SUNDRE – The municipal council has agreed to approve a volunteer service group’s fee waiver request for the rental of the Sundre Community Centre.
The move came by way of motion on May 13 during a regular council meeting following a brief discussion.
Introducing the item, Chris Albert, director of corporate services and acting chief administrative officer for the meeting, said the Sundre Seniors Protected and Respected Under Community Engagement (S.P.R.U.C.E.) group plans to host a seniors fair on June 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and sought a waiver for the rental cost of both the community centre and the building’s boardroom.
The seniors fair will be open to the public with a focus on seniors as the event is being organized in conjunction with Seniors’ Week, which this year takes place June 3-9.
“Historically, in-kind funding applications are submitted to the grants to organizations program,” said Albert, going on to add that the date for the fair did not align with the Sept. 30 deadline for the second intake of applications for that program.
Including GST, the rental cost waiver would represent $277.77 with the amount covered by council’s discretionary contributions to local organizations account should the request be approved, he said.
Administration did not recommend a particular course of action with the decision to either approve or deny the request ultimately left up to council’s discretion.
Coun. Connie Anderson moved to approve the waiver.
“It’s a great idea that we do this for our seniors in our community,” said Anderson, noting the town’s higher-than-average population of seniors.
Coun. Chris Vardas spoke in favour of that motion.
“If we’re going to proclaim seniors week, I think it’s another step for the council to show that they’re actually supporting this, and not just words,” said Vardas.
But Coun. Jaime Marr expressed opposition that stemmed more from a procedural perspective than the event itself.
“We typically see these requests come to us early in the year during our first intake of the grants,” said Marr, referring to the committee of council that considers applications for the grants to organizations program.
“It’s unfortunate that this group wasn’t able to submit; I think it would’ve been a great submission,” she said. “I’m conflicted, but there was ample opportunity for this committee to seek the funds through the proper ways.”
Offering his two cents and outlining his reasons for supporting the motion, mayor Richard Warnock said, “This is an event that’s being brought forward by Healthy Aging Alberta, and they didn’t have the opportunity to come for our grant intake because this wasn’t an event at that time.”
Additionally, Warnock said the local community group is rebuilding momentum.
“S.P.R.U.C.E. is just getting back in gear with a proper board and they’ve got a society now, and I do believe that they are doing things for our seniors,” he said.
The motion carried with Marr and Coun. Todd Dalke opposed.
