North Battleford council approved third party grants for 2020. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

In the Chambers

Council approves third party grants

Jan 30, 2020 | 4:04 PM

North Battleford lawmakers approved allocating funding for a number of third party grants as originally proposed in the 2020 budget.

The motion was initially tabled at the prior Jan. 13 meeting when Coun. Kent Lindgren proposed amending the motion to also provide funding to Concern for Youth, in effect, by reducing money allocated to several other organizations that were included in the budget.

Council had previously set a maximum of $69,000 as a total for all third party grant funding in the budgeted amount that was identified in the proposed budget.

The majority of council instead voted in favour of staying with what was allocated in the proposed budget in the end.

Deputy Mayor Kelli Hawtin said following the meeting it is often a hard decision for council to decide how to allocate funding.

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“At the end of the day there are a lot of needs in the community and it’s really difficult to address them all, so council made the decision in the best way that they could,” she said.

City Manager Randy Patrick mentioned the discussions on the issue were held in open meetings for full transparency.

“That makes it harder on council,” he said. “They are doing things out in front of everyone. They are all good people that you are dealing with here.”

On Jan. 13 Coun. Lindgren had initially recommended eliminating the full $2,500 funding for Catholic Family Services, and reducing $500 each from the Empty Stocking Fund and the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre, to allocate $3,500 to Concern for Youth.

Council then tabled the motion to wait for more information from the various groups to hear how they would be impacted by this amendment. They received a variety of items of correspondence in response.

When returning to the issue this week, Lindgren said after more thought he instead proposed reducing the Catholic Family Services allotment to $1,000 (instead of the proposed amount of $2,500); and reducing funding by $500 each from the Empty Stocking Fund, Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre, the Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords, and the Battlefords Boys and Girls Club. Then, allocating the $3,500 remaining to Concern for Youth.

However, the motion for an amendment to the amendment was not seconded. Then, Coun. Lindgren’s original amendment was defeated by 5:1, with only Lindgren voting in favour. Mayor Ryan Bater was absent during the meeting.

Ultimately, the majority of council instead voted in favour for what was originally proposed Jan. 13 for the third party grant allocations that were included in the budget document.

As a result, the following discretionary third party grants were approved: Battlefords Boys and Girls Club $25,000, Catholic Family Services $2,500, Empty Stocking Fund $6,500, Citizens on Patrol $1,000, Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre $9,000 and the Lighthouse Serving the Battlefords $25,000, for a total grants allotment of $69,000.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow