore possibilities - SD-43 might not be interested in this proposal.
Councillor Palmer-Isaak said it was the duty and responsibility of Council to explore every possibility to create this Childcare Centre in Anmore since the Ministry had identified a need in this area.
Editors Note: There are 130 Child Care Centres within a 5 km radius of Heritage Woods High School. The latest YMCA CCRR 2010 Child Care Provider Program Evaluation Survey (December 17, 2010) shows:
1. 43.9% providers with no increase in enrolment over the past year,
2. 63.9% not considering expanding their childcare facility,
3. 44.4% with no waitlist,
4. 24.10% with decreased enrolment, and
5. 53.4% with vacancies.
At this RCM Councillor Piamonte said that he has four initial concerns about Mayor Anderson's suggestion that the Anmore Child Care Centre be built in the Middle School. Firstly, the grant contract for the $499,500 is with the Village. Who would own the facility if it was in a SD-43 building? Secondly, the contract requires a ten year commitment – a $50,000 a year liability for the Village. With no control can this liability be risked? Thirdly, there are already significant community concerns about possible traffic problems around the proposed Middle School. Would this not add further complication to this situation? Fourthly, What impact would such a proposal have on the Middle School Fire Underwriters Report?
Anmore resident, Robert Tribe, Co-chair of the Anmore Daycare Working Group, recently disbanded with the support of Mayor Anderson, and Councillors Palmer-Isaak and McEwen, reminded Council of the 25% matching funds requirement of the MCFD grant. He also said the big motivator for rezoning the lot near the Village Hall was to have the proposed Child Care Centre near the Elementary School and to try and create a hub of services at the central core. He wondered about the need since there is all kinds of competition within 1 ½ kms of the proposed Middle School.
Anmore resident, Larry Barron, a lawyer in his regular life, is concerned about the $500,000 liability to the community. He indicated that according to Community Charter 175, if a liability lasts for 5 years and it is over 5% of Village revenue, it is necessary to go back to the voters for authorization. Having looked at the 2009 financial report on line, he is worried that this might be the case. He indicated that he thought that this was important for staff to look into.
Mayor Anderson said a liability may or may not happen. Mr. Barron suggested that it might be prudent to check and Mayor Anderson said she wasn’t finished talking yet. She said before anything is done, the first step is to see if the SD-43 would entertain the possibility of including an Anmore Childcare Centre in the new Middle School , or not.
The other Co-chair of the disbanded Daycare Working Group, Tracy Green, criticized ‘the anti-daycare’ group. She said that she had talked to a citizen member of the Finance Committee who told her that the Daycare Centre would be listed as an asset, not a liability in the Financial statements.
Councillor McEwen made a motion that Anmore staff explore the possibility of building a Childcare Centre in the Middle School that is being built. Mayor Anderson and Councillor Palmer-Isaak supported this motion. Councillor Piamonte made a follow-up resolution which was passed to have staff check into the potential liability of the proposed Childcare Centre relative to the Community Charter and to the possibility of having the facility housed in a SD-43 facility.
20-12-10
Proposed Resolution from Mayor Anderson to be considered by Anmore Council at the December 16th Regular Council Meeting:
"That the Village of Anmore instruct staff to initiate discussions with the Coquitlam School District about the possibility of including the Anmore daycare within the Middle School being built in the Village of Anmore."
In a December 12, 2010 letter to Anmore Council attached to the Agenda for the December 16th Regular Council Meeting, Mayor Anderson is proposing that staff begin discussions with SD-43 about the prospect of building a Childcare Centre in the proposed Middle School to be built in Anmore. For letter Click Here
The Daycare Working Group appointed by Anmore Council was recently disbanded by Mayor Anderson with the support of Councillors Palmer-Isaak and McEwen. Only two members of that eight member group of citizens recommended that the Village move ahead with this project. The individual recommendations from the Working Group are posted further down on this page. As a member of this group, the last proposals that we considered were from two developers proposing buildings for the lot which Anmore Council rezoned in Ravenswood.
Since the grant contract for $499,500 with the Ministry of Children and Family Development is directly with the Village, and not with the not-for-profit society that proposes to run it, I am wondering how Mayor Anderson's proposal would work with School District 43.To help set the context for the proposed explorations with SD-43, exerpts of the contract with the Village are shown below.
Child Care Capital Funding Program Major Capital Funding for Creation of New Child Care Spaces – Minister of Children and Family Development Agreement No. CO78100114 – signed by Hal Weinberg and Howard Carley, March 26, 2008.
“Whereas:
C. It is a condition of the Province agreeing to provide assistance to the Recipient that the Recipient agrees to the terms of this agreement…
3.04. The Recipient will not, without prior written consent of the Province, make any material change in or to the Project or the Budget, Plans and Specifications or Project Schedule. (Annex A – Funding Agreement)...
Continuation of Child Care Operation:
3.10 For a Project for which the Province is providing Funding under the Agreement of over $300,000, regardless of whether the Recipient is renovating existing leased space or whether the Recipient owns the Child Care Facility, the Recipient will continue the Child Care Operation for a minimum of ten years from the date of issuance of a New Licence.
Maximum Payment, Overpayment, and Repayment
3.15 …if the Recipient breaches the provisions…, then the Recipient will repay the Province a pro-rated amount of all funds paid to it under this Agreement, based on the ratio between the length of time it has operated the Child Care Operation and the length of time required to Operate the Child Care Operation under this Agreement.
3.16 …the amount of any overpayment, or repayment… is a debt due to the Province and may be recovered by it in a court of competent jurisdiction or deducted from any subsequent child care funding. (Annex B – Funding Agreement for $499,500.00)
General Convenants:
3.17 …the Recipient will:
(c) maintain its corporate existence and carry on the child Care Operation in a proper business-like manner in accordance with good business practice and keep or cause to be kept proper books of account in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles applied on a consistent basis.
Insurance and Indemnity:
…The Recipient shall… provide and maintain… the following insurances:
(a) All risks property insurance…
(b) Commercial General Liability Insurance in an amount not less than Two Million ($2,000,000)…
(c) … Builder’s Risk insurance …
(d) …contractor maintains Commercial General Liability insurance…
Default and Termination
(b) any representation or warranty made by the recipient in this Agreeement is untrue or incorrect.
(h) a change occurs with respect to any of the properties, assets, condition (financial, or otherwise), business or operations of the Recipient which, in the opinion of the Province, materially adversely affects the ability of the Recipient to fulfill any of its obligations under this Agreement.
Termination
(b) terminate the Agreement, and declare the aggregate of all advances and all other monies owing hereunder to be due and repayable by the recipient to the Province and such monies will immediately become due and payable without presentment, demand, protest or notice of any kind to the Recipient, all of which are hereby expressly waived…”
14-12-10
Mayor Anderson, with the help of Councillors Palmer-Isaak and McEwen has had the Anmore Childcare Working Group disbanded. Since consensus could not be reached on how to advise Council, each of the eight Citizen members was asked to give their own recommendation to Council on how to proceed. Based on the evidence, only two of the eight, Tracy Green, President of the Friendly Forest Pre-school Parents Association and Glenda Treffry-Goatley, a teacher there, voted to proceed with building the Child Care Centre in Anmore.
To read each of the recommendations from the Citizen members of the Childcare Working Group please scroll down the page. For Mayor Anderson's letter thanking the members of the working group (01-12-10) Click Here.
Editor's Note: As someone who has contributed well over 50 hours of professional time to this voluntary activity, I appreciate the thank you letter from Mayor Anderson. However, I would have rather had Council have a meaningful discussion of our recommendations. Although we rushed to get these to Council for a very tight target date, there was no public discussion of the recommendations. Rather Councillors Palmer-Isaak, McEwen, and Mayor Anderson voted to table the item and the Working Group was subsequently disbanded. Dr. Lynn Elen Burton, Member of the disbanded Anmore Childcare Working Group (01-12-10).
The Numbers are In - Full-day Kindergarten pushes up District Enrolment Numbers. For link to the NOW article Click Here (04-11-10)
Audio tape of the Oct. 12, 2010 discussion of Tabled Item 6 (a) Day Care Working Group - Proposed Day Care Centre Recommendations - About UBCM Meeting of Mayor Anderson, and Councillors McEwen and Palmer-Isaak with the Minister of Community and Family Development. Click Here
Editor's Note Number 2: In the October, 2010 Anmore Times, Mayor Heather Anderson states that "she wants to assure residents that she is doing everything possible to make sure that the best decision (about whether or not to proceed with building a municipal childcare centre in Anmore) is made for our Village". This is quite confusing given that of the eight non-Council members of the Child Care Working Group only two recommended moving forward with the Child Care building project. Instead, without considering this advice in Council, (see the individual recommendations below) Mayor Anderson proceeded to get another extension from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (September 30th 2010 to January 31st, 2011) to re-open the contractor RFP process (13-10-10).
