The Village of Alix closed Moonwalkers last month and now they want residents’ input on what to do with the vacant area of the building.
“The village will be asking for input from the community on ideas for the Play Centre portion of building in the coming weeks,” said Alix Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Troy Jenkins in an email last week.
Alix opened Moonwalkers – a 3,500 square foot interactive play centre that featured tunnels and slides and a zipline in 2013. Moonwalkers previously operated for 14 years in Red Deer, closing in 2009.
At a special council meeting Dec. 12, the Village of Alix council voted in favour of closing the doors to Moonwalkers Play Center effective immediately.
BDO Canada presented Moonwalkers financial report to council Dec. 12. BDO compiled a statement of operations of Moonwalkers from December 2012 to October 2016 showing the cumulative deficit. BDO, however, cautioned that they didn’t perform an audit or a review engagement on the financial statements.
BDO’s report revealed that Moonwalkers’ revenue since starting was $602,928. Its expenses were $1,156,601. The combined total loss during that time was $553,673.
Details of the financial report show that Moonwalkers spent $166,996 on advertising and promoting the facility. Another $216,745 on rent, $439,152 on salaries/wages and $22,841 on sub-contracts.
Moonwalkers employed eight people, three full time and five-part time, including students.
The village funded Moonwalkers’ deficit through taxation.
In 2012 Alix came up with the idea of a community activity centre plus business incubator project. The project was a private-public partnership between the Village of Alix and Creative Infrastructure from Wetaskiwin.
In opening Moonwalkers, Alix council had believed that it could benefit the local economy by creating jobs, boost local business and draw in tourism dollars.
Converting to LED
During Village of Alix’s regular council meeting Jan. 4, Stan Orlesky of Fortis Alberta gave a presentation to Alix council about converting street lights to LED.
There wouldn’t be any upfront costs for the village, said Orlesky. Converting would also save 10 per cent in maintenance costs.
“The community would save approximately 41,300 kWh/year,” said Alix Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Troy Jenkins.
Alix could replace 109 street lights. Fourteen wouldn’t fall within the program.
The village accepted the presentation as information.
“The village has to complete its due diligence and if an agreement is passed by council, a timeline would be discussed between the parties,” said CAO Jenkins.
