Recreation facilities in High River haven't changed a lot over the last several years.

A referendum on a $15 million pool expansion was voted down last October.

Mayor Craig Snodgrass says it's an issue that needs to be addressed.

"It's a very complicated and very long conversation that needs to be had with council but in the next year council has to choose a direction as which way we're going with this recreation conversation," he says.

He pointed to the facility in the south end of Calgary in the Seton neighbourhood which opened in 2019 as just an example of what recreation facilities cost.

"If you look at the Seton facility that's $193-million to build that place, for use to replace what we have, it would be smaller than that but we're still looking somewhere between $130 and $160-million dollars in replacement costs."

He admits that's an enormous amount for a town of 15,000 people.

Councillor Jenny Jones asked if the Town could start small and add to the building as time goes on, which the mayor says needs to be a part of the conversation.