Editor's Note Number 1: In the October, 2010 Anmore Times, Mayor Heather Anderson states that "There has been some inaccurate information written about this (Child Care Centre) project, which has been very misleading to Anmore residents." Mayor Anderson was vague on the source of this misinformation, however if the innuendo is targeted at the Anmore Alternative News, we want her to know that we have not knowingly printed anything untrue. However, if Mayor Anderson has substantiated 'inaccurate information' we will most gladly print a retraction. (12-10-10).
In the same edition of the Anmore Times, Vladislav Kouchnarev's Council Meeting Notes state, "According to Councillor Issak**, each member of the DCWG (Daycare Working Group) was asked to summarize their opinions in two-page additions to their meeting minutes. One of those members sent a 27 page letter to Council. (The correspondence that Village residents received in early September from Councillor Piamonte was largely based on that letter). Councillor Issak was concerned about the fairness of permitting a single committee member to present their information in a way different from the rest of the committee. Councillor Sedergren** noted that Council already voted to receive the letter."
The 27 page letter that Mr. Kouchnarev is referring to was a letter with a number of attachments from myself to Council. The findings in the documents attached to my letter were expunged from the Minutes of the Child Care Working Group by Co-Chair Tracy Green because the Working Group had not officially voted to receive the documents.
I had made a detailed presentation of the findings to the DCWG and copies of the first two documents were passed out to all of the Working Group members and to the Minute taker at the August 23 Meeting during the discussion of the Needs Assessment Survey done by a three member Sub-Committee group. These were:
1) A letter from Diane Lee, Acting Director of the YMCA Child Care Resource and Referral Centre for the Tricities area to me presenting the results of the Sept. 2009 Child Care Provider Program Evaluation showing 42.7% of respondents with a decline in enrolments and 64.9% with vacancies.
2) A Press Release from the Ministry of Children and Family Development announcing increased funding for in school ‘Before and After School Programs’.
3) A Ministry of Children and Family Development listing of the 68 of 70 group and family child care centres within a five km. radius of the Village Hall showing space available on that day.
The members of the DCWG were asked to have their recommendations ready for the Regular Council Meeting on September 14th when Council was to determine by the Ministry of Children and Family Services September 30th deadline, if it “wished to move forward or whether the project (Major Capital Funding for the Creation of New Child Care Spaces Agreement No. CO781001) would be cancelled and all funding ($499,500) returned.”
I felt that the information attached to my letter was critical to a decision by Council based on due diligence and fact.
For a copy of the letter from the Ministry of Children and Family Development requesting a response by September 30th Click Here For a copy of the '27 page letter' with the information expunged from the Daycare Working Group Minutes Click Here. For a copy of Councillor Piamonte's letter Click Here. For copies of the individual recommendations from non-Council members of the DCWG, please scroll down the page. (2 in favour, 4 opposed, 1 abstained, 1 did not submit a recommendation)
Note: ** These are Kouchnarev's spellings of Isaak and Sedergreen as printed in the October 2010 Anmore Times.
Dr. Lynn Elen Burton, 12-10-10.
Mayor Anderson and Councillors Palmer-Isaak and Piamonte were members of the eleven member Anmore Daycare Working Group. Mayor Anderson is a Director of the Anmore Youth and Community Services Non-Profit Society shown as operating the Anmore Day Care Facility in the Business Plan, 2007. Councillor Palmer-Isaak held the President's and other official roles with the Friendly Forest Pre-School and was a four-time Director of the Friendly Forest Pre-school Association not-for-profit society mentioned as a key partner in current President Tracy Green's recommendation Click Here.
At the September 14, 2010, Regular Council Meeting, Council was scheduled to consider the advice of the Anmore Daycare Working Group members and make a decision about whether or not to proceed with the (Child Care Centre) Project and report back to the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) by the September 30th deadline. This did not happen. [The recommendations from each of the non-Council members of the Anmore Daycare Working Group are below.]
