Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Town supports Chamber’s plans for lighting upgrades

Mar 21, 2017 | 2:00 PM

The Town of Battleford is giving its support to help light up the local Chamber.

At its meeting Monday, council approved making a gesture of support to help Battlefords Chamber of Commerce apply for funding for a lighting project, estimated at between $12,000 to $15,000, for its facilities.

Chamber Executive Director Linda Machniak said the chamber isn’t looking for any funding from council, only an acknowledgment of its support for the project, as a municipal partner.

“It’s the administrative support, but we’re not looking for help in making the application,” Machniak said. “It’s just to indicate to the grantor that, yes, we have the support of the municipality.”

The chamber plans to upgrade lighting for three projects, and will be applying for a grant offered by a private national organization. 

Machniak preferred not to disclose the name of the organization until after the chamber finds out whether it will receive the grant. 

Since the chamber is not a registered charity, it needed to partner with the town to apply for the funds.

The organization requires a receipt for the grant disbursement which the town will be able to provide.

If the chamber is approved for the grant, the funds will flow to the municipality which will then give the money to the Chamber. 

The township is not providing any of its own funds for the project.

As part of the project, the chamber will change the old lighting systems in the Chamber of Commerce building, at its site at Highway 40 and Highway 16 E. in North Battleford, to a newer model, since the existing system can’t be replaced or repaired.

It will also install new outdoor lighting at the Henry Bergen Memorial Park – lighting the Bison barbed-wire statue. Machniak said the lighting is broken after being vandalized and needs to be repaired or replaced. 

It also needs to replace the lighting in the Rotary Park to fix the lighting standards. The chamber points to gophers as the possible culprits for damaging the lighting standards’ underground wires

To fix the problem the chamber wants to switch to solar-energy lighting so there won’t be a need for underground power lines.

Battlefords Chamber of Commerce covers the City of North Battleford, Town of Battleford, R.M. of North Battleford, R.M. of Battle River, and the R.M. of Meota.

Machniak said the chamber approached only the Town of Battleford for its assistance with the grant application because the town was the first to respond to the Chamber’s request. 
 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca