The City of Estevan has turned to a man with deep roots in the community to guide its leisure services division.
Nathan Jesse had been serving as the interim director since January but was named to the position on a permanent basis recently. The official announcement was made at the April 22 regular meeting of city council.
"I'm excited to make it official and have my influence on things and look forward to working with the staff and other managers and council as well," said Jesse, who added that being from Estevan gives the position special meaning.
"I grew up here and used these facilities as a youth. I know the history behind them and I have a great idea of what I want to see in the future."
Elaborating on those plans, Jesse said he would like to see the events at Spectra Place continue. He noted the facility has been on a positive roll, booking such artists as Motley Crue and The Tragically Hip. Saturday's Scooby-Doo performance was also a big hit with local youth.
"I think it's a pretty good service to the community and the surrounding area. I think they are enjoying our events and especially when get some bigger, higher profile names like Motley Crue and The Tragically Hip," he said. "We also want to continue providing quality services, programs and recreational opportunities for the community as well."
On the facilities side, Jesse said the future of the Civic Auditorium is on his radar. Built in 1957, the auditorium is nearing the end of its lifespan so developing plans for a third ice surface will be critical. He would also like to see the pathway program continue with an eye towards making Estevan more accommodating to pedestrians.
Overall, Jesse is happy with the state of the leisure services division and local facilities. He noted Spectra Place has presented them with a huge learning curve but feels they have done a good job of adjusting and adapting.
"I don't think any of us realized what was coming when we opened the doors. We've really evolved in the last two years and our management team and our staff have done really well to get over those hurdles and I think we are running a little bit more smoothly now," he said.
"Some of our aging infrastructure is always a challenge. With the flat roof on the leisure centre, right now we are experiencing roof damage and leaking which is always a challenge and the Civic and curling rink are aging and need some upkeep to them as well."
Another challenge Jesse will deal with as he moves forward in the position is maintaining a good cost recovery level on all local facilities. Council has also made it public that they would like to see the cost recovery level improved, which creates a delicate balancing act for Jesse, who must walk a fine line between being financially responsible and keeping rates affordable for residents and user groups such as minor hockey.
"We want to have comparable rates to cities such as Yorkton, Swift Current and North Battleford. We want to have similar cost recovery structures as what they would have," he said. "Over the next year or two I will be looking at that and reconstructing it to get it at a manageable level. It's great to provide these facilities to customers, but we have to make sure that we are not running them at a loss because they obviously are expensive."
Finding the right cost recovery balance has forced the City to make some tough decisions such as no longer allowing groups free use of facilities for their events. Jesse said the decision isn't always popular, but he feels it was necessary.
"It is a delicate situation. We want to keep user groups and the community using our facilities as much as possible and we don't want to gouge them for it but we can't run at a loss either."
Jesse added another challenge in the future will be the recruitment and retention of employees.
"We can provide services, but we need the staff to carry through with those services. We have these facilities but we need staff to clean them and maintain them. There are times where we take a lot of heat (for doing things a certain way) but some of the stuff we do is because we are either short-staffed or staff is not fully trained or an expert in the situation and we are just doing the best with what we got."
Prior to taking over as the interim manager, Jesse had been serving as the program director for leisure services.
