To the Editor

Congratulations to the new Dysart council and to the Haliburton Rotary Club for taking the initiative to build new washrooms combined with a welcome centre at Head Lake Park. The current outhouse situation reflects very poorly on our community. In the summer when the park is most heavily used the stench inside these outhouses is unbearable and there is never any hand sanitizer.

I would argue they are a health hazard and need to be torn down. In addition lack of good public washrooms was identified as a major problem in a municipal peer review a couple of years ago but this recommendation was ignored by the previous council.

The park itself is a huge asset to the community as it hosts a growing number of events each year – the popular Farmers’ Market Music in the Park Art in the Park Rotary Carnival and Boat Races to name a few.

Visitors and residents alike deserve better than what is currently offered. Combining new washrooms with a visitor centre is an excellent idea. Potential vandalism of such facilities can be deterred with security cameras and locking them at night. There will be added municipal costs for cleaning and maintenance but I believe the general public will support the added expense for improved services.

I am very pleased that we will have such a great new facility to welcome visitors to our community and to provide excellent services for all. Thanks again to the leadership of council and Rotary for making such a much needed improvement to our community.

Derrell Stamp

Haliburton