New Westminster staff will have to continue providing public art functions "on a wing and a prayer" after a staffing position was nixed by city council.
As part of the 2013 budget, staff had sought funding to hire
a public art coordinator and to create a public art reserve fund. Council approved allocating $130,000 into a public art reserve fund but opposed spending $39,000 to hire an auxiliary public art coordinator at this time.
"That gives me a bit of concern," said Coun. Jonathan Cote. "If it was a million-dollar public art program, I could see having a dedicated staff person."
Last November, New Westminster city council supported a public art policy, which included aims to help see the cretin of public art and provide standards for permanent, temporary development projects in New Westminster.
"The notion behind that is we have been attempting to do public art coordinator functions off the side of our desks with a bit of a wing and a prayer for the last year-and-a-half or so," said Dean Gibson, the city's director of parks, culture and recreation. "We have had some modest success in being able to bring forward programs."
Coun. Chuck Puchmayr said he'd rather hold off on funding the coordinator's position until the city receives casino revenues that are helping to build the new civic centre and until the office tower on top of Anvil Centre is sold.
"The structure itself is a work of public art," said Puchmayr, adding that the Wait for Me Daddy statue that's being planned is also a form of public art.
Though council opposed funding the position, it supported contributing to the fund.
"The figure in that policy spoke to about $2 per resident in the community being contributed into the reserve fund," Gibson said. "While that policy has been adopted, the actual action on the financial side would come about through the approval of the adoption of the budget."
