North Battleford’s Department of Leisure Services intends to try again to get a grant from the federal government for upgrades at a number of facilities.
Director of Leisure Services Bill Samborski outlined the plans to seek funding from the federal government for the Civic Centre and other upgrades under the Canada 150 program at Monday’s council meeting.
Canada 150 is the federal government’s matching-grant program in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017.
It was introduced in 2015 and supports projects up to a maximum of $500,000.00 in matched funding, with strong preference given to meaningful upgrades to existing cultural and community facilities that would provide long-term benefit to the community.
Arena rehabilitation was identified as one qualifying component and the City applied for funding to support upgrades to the Civic Centre.
But Samborski noted the city was not successful in getting the grant. What left a sour taste, he admitted at council, was the City was never able to get a satisfactory answer as to why they were turned down.
Samborski said after numerous attempts to determine why the City was declined were made, the City received no answer other than "the criteria is on the website." He noted some other communities got decent feedback for why they were turned down, but others got similar answers.
However, a couple of weeks ago, the city learned of a new intake of applications. With the 2016 federal budget, an additional $150 million has been provided over two years to Canada's Regional Development Agencies for community funding.
The criteria for this intake is somewhat different than last time as it favours projects that renovate, expand and improve existing community infrastructure, with a focus on recreational facilities, projects that advance a clean growth economy and projects with a positive impact on indigenous communities, according to Samborski.
The intention from Leisure Services would be to seek funding for capital projects identified for the 2017 and 2018 budget years in North Battleford.
The vast majority are projects under the Honeywell energy-efficiency initiative aimed at reducing costs through energy conservation.
The projects being contemplated include numerous lighting, boiler and other upgrades at several facilities, including the Civic Centre, Don Ross Centre, Allen Sapp Gallery, the Battlefords Co-op Aquatic Centre, Northland Power Curling Centre, NationWEST Field House and the library.
The grand total, based on Honeywell estimates, comes to $2,387,000. If successful, the federal government contribution would be $500,000.
The legacy of the funding, as Samborski sees it, would be better quality products, better ice control, maintaining user fees and also increasing the usability and lifespan of the buildings.
Council has voted unanimously to go ahead with the grant application, which must be in by June 22.
