Municipal support for big local events considered
Some events funded by the community grant program will no longer meet new criteria, so the next step is to consider how they could be funded.
Council asked staff for a report with recommendations at the May 1 meeting.
With the exception of the three fall fairs, the Community Grants will no longer provide the support for what had been called “significant community undertakings.”
Deputy Mayor Dane Nielsen initiated a discussion about what a new approach would look like.
“My fear is where this can lead in an expansion to the cost,” he said. He raised “the politically sensitive nature of saying which event is significant enough to become part a program.”
If a new program is switched over for consideration to be supported by a possible program for continuing events, there would be no guarantee that they would be funded.
The Deputy Mayor clarified that there would not necessarily be a new funding program for the events.
That would wait on staff suggestions and council decision.
RURAL LENS ON PROGRAMMING
Coun. Nadia Dubyk said the report was an opportunity to step back and look at programming “with fresh eyes”. She added that the need to be fiscally responsible never goes away.
Coun. Dubyk said the municipality needs to be a lot more specific about what it means by “programming”.
“We’re being laser clear about the intent of the grant program…. seed money for an initiative or an expansion of an existing (one).”
Now it’s time to look at other significant events, and more broadly at programming, she said.
She asked Michele Harris, director of community development, how the municipality thinks about programming.
“That’s a big question,” Ms Harris replied, adding that she doesn’t recall a conversation about it around the council table.
She described the present situation as one where the municipality provides facilities, and relies on the community to make things happen.
It would be up to council to decide what its priorities are for programs and funds, Ms Harris said, after receiving the report.
MUNICIPAL FUNDING
The Deputy Mayor said that while community events are what makes a place home, his opinion is that it should not be up to the municipality to be the significant source of funding.
This year’s Financial Assistance Program still kept the previous category of municipally significant events.
When he hears people say that if the municipality doesn’t fund an event then it won’t happen, that makes him think, he said. His opinion is that community and businesses should support events, and the municipality should not be the make-or-break.
ONGOING EVENTS
Director Michele Harris said that the report will look at ongoing core events “that contribute to the cultural and community fabric that we have in Grey Highlands”.
Staff will try to come back with a recommendation so council could deliberate on whether those should become core initiatives that are supported by the municipality.
Those approved events then could be listed with an amount, for consideration during the budget.
The community grant program had become a catch-all, which led to challenges to evaluating requests, she said.
Coun. Tom Allwood commented that there are some events that don’t really fall into a clear category.
M.T. Fernandes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Flesherton Advance
