New equipment and fitness classes happening at the Canada Games Centre is costing Better Bodies memberships and putting the tax-funded recreational complex in direct competition with the private sector, says the owner of the Marwell-based fitness centre.

"My concern is they continue to damage our business," Jim Oster told the Star this morning.

The comments come after Coun. Doug Graham brought up the issue at Monday's city council meeting, where he asked management to organize a noon meeting for staff and council to discuss the matter.

This year's budget approved spending for new equipment at the centre. It has bought four new bicycles, heavier weights, a new dip machine and a recumbent bike.

Recalling the early discussions around the building of the Canada Games Centre, Graham said the city had vowed not to compete with the private sector.

"That was not the intent of the Canada Games Centre, but it appears, lately anyway, from the allegations that we've received, that we are competing; not only competing, but doing it with their taxpayer dollars and causing them a great deal of stress," Graham said.

Representatives from each of the fitness centres he's spoken to have noticed a substantial drop in memberships. There have also been cases of the city getting new employees who were trained in the private sector, then came over to work at the Games Centre because the city pays a higher wage, he said.

Along with the new equipment set to be added to the wellness centre this month are fitness classes, such as a modified boot camp, that would normally be offered at a fitness centre.

"We have to draw a line at some point and say if there is room for both private fitness organizers as well as the Canada Games Centre to operate, then we have to determine what the parameters are because to me, you don't use tax payers' dollars to put private businesses out of business. It's just not acceptable," Graham said.

While Peak Fitness and the city were working in partnership to provide the wellness centre in the beginning after a request for proposals went out, there were a variety of reasons it didn't work out, Graham said.

Restrictions were then placed on what the city could offer in its wellness centre to ensure it didn't compete with the private businesses in town.

While city council would have approved the $25,000 equipment expense in its capital budget, Graham pointed out the type of equipment wouldn't have come forward in detail at that time.

At the same time too is the city's move to focus on getting monthly membership rates up at the centre.

Over the last six months, there's only been one month where there have been more monthly memberships sold than in the year previous, something Graham suggested could be the impetus behind the equipment purchase.

"There's a certain amount of pressure from council, if no one else it's from me, to say you need to make more than 40 per cent of the money for the Canada Games Centre; we have to recover a greater portion than we are now," he said

"So that's what they're (Canada Games Centre staff) trying to do. So they're caught between a rock and a hard spot too."

He went on to suggest that perhaps his expectation of recovering more money could be unrealistic.

"It's a real tough one, you know, because I can appreciate what the Canada Games Centre staff is trying to do, but I also don't want to see any businesses put into bankruptcy," he said.

While Oster said it would be quite a while before Better Bodies would have to close, the city's continuing purchase of equipment for the wellness centre and classes that mirror what they're offering are making it more difficult to operate his business.

Like Graham, Oster recalled the opening of the centre when he and other private fitness facility owners were assured they would not be in competition with the city.

The wellness centre, he was told, was aimed at parents who could get a workout while their children went to hockey or swimming or other events at the centre.

"I understand the need for a city multiplex," he said, adding though there is a "fine line" what the city should offer and when it moves into competition with private industry.

"We knew we were going to take a hit."

That hit, however, has far passed what Oster had planned to absorb as more and more equipment and classes have been added to the list of offerings from the city. Oster said his memberships have fallen about 30 per cent since the centre opened.

Like both Better Bodies and Peak Fitness, the city offers its workers a 50-per-cent corporate discount at the centre that's subsidized by taxpayers. While city officials have stated the discount is aimed at making their staff healthier, Oster questions if that is the concern why workers aren't told of the discount available at all three fitness centres.

While some members have told him they are now going to the Games Centre, he noted he can go up there any day of the week and see former Better Bodies members working out there.

At the very least, he suggested, the city should be willing to meet with him and discuss the matter.

"They won't even sit down," he said, adding he's raised the concern a number of times since the Canada Games Centre opened.

Optimum Health Fitness Support owner Lisa Vowk brought up similar concerns.

Her business, which offers personal training and operates out of Better Bodies, said today the city's move to offer body composition testing directly interferes with her business.

The same test that the city's offering for $20 has been listed at $65 through her business for a number of years.

The composition testing came to her attention when the husband of one of her employees, who plays hockey, received an e-mail about it. Another person she knows received the e-mail in the role as part of a corporate wellness committee.

Those are similar clients Optimum has been targeting for those services, she said.

While Vowk would not say what position she worked in, she noted in the three years she worked at the Games Centre, she learned the city wasn't supposed to move into direct competition with private business.

"There has to be a middle ground," she said, adding the wellness centre at the Canada Games Centre is supposed to be aimed at those who don't have specific needs that must be met.

In no way was the city to provide personal training services or programs that were available by other means, such as spinning classes.

While she and her employees have provided training up there on occasion, as personal trainers they are required to rent the space.

Vowk hopes she and others with similar concerns will be able to meet and work out a solution, but if not, she said she and others will likely present their concerns directly to the city as delegates at a city council meeting.

Art Manhire, the Games Centre's manager, defended the additional equipment and services this morning, arguing the city is continuing to serve a different demographic than a private fitness centre would see.

"We have an obligation to provide a service," he said, arguing the new equipment augments what's there.

He said the new bikes include four new stationary bikes along with the replacement recumbent bike and there aren't any spinning classes being offered there.

The wellness centre, he said, creates awareness about fitness and helps get people started, creating a "huge opportunity" in the private sector.

While he compared the arguments as similar to stating that the city plowing the roads is competing with the private sector, Vowk argued it was similar to the city paving driveways for a cheaper rate than the private sector could provide.

The job of the multiplex is to provide families with a variety of experiences while following the commitment to contribute to the health of the whole community. A private fitness club, he suggested, can follow up and provide more services to the community.

He pointed to the 300-member Weight Watchers group that uses the facility. Many of those members are new to fitness, and the centre plays a role in introducing them to a variety of fitness options before they perhaps on to more specific fitness programs at a private facility.