On Tuesday, WL Council, with Councillor Rathor opposed, approved a deal where the City would take possession of a grand piano, currently owned by the Community Arts Council, and the City would waive the Arts Council's current debt to the City of $9,312 (backrent at the former Heritage House when the Arts Council occupied it). It should be noted that an appraisal puts the value of the grand piano at $14,000 with replacement cost estimated at $37,000
So, let's look at what each Councillor and the Mayor said, (from today's Williams Lake Tribune on this subject):
Mayor Cook - “I don’t think we’re setting a precedent,” she said. “This group wants to take responsibility to pay the debt; the situation was unique.” Note - I find it unfortunate that she sees it this way but not surprising as she is a supporter of the Community Arts Council and has been prior to her election as Mayor. I believe it sets a major precedent for future issues where taxpayers' who can not pay their bill to the City (property taxes/utility fees) but may have assets to trade that is equal to the debt owed and the City now has no choice but to allow others' to take advantage of this opportunity that was afforded to the Community Arts Council. If the Community Arts Council wanted to take responsibility for their debt to the City, they would sell the grand piano themselves and pay their debt to the City, just like everyone else does in the City
Councillor Walters - "This is a win-win situation for our community" - Note - for one who has been a very active supporter of both the local Studio Theatre society and the Community Arts Council, I'm not surprised by her comments. I obviously don't see it her way
Councillor Barr - "Not only are we trying to collect a debt, we’re helping out the arts council. - Note - I was extremely saddened that Councillor Barr would say this, but if he wanted to help the Community Arts Council, he would say here are your options:
i) Sell the piano and pay what you owe the City ($9,321)
ii) Suggest that the City will launch a Small Claims action against the Arts Council (Arts Council incurred the debt (lease at Heritage House) on their own and refusing to pay means there are consequences for such an act)
Councillor Barr will soon have to answer questions around why the new Fire Hall is over budget (and yes, I can prove this) and failure to do so will mean he'll have some things to answer for during the next election. I have asked him to expedite this process but nothing has come out so far and with the election just over a year away and with the Fire Hall loan payments due to be paid starting next year, he needs to address this question to the public fairly quickly. I could see some suggesting why Tom Barr won't answer for a project under his watch that ran over budget but criticized the Council under Rick Gibson for the budget overrun at the Tourism Discovery Center during the 2005 Civic Election
Councillor Rathor - The arts council should sell the piano, pay the City, and still have plus or minus $5,000,” he said. “I think we’re going in the wrong direction. Note - Councillor Rathor spoke for me and I suspect a fair number of taxpayers' in the City who may see this act of Council as being backwards-minded.
If the community understood that the CAC's problem was due to an inability to pay their debt because a great deal of money disappeared out of their account (ongoing investigation) and applications for funding were not processed for the previous year (they have had to work hard to even have their Charitable status re-instated)
ReplyDeleteIt is a VERY unfortunate situation which Council understood and I for one, am grateful that Council chose to think outside the box.