Olds town council passed a resolution at its Jan. 24 meeting to create a letter of support policy that outlines criteria organizations must follow in order for the town to support various requests.
According to Mayor Judy Dahl, the town receives about two-dozen requests every year from various organizations asking the town for support for various endeavours.
“Council talked for a long time with regards to a process to have in place for letters of support. We thought it would be very businesslike … to have a policy in place, something more descriptive for administration to use as a tool, rather than taking every single one of these to a council meeting,” Dahl said.
Prior to this, either the chief administrative officer or town council would decide on an organization's request based on its own merits. This is the first time the town has formalized a letters policy in writing.
The policy outlines three main ways that the town would support a request: if an application is being made for a provincial or federal grant program; the request is consistent with the Town of Olds' Strategic Plan; and “the project does not contradict, compromise or duplicate the efforts of programs and services of the Town or other organizations.”
The policy also outlines criteria such as a project description, benefit to the organization and community and a description of the organization. It also outlines how organizations must proceed if they are requesting support for a funding application. In that case, the town's CAO must sign the approval. If the support doesn't include a financial component, but is general in nature, the mayor's signature is required on the letter of support.
Prior to the policy coming forward, Dahl said the town would receive a request for support from an organization only to find out later that a board the town is affiliated with had a similar project or purpose, and the town wants to eliminate those instances.
