The City of Estevan put out a new policy for food and beverages at the Estevan Leisure Centre so they could have a better level of clarity for the area and what they expect for food.
The new policy was adopted to "better reflect the current needs of facility users", with City Manager Jeff Ward talking about the reason it's before the council.
"This is just to formalize the process that we have in place with the vendor, just the first order refusal to the vendor, before figuring out solutions to bring other food services into that building. This is how we're currently operating, just wanting to formalize it."
Butters Homemade Foods is the official, exclusive vendor at the Leisure Centre, holding the first right of refusal for any food-related requests. This means that no external food sales, catering, or distribution is permitted without prior approval from both the Leisure Services management and Butter's. And event must first provide a food service request to Butter's, and only if declined, may an external vendor be considered, with approval from management.
The only exception is in the case of birthday parties, where cakes and/or cupcakes, with other food needing to be provided by Butter's, unless prior consent is gathered.
Councillor Kirsten Walliser spoke up about the policy, voicing her concern over some situations when it comes to serving specific meals.
"Looking at the appendix, it appears as though the first right of refusal is superseding the needs of the community. If the community had dietary restrictions or was looking for a specific cultural meal provided, and the current vendor couldn't provide it. Without his signature, those needs would go unmet, and they would be required to source their food from him."
Ward responded, saying that from his understanding, Butter's cannot supersede a request if they were unable to provide that, but he stated that he would need more information on the topic.
Walliser stated that she would like to amend the policy so that if the vendor cannot meet dietary or cultural restrictions, they would work with the city to find an alternative.
After that amendment was accepted into the motion, Councillor Shelley Veroba commented on her concern with the policy.
"So are we getting sticky with, say, somebody bringing in their own coffee? It says here that outside food or beverages and not permitted, with the exception of bottled water or sports drinks. I know there are a lot of people who show up in the morning because you're not sure whether or not it's open or not. They're going to show up with the coffee of their choice. We're not stopping people, right?"
Ward replied that it is not in their policy to stop people from entering with coffee, and they would work with the report to clarify the leisure centre's stance.