New Westminster city council has approved a financial request from the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame to help with the costs of its annual induction banquet.
The hall of fame applied for a $2,951 grant to offset the rental fee for its induction banquet, which will be held at Anvil Centre in November. Staff sought council’s direction for the request, which was received outside of the city’s 2015 community grant process.
Applications for community grants were due by Dec. 1, 2014, after which time they were considered by a community grant committee and considered by council. Earlier this year, council approved 17 of 26 grant applications totalling $47,565.
Council approved the request at its June 15 meeting, but expressed concerns about considering grant requests outside the regular process.
According to a staff report, the annual induction banquet is considered to be the hall of fame’s big fundraiser and has expenses of $3,531. Without the grant, the group informed the city it would have to locate the event at a more cost-effective location.
Earlier this year, the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame presented the city with an instalment of the $190,000 it’s providing toward the design and fit-out of its space in Anvil Centre. The hall of fame, which was previously located in Centennial Community Centre, is now located in Anvil Centre near the New Westminster Museum.
Coun. Patrick Johnstone believes organizations mush have an “exceptional reason” for seeking funds outside the city’s regular grants process. While that’s true in this case, he said there should be a clear process that’s followed when groups seek grants outside the process.
“We put these people in a new building,” he said. “It’s a big year for the hall of fame.”
Coun. Mary Trentadue said she could support the request, but would like to see a different process for handling late grant requests. She said late requests for funding aren’t fair to people who apply by the deadline.
Mayor Jonathan Cote pointed out that there were many groups that didn’t get grants as part of the original process. Having said that, he said there are times when one-off requests will need to be considered for various reasons.
