City of Powell River Council will explore the best manner of supporting a heritage application being proposed by the Townsite Heritage Society (THS).
At the August 27 finance committee meeting, councillors examined the prospect of funding the application, following a request from the society at a previous committee of the whole meeting.
At the meeting on August 18, chief financial officer Adam Langenmaier said THS made a request for funding for an augmented, reality-based application intended to enhance tourism options in the Townsite area. Langenmaier said he had identified two sources of potential funds for the project. One is the innovation reserve, which currently has $36,000, or the general council grants, which has $25,000 of funding.
Langenmaier said his recommendation is that the innovation reserve be used if council wished to proceed in meeting the request. He said there were two options. One is to authorize $10,000, which is what the society originally requested, and the other was to authorize $25,000, which is the amount required to fully fund the first phases of the project.
“The heritage society has received information about possible funders,” said Langenmaier. He asked THS president Ann Nelson, who was in council chambers, to explain changes encountered in terms of seeking funders other than the city.
Nelson said between the time the society did its initial research for the presentation made to council on August 18, and the finance committee meeting, some funding opportunities identified at that time have become suspended.
“After our presentation, I went back to those sources to try and create a timeline for applications and discovered that all of the BC Arts Council funding for innovative projects has been suspended until next year,” said Nelson. “That’s new from when I started doing my research in May. That was a big piece of the funding.
“There’s no reason to expect they won’t reinstate that but it’s nothing we can count on for the next year.”
Mayor Dave Formosa said this could be done next year and asked if that was the case, would there still be the same opportunities for the heritage app.
Nelson said this is going to be a multi-phased project. She said to get it launched right now, the society is going to require a larger kickstart than hoped.
Formosa said the project has to do with Townsite, but also Tla’amin Nation. He asked what the chances were for the project to apply to Powell River Community Forest for the balance. He said potentially, the city could allocate $10,000 and ask for the rest from the community forest.
“We know they don’t like to grant money for wages or rents, but this is going to give us an app, a product, a walking piece of equipment,” said Formosa. “The money wouldn’t be going to overhead. The city could maybe do a matched grant with the community forest. Maybe there would be an appetite there and we could get it off to them to match us.”
Nelson said it had not occurred to the society to approach the community forest for this kind of program because the appetite has been for creating tangible capital assets for the community.
“It’s tangible in the sense that it’s not operating but it’s not tangible in the same sense that capital improvements are,” said Nelson. “Quite honestly, we have another need through Townsite Heritage Society for the restoration of Henderson House, where a lot of the work our renovation contractor did between 2008 and 2012 has deteriorated because of the poor quality of wood that is available. We’re having to redo it.”
She said she knows the society will need to go to the community forest for assistance for the Henderson House project.
“It hadn’t occurred to me to go to community forest for assistance with a cutting-edge, digital innovative project,” said Nelson. “If this is one of the recommendations you are making, we’ll certainly take it into account. I’m open to suggestions.”
Formosa said he was sure he could get an answer from the community forest quickly.
“An app today is tangible,” said Formosa. “That’s the way the world is going.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she was in favour of using the city’s current reserve funds for the project. She said because some of the information is somewhat reliant on the community’s elders, any delays can compromise the project.
Councillor CaroleAnn Leishman recommended the city fund the $25,000 to give the society the ability to go forward.
Councillor Jim Palm said Nelson had sold council on the concept during her first presentation, but since the city only has $36,000 in the innovation account, spending $25,000 on the heritage app would leave a small amount in the reserve fund.
“I concur with the mayor’s comments that $10,000 will get you started, and in the meantime, application is made to the community forest to see where that goes, and if it’s not successful, you might want to come back and approach us again,” said Palm. “I’m having a hard time saying yes to $25,000 right now.”
Formosa said he could contact the community forest and see what its appetite is. He asked if council wanted him to make a call to see if there was any desire to fund the app.
“I want to see the project happen and I don’t mind making a call and feeling it out,” said Formosa. “I’d like to see if we can get some money out of them.”
Finance committee chair and councillor George Doubt said he was going to suggest the matter be referred to the September 3 council meeting, which would give the mayor time to talk to the community forest.
“At that time council can have a debate about which one of the two options to choose,” said Doubt.
Council gave unanimous consent to debate the matter at the September 3 council meeting.
