North Battleford Coun. Kevin Steinborn shown at Monday's Planning Committee meeting. The committee discussed need to develop policy around granting Naming Rights for facilities. (Angela Brown/battlefords NOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

City plans new policy for naming rights, sponsorship

Mar 19, 2019 | 5:28 PM

The City of North Battleford is looking at establishing a formal policy related to granting naming-rights and sponsorship for its recreational parks and facilities.

The issue was discussed at Monday’s planning committee meeting.

The city currently doesn’t have a policy on this issue, so administration will come to council with a proposal at a future date.

Leisure Services Director Cheryl DeNeire presented a proposed policy for the city’s parks and facilities sponsorship during Monday’s planning meeting to gather feedback.

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She said the issue came up when city council asked about a naming rights policy for the Civic Centre Arena.

“We were looking at different buildings around, and looking for revenue sources,” of the benefit of having an appropriate policy in place, City Manager Randy Patrick told battlefordsNOW. “Sometimes people want to contribute to buildings, and want to have their names on some buildings.

“We have some resources that might be utilized by some business or organization. So it’s kind of an opportunity, and we want to be ready for it should it come.”

The topic is being discussed now since there may be an opportunity in the future for the Civic Centre Arena to be named when a replacement facility is built. DeNeire’s report indicates the Civic Centre Arena building will likely remain in place as is until at least 10 years from now.

In her report, DeNeire indicated that if the city provided the public with an opportunity to sponsor projects it could be a pragmatic way to encourage community stewardship. It could also be a good source of additional revenue for the city.

The report indicates the city currently does not have a policy for an individual or group to sponsor “a municipally-owned or controlled” facility, park, playing field or program, for example, to “supplement and or replace tax-based support.”

The committee discussed a proposal that the naming right should remain for a fixed time that would be decided during the initial naming negotiations.

Coun. Kelli Hawtin suggested there should be some provision in the policy for certain facilities named in memoriam, such as the Don Ross Arena, to protect the names of these sites, because “there are some sensitivities around those facilities that have been named after some people who passed.”

Patrick mentioned during the meeting that facilities named in memoriam would be of added interest to the city for their historical value, so perhaps there would need to be a note in the policy that these names should receive special consideration if in the future a council needed to review a name for any reason.

Administration will now make some amendments as discussed during the planning committee meeting.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW