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Town of Bonnyville hears from local organizations

Town of Bonnyville council heard from a few local businesses and organizations that made financial requests to be considered during budget deliberations
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BONNYVILLE – Town of Bonnyville now council has a better picture of how COVID-19 impacted community organizations.

During the Sept. 22 meeting, the municipality heard how the coronavirus pandemic affected local groups when the organizations made financial requests to be considered during budget deliberations.

Representatives from the Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre, Bonnyville Municipal Library, Bonnyville and District SPCA, Bonnyville Native Friendship Centre, and the Bonnyville Historical Society outlined the past year and what their asks are from the town.

Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre

The provincially mandated lockdown saw the Bonnyville Centennial Centre closing its doors for three months.

According to manager Todd Muir, the facility was able to stay within its budget by making some ‘hard decisions’ when it came to several aspects, including staffing.

“With the staffing, we took this very seriously and tried to make the best decision for the organization going forward in the short and long-term,” he stated. “We were able to cut $563,000 in personnel costs in our budget and that was done… (because) we downsized a quarter of our full-time positions and a couple of these were due to attrition, people left a bit naturally, before COVID-19, and we didn’t replace their positions. We have had to lay a few off and that’s a quarter of the full-time and with not a lot of activity going on, half the part-time are still temporarily laid off.”

Muir said the request of $100,000 from the town is the same that's been asked for in the past, which is built into the capital budget for the next three years.

The only project on the books for the 2021 budget at the C2 is renovating the Agriplex into a recreation hall. Muir said a request will be coming from the board to both the Town and MD of Bonnyville, requesting $48,000 from both the operating reserves, but the project won’t be going ahead until Bonnyville Centralized High School (BCHS) is out of the facility.

“Once BCHS leaves, turning that Agriplex into a recreation hall, that we’re already part way done but then we pulled in BCHS and they renovated it and all but all the infrastructure is still there to turn it into a hall,” he detailed.

While the Centennial Centre is seeing deficits in areas such as gym memberships, events, and food and beverages, Muir believes the deficits will be reduced as the province continues to open up.

“As soon as restrictions are lifted, things pick back up, and we start heading back up there easier, (gym) memberships deficits will go away and hopefully it will be back in the plus where it normally is.”

Library goes virtual

The local library branch adapted ‘quickly and creatively’ to provide programs online.

“When COVID-19 hit, we did creatively and quickly adapt to maintain our family literacy programs online, adult programs, and book club online,” detailed library manager Leah Woodford. “We assisted residents with online E-resources use and fielded calls to support them in a multitude of different kinds of E-Services.”

The library has requested the town provide around $137,900 in funding.

Woodford noted the biggest change for operating expenses was a $10,000 increase to $41,905 for the janitorial services in order to bring the library up to Occupational Health and Safety compliance.

There’s been a slight decrease to the library’s income due to a dip in provincial funds based on Bonnyville’s population, free memberships carrying forward to 2021, and the potential impact of COVID-19 carrying over to next year.

Sponsorship for the homeless shelter in town

The Bonnyville Friendship Centre’s ask was for $20,000 that would go towards operating the men’s homeless shelter.

Community initiatives coordinator Janet Gobert said the shelter was quickly filling up and was expected to be at capacity in a short amount of time.

“We do have a six month permit in order to operate and I will be asking for an extension at a later day,” Gobert noted. “I’m hoping to make it long-term and I’m seeking additional funding from other sources.”

“We don’t want to have to just close our doors at the end of February,” said Lauri Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Bonnyville Friendship Centre. “We’d like to keep it open for a few months, so we’re asking for the town’s support in helping fund at least for a month or two or three, whatever you can do to keep the shelter going for at least a few months though I’m hoping to get more funding.”

The centre’s long-term plans include a bigger house where it can house more than the current number of eight beds.

The Bonnyville Friendship Centre’s food bank is being well taken care of at the moment thanks to donations from the community, local businesses, and other organizations. But, there could be a significant increase in need in the coming months.

“We feel that a lot of people were able to access the Canada Emergency Response Benefits (CERB),” stated Fitzpatrick. “But, as soon as those are gone, we’ve already noticed a big pick up. We’ve already seen a big increase (in demand.)”

Fundraising put on hold for SPCA

The $50,000 request from the Bonnyville SPCA is to help the organization stay afloat while fundraising efforts have been put on hold due to the pandemic.

“The funding has enabled SPCA services to continue providing this vital service to our community and has helped to lessen the stress of volunteer fundraisers,” explained Bonnyville SPCA president Thompson.

According to Bonnyville SPCA treasurer Carolyn Kellett, the shelter qualified for a federal grant that covers 75 per cent of the worker’s salary.

“As long as that program holds out, we’re pretty good,” she noted.

Thompson said they’re looking into other grants they may qualify for in order to help them stay a float. An issue the board is looking into right now is increasing capacity.

“We’ve only got space for 30 cats and nine dogs,” Thompson noted. “We’re maxed out all the time and there’s a waiting list.”

From April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020, the Bonnyville SPCA took in 157 cats and 94 dogs. Just over 110 animals were adopted out while 64 were returned to their owners in that time.

Shorter season for the museum

There weren't as many people taking a trip down memory lane at the Bonnyville museum this summer.

President Morris Mickalyk noted a main factor was due to classes being cancelled back in March.

“We managed to pull through the summer here. We lost a lot of attendance from school students that come each year, which is an important thing that we want to keep for next year.”

The organization's $30,000 ask will go towards operating the museum for the coming season and Mickalyk said they hope to add a full-time manager in order to keep the museum open year-round.

Robynne Henry, Bonnyville Nouvelle

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