The City of Cold Lake is considering their options when it comes to how they review funding requests in the future.
During their council meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 8, Coun. Chris Vining brought up how the city assesses groups asking for financial support.
“Sometimes I feel more like Dragon’s Den than council with some of the proposals that come forward to us,” he stressed.
The idea to create a committee outside of council that would review these requests came from discussions with other municipalities.
In some areas, they have a committee that reviews funding proposals and makes a list for the municipality to review.
“That list essentially would come back to council and let us know where they’ve laid out the money that quarter and those were the groups that had the money given to them. It becomes a report to council,” Vining explained. “In some cases, I know in St. Albert, that report comes and is either accepted in full or rejected in full. If it’s rejected, it has to go back to the committee and then they have to redo it. Then it comes back again."
He added, “One of the big things that (the municipalities) talked about, is it takes out some of the lobbying by certain members of council regarding certain pet projects or causes for things that might come before council."
Currently, organizations or individuals seeking funding can either put in a request by filling out a form, or make a presentation to council.
Vining said these presentations and proposals take up time, and "this might be a good time for us to push this off and let another group work on it."
Although he didn't have a format or budget in mind for the committee, he wanted the topic to come to council for discussion.
"The motion is to just direct administration to pull together some ideas to put a framework together. It could be as big as everything… you could pull all of that money into one group, or you could give it very specific guidelines, or maybe you just give that group basically our budget that we’ve used in the past."
Coun. Jurgen Grau agreed with Vining that creating a committee would allow the city to continue to support local groups while "creating consistence... and a bit more structure."
“I think there is some merit to look at it. I would be careful about taking baby steps so we don’t create something we don’t want,” stated Coun. Bob Buckle.
The topic won't be before council for at least another month while administration pulls together some framework.
They will discuss what conditions the committee will work under and the frequency of their meetings at a later date.
“It has to be built for Cold Lake, and meet whatever you need as a council,” CAO Kevin Nagoya stressed.
While it will take some time to educate the public about a new method of reviewing these requests, Vining said once they get the hang of it, it could work.
Grau noted, “When people understand exactly what their requirements are, I think they will get used to it… I think I would feel more comfortable about it than the way we go about it now."
