Into the Woods child care facility not out of the woods yet.

After almost two years, the town owned childcare facility continues to operate at less than 50% occupancy.

Many residents will recall the ongoing debacle of construction cost over runs and over looked startup costs to get the Into the Woods child care facility built, furnished and consulting staffing put in place to finally get the facility up and running. At a reported cost of about $2.7 million in tax payer money, and to much fan fair, the center officially opened in July 2023. (This cost does not include the cost of land as the building is located on town owned park land. )

Fast forward to today, almost two years later, we see the facility which is licensed for 37 children providing daycare to only a handful of children. Further, the Into the Woods Early Learning Childcare Society (ITWS) that leases the space from the town has had significant turnover on their board and according to their website, currently has a number of vacant key positions including Chair and Secretary. The society has also experienced turnover in staff and recently hired their third executive director incumbent in this short period.

Reports from Island Health, the agency that oversees child care license compliance, has reported operational contraventions including failing to obtain a criminal records check for all employees, failure to appoint a manager for the community care facility exceeding 30 days, failure to keep attendance and transfer of care "sign in and out" records for all children, and failing to have the name and telephone number of a medical practitioner for each child. Island Health's last report dated Oct 2024 shows that there are no outstanding infractions.

Gaps in the towns assessment and process

Given the current less than optimal use of this facility, it is clear that the process used by the town to not only build the facility but the method used to choose the operator was likely flawed. Further the lease document does not provide the necessary terms and safe guards to ensure the operator provides the value and performance taxpayers are expecting.

Early signs of concern

The initial grant funding for construction was cut back by the government as the proposed cost exceeded the grant terms relative to cost per child, demonstrating a lack of understanding of the available grants by both the town and the original sponsoring lobby group . The town then reworked their budget eliminating much of the $200K contingency fund. Further there was no overall startup budget anticipated to cover the cost of furnishings and initial staff recruitment. At the end of the day, the town had significant overruns and had to make repeated requests of senior government to cover some of those costs.  According to the town's current website, the town funded $218,219 towards the project. This does not appear to include the cost of the considerable staff time to oversee the project.

The original lobby group for this facility was the Early Learning Childcare Council for Oceanside (ELCCO) self described as a volunteer council with no apparent legal status. ELCCO did not contribute funds to the project nor do they appear to have any direct experience in operating child care facilities. The town also provided a below market/zero rent property lease to the operator, the newly formed ITWS put together by ELCCO.

ITWS was formed in June 2021 to be the legal entity that would operate the facility. Town council instructed staff to issue the Request for Proposal (RFP) in April 27 2022 as per the towns Procurement Policy 6000-2 . I was unable to locate any meeting minutes that indicate a robust RFP assessment process was undertaken to allow the town to analyze and consider who the most experienced operator might be. It appears they may have been the only applicant under consideration.

Lease Terms

Normally when assessing whether a town asset is being used to its full potential one looks at the lease arrangements to determine what the terms are with respect to the towns expectations.

Through FOI, I requested a copy of the 5 year lease which was authorized by council on August 10, 2022 in a closed meeting to include two conditions. The first was that there would be no financial or operational subsidy from the town and secondly that after 12 months, long term maintenance costs would be integrated into the lease payments targeting 2% of replacement cost annually. (This was disclosed to the public as part of the September 21st 2022 regular council meeting.)

In reviewing the lease, it appears the later of these conditions was not included in the lease. I have reached out to town staff asking if this was oversight or in fact, approved by council in a subsequent closed meeting, the details of which do not appear to have been released. I am struggling to understand, why the town did not release the fact that they chose to forgo the second condition, which leaves residents thinking that there is a long term plan in place to limit the cost of this facility to the taxpayer, as they had released previously. To date I have not received a response to my inquiry.

Equally important the lease contains no reporting requirements. Specifically ITWS does not need to report that they are operating well below their licensed occupancy rate of 37 children. They do not need to report when they are in contravention of the provincial oversight body, Island Health regulations. No requirement to abide by the town principles such as inclusion, and or to pursue government programs that reduce the cost of child care to our families (such as the $10.00 a day program).

Other local governments take a very different approach to their leasing arrangements with non profits. I had a look at Vancouver's approach, all easily obtainable through simple google searches. Vancouver daycare leases include a Service Level Agreement and Public Service Requirement Agreement as schedules forming part of their lease. These outline the reporting requirements and other specific tenant commitments relative to the grant funding arising from a nominal rent lease to ensure the city's public service expectations are met. Without these types of documents our town is limited in their ability to ensure the operator continues to meet the towns expectations throughout the 5 year lease.

Childcare challenges in general

ITWS is not the only childcare facility with challenges. Provincial legislation is very prescriptive in regards to the education requirements for staff and the ratio of children to each staff member. A key issue in this industry is the education requirements for staff. Tuition to achieve the required ECE educational accreditation is approximately $15,000 and takes a minimum of 18 months. Once accredited these individuals to can expect earn about $28 an hour, well below what it takes to be able to afford to live in B.C. This rate of pay includes a top up of up to $6.00 per hour under the BC Early Childhood Educator Wage Enhancement program. Research shows trends indicating that people leave the industry within a 5 year period which is not surprising given the low rate of pay.

Many child care operators have applied to the $10.00 a day program which essentially has the senior government covering the costs rather than the parents. Most of the funding programs are aimed at the non profit segment and each year the government provides specific funding to a select group of facilities. I am told that Into the Woods had applied for this program but to date has not been approved. Meanwhile, the Parksville Child and Family Centre, operated by Boys and Girls Club Central Vancouver Island will convert 111 spaces to the $10.00 Childcare BC Program as released in the March 2025 news release. Further Qualicum Beach Elementary will also receive 75 new child care spaces through the new Spaces Fund according to the Provincial news release.

The auditor general for the city of Vancouver highlighted in their audit of June 2024 that while the city of Vancouver ,is aligned with the province to build universal childcare, the city did not have a funding model designed to recover costs from senior levels of government. This is also an important issue to QB as ITWS seeks approval for the $10.00 a day program which is based on existing operating budgets. By not including basic building maintenance and reserves for ultimate replacement of the building in the lease, we are moving this cost onto local taxpayers when it could and should be funded by higher levels of government.

Conclusion

The towns handling of this project is disappointing from this tax payers perspective.

I would like to see the town strike a committee to review their policies and practices relative to the support provided by the town to the non profit organizations that fill vital roles in our community. As taxpayers, we fund many recreational, cultural, and social wellness organizations, the actual cost however, is not fully transparent. A creditable granting program, that includes both below market rentals and operating grants, must exemplify principals of fairness, ongoing transparency and robust accountability. We do not need to reinvent the wheel and should be looking at processes and/or best practices used by other local governments. Good governance needs to be demonstrated not just words in the strategic plan or annual report.

Marie Noel

April 20 2025

More Info

Town of QB staff report on Into the Woods time line key decision dates here

TQB RFP document

City of Burnaby RFP (for similar project taken from UBCM website)

City of Vancouver Public service requirement agreement (taken from UBCM website)

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