City Council has voted in favour of giving city employees free access to city facilities, like the Yara Centre gym, as part of their healthy living initiative.

Council approved the plan, but it wasn't unanimous. Some councillors, like Dawn Luhning, felt the initiative was too generous and there were costs involved.

“There are other gyms in the city that possibly our city employees are attending and paying a membership fee to, that now, why would they do that?” said Luhning. “Instead they would just go for free to Yara Centre or what have you, so I do think this is a rocky situation to be in.”

Councillor Brian Swanson said there should be a line item in the budget for it, indicating a cost to the city.

“Any employer that says... 'we’re going to buy you a gym membership as part of working here,' there’s a cost for doing so,” Swanson said. “We pretend there is no cost. We’ve just provided access at a very significantly reduced rate for a whole bunch of football players, and now it’s going to be free for city employees. That revenue from that gymnasium is a vital part of the improved financial situation at Yara Centre.”

City Manager, Jim Puffalt, said that this type of program may cost a bit in revenue but the intention is to try to reduce sick time.

“You may cost a little bit on the loss in revenue, or it may not because we may level that off, but the second thing is the reduction in sick time, which is huge,” said Puffalt. He added that they should track some of the revenue that may be generated from the family members who could be attending with the employees.

The motion passed Monday and human resources will be looking into implementing it soon.