Although the Columbia Valley Community Directed Funds Committee agreement is set to expire in July 2015, remaining funds from the initial contract will not be removed at the expiration.
At the committee’s January meeting, it was decided that equal consideration would be given to all applications and the remaining $287,000 would be allocated to the highest priorities in the community.
The committee originally agreed to contribute $37,000 in 2015 to the Columbia Cultural Tourism Association (CCTA) for a cultural tourism co-ordinator position. The onus was on the CCTA to raise $20,000 by the end of February to secure the funding from the Committee, which was dependent on the fundraising efforts of the CCTA. It was established at the meeting that CCTA had raised $10,000 of its projected bid.
“It’s not just money toward a director, it’s money toward some administration, video and marketing — I’m not convinced that it deserves the full $37,000, but considering the work the Cultural Tourism Association has done and considering that they’re trying to look for some tangible projects, it might be worth inserting some partial money for 2015,” said Invermere mayor and directed funds committee member Gerry Taft.
Because of the approaching deadline to raise the stipulated funds, proposals were made on potential reformations to the existing contract.
“I would suggest we amend the contract and if they’ve raised the ten, then we’re willing to give them twenty and if they raise the rest of the money then they get 17. This way they can get some money up front — this way they know they have some money in the bank, but I wouldn’t want to write over the full $37,000. Right now the $10,000 is coming from discretionary aids and other CBT funds,” said Mayor Taft.
Other concerns that the funds would not be in synch with valley-wide initiatives were brought to attention. The committee motioned to hold the CCTA to its original contract — raising the full $20,000 — then revisit it upon its expiry this month.
To continue the Columbia Valley’s membership in Invest Kootenay in 2015, $22,500 was designated.
The committee was also in favour of petitioning the RDEK economic development service for the Columbia Valley and moving forward with allocating new sources of funding for membership and administration expenses.
While $100,000 was originally allocated to the Columbia Valley Greenways Trail Alliance for construction of new phases for the Old Coach Greenway across the Shuswap Indian Reserve, this bid was diminished to $20,000 for trail planning and is a definite priority.
The District of Invermere’s multi-use facility meets the requirements of the Community Priorities Plan and is also seen as meeting various valley-wide needs.
Consideration will be given to this and other upcoming projects including initiatives to be taken from the Columbia Valley Branding and Marketing Forum.