Instead, Mayor Anderson made a long presentation where she talked about the short RFP response time, the much higher than expected costs of the proposals from the two contractors, and her desire to get more proposals that would be within the allotted grant money and the money that has been put aside. Mayor Anderson also indicated that she had spoken to the two contractors.
Further, the Mayor said that she didn't want to make a bad financial decision because of the lack of time and that she wanted to try to get a further extension from MCFD. She said that MCFD had never given a grant in support of a not-for-profit child care centre in the Tri-City area. She said that MCFD was extremely excited about Anmore moving forward with a not-for-profit municipal child care centre and there were no other facilities like this in BC.
Immediately after Mayor Anderson's presentation on how Council should proceed, Councillor McEwen said that in light of what had gone on he "would like to table the issue of the decision that was supposed to be made [that night] until further talks with the Ministry [had] been exhausted." Councillor Palmer-Isaak seconded his motion to do this. The motion was passed with Councillors Piamonte and Sedergreen opposing.
Mayor Anderson did not allow any discussion of the Daycare Working Group recommendations by the rest of the Council members since the item was tabled. Councillor Sedergreen was not pleased with the 'gag order' being imposed on Council. Councillor Piamonte said that the eight recommendations from the Anmore Daycare Working Group members not on Council (most strongly opposed) should be considered by Council as scheduled. Mayor Anderson indicated that those recommendations were in the attachments to the September 14th Council Meeting Agenda where anyone could read them (See below).
MCFD has since responded to Mayor Anderson's request by extending the deadline for Anmore Council to decide "as to whether or not the project will be cancelled and all funding returned" until January 31st, 2011.
Non-Council Daycare Working Group Member recommendations:
:
- Willis, Elaine, posted September 30, 2010. Click Here
- Tribe, Robert, (Co-chair Anmore Daycare Working Group) posted September 29, 2010. Click Here
- Treffry-Goatley, Glenda (teacher at Friendly Forest Pre-School) posted September 28, 2010. Click Here Click Here
- Scatchard, Leigh, posted September 27, 2010. Click Here
- Green, Tracy, (Co-Chair Anmore Daycare Working Group) posted September 24, 2010. Click Here
- Cresswell, Dick, posted September 23, 2010. Click Here
- Chern, Peter. No recommendation.
- Burton, Dr. Lynn Elen. posted September 22, 2010. Click Here
Background:
The Child Care Working Group appointed by Anmore Council has been working to a very tight time schedule. A letter from the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) to Acting Mayor Palmer-Isaak on April 22, 2010 (received May 12, 2010 in the Village Hall) gives Council 90 days to let the Ministry know if it “wishes to move forward or whether the project (Major Capital Funding for the Creation of New Child Care Spaces Agreement No. CO781001) will be cancelled and all funding ($499,500) returned.”
The letter also asked for “a revised project budget, construction schedule, and new plans and specifications’ and specifically mentioned “the newly formed Working Group currently completing a needs assessment”. Karen-Ann Cobb, Anmore Manager of Corporate Services, informed the Working Group that the Ministry had allowed a deadline extension until September 30, 2010.
Since the Child Care Working Group could not reach consensus on a recommendation about whether or not to proceed with building a stand alone Child Care Centre in Anmore, members were asked to send their own recommendation to Mayor and Council in time to have them included in the Agenda and attachments for the September 14th Regular Council Meeting, the last one before the September 30th MCFD deadline.
The attachments to the agenda show recommendations to Council from each of the Working Group members: i. Robert Tribe (Co-Chair), ii. Tracy Green (Co-chair), iii. Dick Cresswell, iv. Elaine Willis, v. Leigh Scatchard, vi. Glenda Treffry-Goatley, vii. and Lynn Burton.
- Two members in favour of proceeding
- Four members in favour of cancelling the project
- One member abstaining
- One non-response (Peter Chern)
To better inform Anmore residents, each of these recommendations to Council will be featured in alphabetical order over the next eight issues of the Anmore Alternative News. The recommendations did not get discussed at Council, rather the item was tabled. Subsequently, Mayor Anderson asked for and received a further extension from MCFD until January 31, 2011.
