Council considered a handful of Grant in Aid and Fee for Service requests for 2023 at the February 21 council meeting.
These include a proposed $55,000 Grant in Aid funding for the Tumbler Ridge Days Society. Their plan is to use the money to track down other grants to help get power out to the new fairgrounds, something that the District was planning on doing last year, but were unable to accomplish due to a variety of reasons, including staffing turnovers.
While the TR Days Society held their first events out at the fairgrounds this previous year, they found they were handcuffed in what they could do due to lack of power.
During the yard haunt, for instance, they had to set up generators to run the power, but the generators would occasionally stop or throw a breaker, which would lead to moments of panic for the people working at the yard haunt.
“What they’re doing out there is outstanding,” says Councillor Norbury, “and they need this money to bring power, so that our community can have these events.”
But, he says, getting power out to the fairgrounds is also currently on the budget under capital projects. The District has $150,000 earmarked for power for the fairgrounds and he’s wondering if it this portion needs to be approved as a Grant in Aid.
He’s worried that if both the District and TR Days are working on this one issue, there may be a duplication of effort.
Mayor Krakowka agrees. “The problem is, whose going to do the contacting? Whose going to do the sign off? In the end, the District owns that property.”
Councillor Gulick suggested council should approve the funding now, as council won’t be approving capital projects for a while yet. “The sooner they know they have this money, the sooner they can schedule someone to get out there, because we all know how “quickly” things can move in the north. Then they have it, and if it means we make an adjustment within the capital projects, at least they can get started.”
Mayor Krakowka points out that, while they can approve the funds tonight, it isn’t official until the budget is approved. “If this motion passes, no funds will be paid out until all the budget is approved,” he says. “If we have to cut stuff back, this could still be cut by the time the budget is approved. We aren’t voting to cut them a cheque tonight.”
Councillor Gulick says her concern is that last year, the District was supposed to take care of it, but there is still no power on-site. “We’ve trusted them to develop the fairgrounds so far, and they’ve proven they’re very good at what they do, and that they get things done. They’ve put on some pretty great events already. We don’t know what our staffing is going to look like as we move forward; if it comes down between them doing it or us doing it, I’d like to empower them to do it, because they’ve proven they can be successful.”
Councillor Norbury says he understands Councillor Gulick’s frustration. However, his concern is the TR Days’ plans are grant dependant. “I’ve been a part of some large projects where the grants don’t come through and nothing happens,” he says. “I’d be more in favour of asking TR Days to handle the whole project and we just give them the whole pot of money.”
Mayor Krakowka says he is not in favour of giving TR Days this Grant in Aid money because staff has already done some work on the project, so he’d prefer to keep it in the capital project.
Councillor Hofman says as a matter of principle, he would like to see the District take responsibility for what is ultimately their responsibility. “I don’t get the sense that the members of TR Days are general contractors. I would rather have them plan events and do the things they like to do as volunteers, rather than manage this. If we have the staff for this and just need to get our house in order, I’d prefer we don’t try and pass the buck to volunteer organizations. Volunteer burnout is a thing. Let’s keep the stressful things out of their lives and let them do the things they love to do for the town.”
Ultimately, council voted against the motion, with the intent to do the project in-house.
Council also did not move forward with a Fee for Service request for the Chamber of Commerce, choosing instead to defer their decision until after meeting with the Chamber.
“I don’t get a sense of what they really do,” says Councillor Hofman, who made the motion to defer.
The Chamber was asking for a Fee for Service equal to last year’s Business Licence Fees, or $22,385. Mayor Krakowka says there was a policy put in place a number of years ago where the Chamber would get a Fee for Service up to the amount of business licence fees they collected, though he says he’s not sure if that is still in place.
The Chamber has been invited to send a delegation to appear before Council. They will be at the March 6 Council Meeting.
Indeed, the only successful petition to council was the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #286, who asked for a waiver for green fees and carts for 50+ participants for the Legion’s Golf Tournament, which will take place Saturday, July 29. “The purpose of the event is to raise funds for charitable donations within the Tumbler Ridge Community and foster relationships with other Legions in the Peace River zone area,” writes the legion in their application.
This is in addition to the District’s previous Fee for Service commitments to the Forever Young Society and the Mountain Bike Society, in addition to its support of the Museum and the Geopark. All together, the District has $559,870 in Grant and Aid and Fee for Service on the books for 2023.
The District has until May 15 to approve the budget. District budget talks are continuing through the month of March and possibly into April.
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
