Mountain Munchkin Daycare in Canmore is looking for a new space in the community after a lengthy process to renegotiate a lease recently fell through.
The for-profit daycare, which provides 94 child care spaces, has been operating out of the Grotto Mountain Village community hall since co-owner Peter Rawlek purchased the business at the end of 2010.
Rawlek said in an interview with the Outlook on Wednesday (April 2) he is committed to keeping the daycare operating in the community.
“I am confident a solution is going to come. I am confident if it is not going to be with the support of the Grotto community centre and the community there, that it will be with the public school board. The project is too important because of the service we provide children and parents in the community.”
The daycare’s current building is owned by the Grotto Mountain Village Residents Association, however, board president Dan Donnelly declined to comment on the situation.
“I am afraid we won’t be able to speak too much about the situation until we have consulted our lawyer with regards to any story. We have drafted a letter to be sent out to the residents and to the Town and it is with our lawyer at the moment,” Donnelly wrote in an email.
In an email to residents of Grotto Mountain Village obtained by the Outlook, Donnelly confirms the board has terminated the daycare’s tenancy.
“After almost two years of negotiations, they refused to agree to our last lease offer,” Donnelly wrote in the email. “The tenant has been given until April 30, 2014 to vacate the premises.
“I have just received some good news from one of the board members. It seems that we may already have two possible tenant options, and without ‘putting it on the market.’ One is someone who wants to open it as a daycare. Our community building is one of the very few locations that is suitable for a daycare, within the Town of Canmore.
“We, the board of directors, have always believed that we will not have any problem finding a new tenant as soon as the building is repaired.”
Rawlek said he hopes to continue to mediate with the board of directors to find a solution. He said the 22 months spent trying to negotiate a lease has been a frustrating process.
“You always have to look at what the other party wants and why they feel the way they do and that is a question that evades me – where does this come from and I just don’t understand,” he said. “I would still like to see if we can mediate this, but they have said to vacate.”
While the daycare is a for-profit business, Rawlek and co-owner Kristy Edwards operate it as a social enterprise model where all profits are re-invested in programming for the children. Rawlek said he has a responsibility to the parents that invest in the program.
“I have a responsibility to the families that for extra money we make I am a steward of that money. I see myself as a steward of that money, to go and ensure it is spent properly for advancing childcare,” he said.
Rawlek said he is optimistic that a successful outcome will occur if both parties are “willing to sit and talk and hold conviction to the things they verbally agree to and put that on paper and do not try to slide things in that would cost tens of thousands of dollars.”
Rawlek bought the business to save it from closing down and throwing Canmore back into a situation where there was a childcare space crisis. The only other daycare in the community is the non-profit Canmore Community Daycare, which has always operated with a long wait list until the second one opened. Even with two daycares in Canmore, there is a shortage of spots to meet the needs of the community.
Rawlek said the business employs 25 people to support the child-focused programming Mountain Munchkin Daycare has become known for by parents.
“No daycare of that size employs that many employees, because we have a focus. We have everything from nutrition to analyzing how children are doing and developing programs,” he said, pointing to the most recent music and dance program developed for children at the daycare. “Everything is focused on how we advance and encourage the maximum development for a child.”
