Near Drowning at Sportsplex Leads to Fierce Words at Council

Robert Thomas

The near drowning of her children has Moose Jaw resident Stacey Houghton expressing some very serious concerns with the City.

Houghton appeared at City Council to express her views on an incident which allegedly occurred February 17th at the Kinsmen Sportsplex Pool.

She told Council how the City had investigated the incident and how she spent a better part of a week looking for answers. Plus the City had not taken a lead into investigating the incident, she claimed.

"No eight year old child with Level Three should be saving another eight year old child,” Houghton said about the incident, adding “it's been me coming down to see all of you.”

She told Council the Kinsmen Pool was understaffed and staff had insufficient training.

“I hope the lifeguard on duty doesn't get another chance. One chance and you are out of there,” she said.

She also told Council she tried to find the policies for the pool but was unable to.

As a parent, Houghton pointed out some things she felt were dangerous and needed to be repaired. She pointed out the stairwell at the top of the water slide had no mesh around it to prevent children and others from falling despite being a 30 to 40 foot drop onto cement, as an example.

WATER CONCERNS EXPRESSED

After she alerted Council to concerns at the Kinsmen Pool, Stacey Houghton expressed further concerns into the water utility and what was happening in her Laurier Area neighbourhood.

There are “serious water and plumbing issues,” Houghton told Council after patiently sitting through Council's discussion on the budget and priorities.

“Your priorities are out of whack. There are better ways about how that gets dealt with,” she said about the City’s water infrastructure problems.

Houghton expressed concerns that the City Engineering Department was breaking Bylaw 4381 by not informing people about turning off what or informing them as to the reasons why and if they do or do not have to boil their water after an incident.

Bylaw 4381 is the Code of Ethics Bylaw.

“You are shutting off water in that area and not telling people…no notice, no reason why you are turning it off. We residents should be informed,” she said.