HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-06-25, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2015.
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NH Policy set to control donations, waiving rental fees
North Huron Township Council
has approved its donation and
waiving fees policy which will
provide a framework for council’s
discussion around giving of funds or
resources to individuals and groups.
During council’s June 15 meeting
the document was presented. Its
absence had seen many requests
deferred until it was crafted so
council could use it to determine
which groups or individuals they
could donate to or waive fees for and
which they shouldn’t.
Director of Recreation and
Facilities Pat Newson explained that
the policy represented a lot of work.
“We spent a lot of time on this,
working back and forth,” she said,
referring to work by herself,
Director of Finance Donna White
and Chief Administrative Officer
Sharon Chambers. “The challenge
was to create a policy that could
meet any potential situation, so that
is what we’ve tried to provide here.”
Newson explained that for
donations there is a procedure to
follow, but council can decide to
donate as much or as little as it likes.
“What we would like to see is that
anyone seeking a donation would
provide a submission prior to the
budget [for the year the donation
will be required] and then they can
be reviewed all at once. Council can
then decide what they want to
approve and have it in the budget.”
The annual deadline, according to
the policy that was adopted by
bylaw, is Nov. 1 for donation
requests.
Newson explained that the
waiving of rental fees for buildings,
however, would likely see some
changes.
“We already have a community fee
in the rates and fee bylaw,” she said.
“When a community group is
renting a facility, they are already
doing so at a discount. That would
be the donation council is making to
that event.”
Newson said that committees of
council looking to use facilities
would also be different, stating that
the terms of reference the group
would set with council would dictate
what they would need.
Deputy-Reeve James Campbell
asked how staff planned on getting
the groups to have their submissions
in the year prior to the funds being
necessary.
“As Donna, Sharon and I have
discussed, anyone who receives a
donation on a regular basis will
receive a letter telling them this is
the new requirement,” Newson said.
“If something comes in after the
fact, we will regretfully decline the
request and tell them to get their
request in before the next deadline.”
Councillor Trevor Seip asked what
kind of advertising would be done to
make sure that groups who don’t
normally make requests would be
aware of the change.
“We can try and do some extra
communication for that,” Chambers
said. “We can send letters to service
clubs and that will catch a lot of
local volunteers and organizations.
We’ll also try to talk to the [Business
Improvement Areas] and get the
word out as much as we can. We’ll
get it on the website and get the
word out, but it will be a learning
process, I’m sure.”
Reeve Neil Vincent said he felt
that a small discretionary budget
should be set up in case of
circumstances that could not have
been known a year in advance.
“If you’re going to make
exceptions, you might as well take
the deadline away,” Seip said. “If
you make exceptions, there are
always going to be people using the
term ‘special circumstances’ because
their lack of organization is our
emergency. I understand what you’re
saying but if you do that you might
as well do away with [the Nov. 1
deadline] all together. Everyone has
to be under the same blanket, the
same process.”
Vincent said he was thinking about
events such as fundraisers for
families stricken by misfortune, but
Seip pointed out the deadline was for
cash donations only.
“Waiving rental fees doesn’t have
a deadline,” he said.
Newson also re-iterated that there
already is a difference between a
community rate and that for private
renters when it comes to facilities.
Seip asked if the community at large
was aware of that.
“That information might help
people realize they are already
getting a break,” he said. “Yeah,
you’re going to have to pay, but we
have to run a business. Things have
to change when it comes to the
services... we have to cover our
costs.”
Campbell asked what those costs
would be.
“Do we know how much it costs to
have staff work for a weekend?” he
asked. “Do they get paid extra if the
events are on the long weekend?
These are costs we don’t count on,
but, as a taxpayer, I am paying for it.
These people need to know these
cost more than what we would
donate as far as the rental spaces go.
We’re expecting staff to be a part of
these events and we have to pay
them.”
The policy was approved by
bylaw. Council also dealt with
several requests that had been
deferred until the document was
ready including donations to local
schools for graduation.
Other requests that were deferred,
however, included items such as
rentals by Hullett Central Public
School’s requests for rental
reduction for its graduation which
will have occurred before council’s
next meeting. Several other requests
with specific dates on them will have
passed or occur almost immediately
after council’s next meeting,
however they were deferred as well.
By dad’s side
The Brussels station of the Huron East Fire Department, as it does every year, hosted
breakfast on Father’s Day at its station in the north end of the village. Besides all the bonding
between fathers and their sons and daughters happening at the breakfast, the firefighters
were able to fit in a little father/child bonding of their own. Here, firefighter Don Hastings and
his daughter Rachel help to prepare the meal for the hundreds in attendance. (Vicky Bremner
photo)
Continued from page 1
about $220 per hour for ice time. If
Huron East were to do that,
however, they might as well bring a
‘closed’ sign with them, because
nobody would rent the ice.
Chartrand then returned to an
issue he has spoken about before,
saying that perhaps Huron East can’t
justify two recreation centres.
Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler,
among other councillors, defended
the municipality’s two community
centres, saying that they’re just that,
centres of the community, meaning
far more than a place for kids to play
hockey.
MacLellan’s motion asked for a
service delivery and viability
analysis of the Public Works
Department, the Vanastra Day Care
and the hours of operation for
the municipality’s recreation
centres.
However, in light of the costing
report, many councillors felt that if a
consultant was going to be brought
in, the work should encompass
nearly all of the municipality’s
activities.
McGrath supported the hiring of a
consultant, but said that council
needed the will to follow through on
the consultant’s recommendations
for it to have any impact.
He said that the last thing council
needs to do right now is spend
$50,000 on a document that’s going
to be put on a shelf. If council would
be willing to implement
recommendations, he said, he would
support it.
Council supported the motion.
Staff will then report back with
further recommendations and bring
back cost estimates for the engaging
a consultant for the municipal-wide
report.
Council debates service review