By Chad Ingram
Published Jan. 29 2019
Residents will soon be able to book rentals of some public spaces in Dysart et al though the use of Perfect Mind software which is scheduled to go live on the municipality's website in February.
“You can filter through and decide what you want to look for” said recreation program co-ordinator Andrea Mueller as she gave councillors an overview of the software during a Jan. 22 council meeting. “Let's say you were looking for a park for instance a park rental you would just come in and click on park rental. You can choose that you can send the request but you can't just book that straight up. It has to have the approval process first before everything is finalized.”
As Mueller explained when someone sends a request using the software an email will be sent to her for approval of the booking.
Residents choose the facility date hours they are looking for and also enter the number of people they are expecting to attend their event.
Operating on a 30-day cycle parks for example would need to be booked at least a month in advance.
“The reality is if you're booking the park you can't really book it short notice” Mueller said. The arena will be able to be booked on shorter notice.
Users will be able to see rental rates insurance requirements and the deadli ne for the contract with the municipality and can also pay fees online.
Deputy Mayor Pat Kennedy asked if there were plans to include other municipal assets outside the arena and parks.
“I already have West Guilford and Harcourt [community centres] in here” Mueller said “I haven't trained them on it yet.”
“Because this is new for all of us the most important thing was getting the arena and the parks in there” she said. “But the thought is yes we can definitely expand.”
For those without access to the Internet Mueller said there has been discussion about having a tablet at the municipal office that people could use to make bookings or also register at the front office.
She said existing bookings are being put into the system and that bookings for the arena would begin with the next ice season. Regular users of the facility can have their regular times blocked off and then confirmed for next year.
“We can place-hold them in the system” Mueller said.
The technology is widely used by municipalities in Ontario and will be utilized by other county municipalities as well.
