What Decision Was Made.

The  question has been asked. 
As noted  the  meeting was a  marathon. The agenda was already heavy with weighty  items. 
The Mayor presented  a couple of dozen certificates separately to young people who painted  picnic tables Each group posed  from  two directions.
Council and staff were an appreciative audience for a large part of the time allotted to deal with  town  business. 
I have suggested  presentations requiring only the Mayor's presence would be better held at another time. They could be  accompanied by a reception. 
Directors are entitled to time off- in- lieu, or pay for time spent at Council meetings. I suspect time spent  at Council meetings contributes  to many a four day week.
We  also had six delegations on Tuesday .We listened to rugby and soccer enthusiasts lecture about how far behind we are in providing facilities for ever growing numbers and inform us once again how much advantage  there  is to artificial turf.
One and a half  hours of three  and a half allotted time to deal with town business was taken up before we  started.
The decision was made to call tenders for the $1.4 million project to install the artificial turf at the community park.
It includes  additional cost of work to shore up an existing pond and exporting a mountain of  soil  from the site at $278,000.
We learned   it is not possible to forecast when the new storm water pond will be in place.
On Wednesday night, at the public planning meeting.the Consultant the 2.C. planning area, in answer to a question, said it would be possible for the storm water pond  in the new development to be built ahead of time.
The Conservation authority  must be  involved in the decision
 How much engineering is required to determine the appropriate location, I do not know. 
But the question was asked. Nothing hung on the answer . So I  take it at face value. 
A quarter of a million dollars is worth saving with nothing but  time involved.
It's a quarter of a million dollars the project doesn't have to cost.
It's development charges that can be used for a project of equally high priority.
I don't know what a skate board park costs.
 I've seen one in Georgina.
 It doesn't look cheap.
 But $278,000. would surely buy a lot of concrete. Space from the erstwhile storm water pond is also valuable in the scheme of things.
There is still time,under the circumstances, for  a change to be made.