The City of Timmins is upping its request to gain funding for various projects surrounding Hollinger Park and the Stars and Thunder festival.
This week, their application to the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) was amended to include the following:
- Hollinger Grandstand modernization - $499,500
- Permanent electrical work - $180,400
- Park soil remediation - $542,000
- LAN extension - $10,000
The total value is now $1,231,900. If successful, NOHFC will fund 30 per cent
Councillor Rick Dubeau wasn't pleased to see the amended application up for a vote.
"This is new to us, I don't think we should be voting on this tonight. This is totally new information. We had our application put forward, we were hoping to get 50 per cent of the monies. This isn't something that we 'have to do' now, and as I pointed out earlier, with this application the municipality would have to pay 70 per cent of the funding for this. So its $1.23 million, and we'd have to pay $867,000 of that. I think this is something we should definitely take another look at," he said.
Dubeau then asked Mayor Steve Black to confirm that the next NOHFC committee meeting is June.
"This is an amendment to our last application, in order for it to make it to the June meeting, they wanted the revised application by the end of this month, with a supporting resolution from council," said Black.
Black said that it would be a 'bonus' to recover 30 per cent of the costs for these items.
The LAN (local are network) extension will allow for the festival to have wireless Internet capabilities.
It was explained that the 'permanent electrical work' will be done at Hollinger Park, as well as Gillies Lake. It will be required for additional lighting, equipment, and ATMs for this summer's 8-day $4.1 million and counting fireworks and music festival.
"When the festival committee was looking at this, it looked at two options. One of bringing in a whole pile of generators to power everything, and then what the cost would be to install the infrastructure. It was thought that given the proximity of those two figures, that it would be best to install the permanent infrastructure so that if the city ever did events at either location, smaller or what of nature, of any type that required the electrical power that we wouldn't need to bring in generators over and over again, and could set it up for the future," said Black.
Dubeau replied that this is clearly another item to add to the growing festival budget.
"So let's be clear, permanent electrical work is $180,000, we're saving 30 per cent, so we're saving $54,000. This is costing us $136,000 dollars, that goes on the Stars and Thunder budget. If we have to do it, we have to do it, but lets be clear that's where its going, that's the only reason we're doing this," he said.
City of Timmins Environmental Coordinator Scott Tam explains the soil remediation process for Hollinger Park. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday Regarding to the soil remediation at Hollinger Park, Environmental Compliance Coordinator Scott Tam explained to Dubeau what exactly will take place with the $542,000.
Tam said there will be at least half a metre of material put on top everywhere in the park. He said there will also be equipment and hauling costs included. Dubeau wanted to know when the work will be completed.
"In a perfect world, we can do it pretty quick just because its a typical infill project. With trying to secure materials and whatnot, it will take a little bit of time, and then basically advising stakeholders that work is going on, and just co-ordinating traffic, and making sure everything gets done in a safe manner," said Tam.
Tam then added that he hoped the project would get underway 'after the concert'.
Dubeau also requested that the Hollinger Grandstand item be removed from the application. Councillors Noella Rinaldo and Pat Bamford reiterated that there is overwhelming public support for refurbishing the historic wooden structure at Fred Salvador Field.
"We may or may not get this money, but I think we'd better make all the applications we can in the next couple of years, because infrastructure money will start drying up soon I think," said Councillor Pat Bamford, who didn't see the amended application as a big deal, as the majority of funds for these projects are already in the still yet to be approved 2017 City of Timmins operating budget.
Dubeau requested an amendment to the application which would see the Hollinger Grandstand item removed. It was defeated 7-2 with only Dubeau and Joe Campbell voting in favor. The application was then voted on in its entirety, with a similar 7-2 vote in favor, and only Dubeau and Campbell were opposed.
After the meeting Black told TimminsToday that some items on the application could be nitpicked.
"NOHFC has the ability to approve any of the items listed, or any amounts of the funding listed in the application. So we've applied for just over $1.2 million dollars worth of work to be done in total between the grandstands, the soils, the electrical work, and the LAN network. They could come back and tell us 'we're willing to give you' 30 percent funding on $800,000, or 30 percent on $500,000, and then the city would have to come back and look back at what they approved, and what they didn't approve, and whether it goes forward with any of the projects or not," said Black.
