Six months into being a District of 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 council reporter has left me intrigued by what will happen next. And this week was no different as council approved a staff recommendation fund more than $5,000 in ad revenue to keep the West Coast Railway Heritage Park ads at the Adventure Centre.
Wait, I tell myself, isn't this the same council who, six months ago, turned down almost a dozen needy and deserving organizations' request for similar grants?
Over 20 local organizations applied for a total of $210,532.33 during budget deliberations. Only four organizations were awarded money - the Hospice Society ($5000), the Food Bank ($10,000), the Women's Centre ($10,000) and the Arts Council ($15,000) -having been deemed "essential needs."
Council made it clear in their motion to support these -and reject the rest - that these would be the only community enhancement grants in 2010.
Council members felt it unfair to arbitrarily determine which organizations warranted funding and which ones didn't, so they asked staff to develop criteria for approval.
Coun. Corrine Lonsdale also said it wasn't fair to approve grant requests throughout the year. All community funding grant requests should be presented at the same time, she said.
So where were those criteria when it came to allotting $5,180 in community enhancement grants out of the economic development "slush fund"?
Coun. Paul Lalli, whose initial reaction was a definite no-go, requested removing the term "community enhancement grant" because it was unfair to fund such applications outside the grant in aid review process.
Does that change in wording make it fair?
Gardner said the funding was justified because the money was going out of one pocket (the district's) and into the other (the 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 Sustainability Corporation's). Yet SSC chair, Coun. Rob Kirkham, said without the Railway Park's advertisement (subsidized by the district), the SSC would be losing money.
Huh?
Also, several organizations that could be considered economic drivers were not awarded money this year. 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料 Girls Rock asked for $1,500 to host an empowering rock climbing camp for girls in the corridor (with food and supplies are purchased from local businesses), Black Tusk Caledonia Society asked for $200 to pay the beer garden fee for the BC Legion Highland gathering, which attracts competitors, supporters and spectators.
But apparently that's not enough.
"If the precedence that's been set is that we'll provide funding to the extent of $5,000 for a non-profit organization that invests $7 million dollars in the community, I'm comfortable with that," said Gardner, somewhat glibly.
Sure, they're no West Coast Railway Heritage Park - which has already received $8 million from CN Rail, the province, the federal government and private donors, and attracts 80,000 visitors per year - but they are economic drivers in 老澳门六合彩开奖记录资料, and every little bit counts, right?
I'm not saying this fabulous facility doesn't deserve to be recognized, but there's a reason they wanted to establish this process - maybe they should stick by it.
Either that, or be prepared for all the organizations that didn't get funding in 2010 to make their case much more validly next year.
