qathet Regional District’s (qRD) finance committee is recommending amendments to the contribution agreement with qathet Museum and Archives Society to underwrite a capital purchase.
At the September 4 finance committee meeting, directors were presented with a five-part recommendation pertaining to the society: governing capital purchases; payment of the contribution agreement; timing of financial statements; and a change to the contribution agreement to reflect the museum’s change in name to qathet.
A staff report outlined that on April 3, museum representatives appeared before the finance committee with an update on a compressed shelving unit project, valued at $175,000. Museum president George Wall, at the April 3 meeting, said the museum had an excess of funding built up because they were not able to fill a couple of positions at the museum, and the museum board, at the time, thought the best use of that funding was to update the museum’s shelving and storage facilities.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne made a motion to deny the museum’s request, but the motion was not seconded. Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick then made a motion to amend the bylaw and agreement.
Gisborne said prior to 2018, the museum was funded through grants-in-aid, but in 2018, a service was established to guarantee that funding going forward. He said one of the concerns was capital expenditures. He said he was in support of the $175,000 expenditure, but what was before the committee was to change the service establishment bylaw. He said it restricts the way the funding is expended.
“If we change the service establishment bylaw, we are opening the door to future capital projects that we may not know about because we don’t have anyone from our board who sits on the museum board,” said Gisborne. “I’m very happy to keep the bylaw the way it is and I believe capital projects should be a one-off that comes to the board.
“$175,000 is not a small thing. It’s worthwhile, and I’m happy to support it, but I’m not in support of changing the service establishment bylaw to include capital projects.”
Electoral Area E director and committee chair Andrew Fall said he was a member of the Lasqueti Island community archives and he appreciated staff’s initiative to bring the matter of funding the shelving forward. He said the amendment would provide the museum more flexibility in how they carry out its important activities.
The committee carried a motion that the committee recommend to the board that the board direct staff to amend clause five of the heritage conservation service establishment bylaw to read: Funding raised for the purpose of carrying out activities for the service established under section one shall be for operations and capital projects that directly relate to the delivery of museum and archives services. Funding raised cannot be used for capital improvements or renovations of any of the museum and archives premises.
The committee then voted to recommend to the board that the board direct staff to amend the contribution agreement with the museum to insert the following clause: The regional district may share in the cost of approved capital expenditures related to delivery of museum and archives services, but will not be required to contribute to capital improvements or renovations to any of the museum’s premises, and that the committee recommend to the board that the board approve that the museum allocate up to $175,000 of the cumulative 2022 and 2023 prior years’ surplus toward the purchase and installation of the shelving system. The motion carried.
The committee then carried recommendations that the board pay two installments of the annual museum contribution, that the museum will provide, before June 30 each year, its annual financial statements, and that the contribution agreement be updated to reflect the name change to qathet Museum and Archives Society.
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