Council Says Yes to One, and Trims Another Event’s Cash Request
Prince George, B.C. – Prince George City Council has voted unanimously to support the full request from one of two different organizations.
First, Council agreed to cover up to $500 dollars for the costs of the insurance liability and rental fees for the stage at Lheidli T’enneh Memorial Park for a special event on October 2nd.
(at right, image of the original Red Dress public art display)
The event calls for people to stand along Highway 16 and carry a red dress which is a symbol of the missing and murdered women along that highway. The visual display will be followed by an event at the park, where the dresses will be hung along the stage and in the trees. There will be a candle light vigil and prayers for the victims, their families and friends.
City Manager Kathleen Soltis says the approval of up to $500 dollars will more than cover the costs involved for the event and the dollars would come from the Council contingency fund.
It leaves the Contingency fund with $4 thousand dollars. Then thee was the request from the Northern Undergraduate Student Society. They wanted to know if the City could donate $3,000 to support their annual Back yard Bar-B-Q. This will be the 21st back yard bar-b-q at UNBC and offers an opportunity for new students to familiarize themselves with the campus and other students, and keeps UNBC competitive with other universities in the country which offer similar events .
But, fulfilling the full request would nearly deplete the contingency fund and there are still several months to go.
Councilor Brian Skakun moved the City agree to fund $1,500 dollars instead. It was a move unanimously supported by Council.
Mayor Lyn Hall says come budget time, there will have to be more discussion on the use of those contingency fund dollars.
Comments
The undergraduate society needs to canvass prominent businesses; for some support. Just a thought.
Excellent choice; I fully support it and hope that with these events the families may continue on their path of healing over the loss of their loved ones.
I thought the student body collects money included in tuition costs to fund such events
I am not sure why you would get so many thumbs down on that. I thought the same. It is an annual event for which they charge money to attend. They have two choices for self funding – collect more for tickets and/or put together more money from student fees.
As was explained at Council, this is apparently the first time they are hiring an events manager. The cost is $20,000. They want to make sure they get access to better entertainment talent.
In other words, they are increasing the “standard” of the event. Don’t know whether they thought where the money comes from when they made that decision.
I have a suggestion. Plan ahead much further in advance. Make the event a money maker from which they can start an event fund which builds over time. That way they would not have to raise funds on a short term notice.
They seemed like smart kids, but they may have started off going door to door when they were in grade school collecting money so that they could take a field trip to Holland. Thus started a life of begging.
Contingency:
“…a future event or circumstance that is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.”
I’m not sure what the hell a party at UNBC has to do with the City’s contingency fund?
I’m tapped out, can we please stop handing out money like it’s candy at Hallowe’en?
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