The City of North Battlefords got their first look at the proposed Greater Battlefords Marketing Alliance Jan. 14, with the Town of Battleford seeing the plans for the entity the following week at town council.
The proposed GBMA would replace Battlefords Tourism and radically revamp the structure. The GBMA's board of directors would have between five and nine members, with at least two coming from municipalities and cities (other communities in the surrounding area may also invest in the GBMA), a minimum of two coming from the Battlefords Hotels Association, a maximum of one from nongovernmental organizations, a minimum of two board members coming from tourism investors and between zero and two investors.
Structurally, the GBMA will organize its fundraising and spending around three committees. The convention and event community will be made up of the Battlefords Hotel Association, the City of the North Battleford and other partners. The Tourism Attractions and Assets Committee will be made up investors in tourism and other fields. Finally, the business opportunity marketing community will be made up of the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce, the City of North Battleford Business Development and the Council of Battlefords Realtors.
The GBMA's funding model is best understood when compared with the funding model of Battlefords Tourism. Under the current system, North Battleford provides $71,000, Battleford provides $30,328 and members provide $10,000.
The GBMA, however, will have three fundraising pools, with the City and Town contributing different amounts to each.
For the tourism attractions/assets marketing and administrating pool, the City and Town will contribute about 84 per cent of the total funding, with the remaining amount coming from RMs (who will contribute 1.4 per cent), members and BTC (who each contribute 7.5 per cent). The pool's yearly funding will total $132,833.
The City and Town will contribute all of the $17,953 set aside for business opportunity marketing, with the city contributing about 77 per cent of the total.
Finally, two-thirds of the $75,000 set aside for convention and event marketing will be paid for by the Battlefords Hotels Association, with the City and Town contributing the other third.
When the numbers are added up, the two municipalities contribute 68.2 per cent of the total funding (with the funding split 71-29 between the City and Town), Battlefords hotels contribute 22.1 per cent, RMs contribute 0.8 per cent, and BTC and membership each contribute 4.4 per cent. The change represents a dramatic increase in the City and Town's leverage, something Director of Business Development Denis Lavertu took care to emphasize at the North Battleford council meeting.
At North Battleford City Council, the idea was received positively, and passed without much discussion. Ryan Bater excused himself from the discussion because of his pecuniary interest in the issue.
At town council the following week, there was some resistance to the model itself, and specifically its 70-30 split. Councillor David George was concerned with the number, which is not related to population (a split by population is closer to 80-20) or the relative number of tourism-related facilities in the two communities.
Battleford mayor Derek Mahon explained that both were issues that had been spoken about in meetings over the previous year, and that the model may be further discussed after it is approved, but that most of the council planned to approve it as described. Because George's opposition would only slow the adoption of the new GBMA (not stop it or change it), he opted to vote to support it, and it passed unanimously.
Now that both the city and the town have agreed to the funding agreement, it falls on the Battlefords Tourism Association to agree to the change. This will or will not take place at the organization's annual general meeting scheduled for February.
