Central Cariboo Cultural Plan

On Wednesday at the Central Cariboo/City of Williams Lake Joint Committee meeting, whose membership is made up of all 7 members of Williams Lake City Council and the Cariboo Regional District Rural Directors for Areas D, E, F, J and K, the Joint Committee will receive a memo from Darron Campbell (CRD Manager of Community Services) on a recently completed cultural plan for Arts and Culture in the Central Cariboo.  However, for this item, only members of Williams Lake City Council and the CRD Directors for Areas D, E, and F are eligible to vote on this item at the Central Cariboo/City of WL Joint Committee

The money for this item came from the Legacies Now Fund (part of 2010 Winter Olympics Funds) and also matching money from the local Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Function Budget

You can read the final report on a Cultural Plan for the Central Cariboo region with Darron Campbell's memo to the Joint Committee here

Now some of the things in this proposed Cultural Plan and the request of Dr. Graham Kelsey (President of the Central Cariboo Arts & Culture Society - CCACS) that I find disappointing are:

1) Develop a contract forthwith between the CCACS and the Cariboo Regional District to allow the CCACS to provide Arts and Culture Services.  I believe it is premature for this to occur until the CRD/City of WL with the Executive Officers' of the CCACS explain to taxpayers' of the local Arts & Culture Function what has occcured since the elected officials' last met with taxpayers' over a Service Delivery Plan for the Function in November of 2009

2) First Nations' Partnerships - I have no difficulty with this except local First Nations should still have no access to funds from the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Function until they pay their fair share into the Function, otherwise this is not in keeping with a long-standing principle of Regional District Functions' which is: "only those who pay into a Function get the services or benefits of said Function".  I might add that this item is a "bone of contention" with CRD Area 'D' residents' when this topic was discussed at the 2010 Electoral Area 'D' Town Hall

3) Goal #5 - Community Engagement/Communications - No difficulty with this.  See Point #1 above

4) Adjudication Procedures - In Appendix #4 of the Cultural Plan, it calls for a Adjudication procedure that is chaired either by a Director of the CCACS or by the Coordinator of the CCACS.  Given that the CCACS's revenues of $90,000 of the total CCACS's revenues of $99,045 are coming from taxpayers and specifically the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Function, this process is not transparent enough for taxpayers.  A proper adjudication process would call for a Panel Chair who has experience in the Arts and Culture Sector but has no connection to the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society and he/she would provide their recommendation(s) to the Board of Directors' - CCACS and again, this is why a meeting between the CCACS Executive Officers', Elected Officials - CRD/City of WL, and the public needs to happen ASAP to ensure the visions/goals of the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Function are proper ones from the public's perspective

Given all of the above and the recent comment of WL City Councillor Laurie Walters who said at the Nov 9th WL City Council Meeting:

"I'm weak on process"

If she truly believes that and wants this Function to work, just like I do at this point (yes, I was opposed to the formation of the Function but it is done) then she will instruct the Joint Committee to receive the Cultural Plan, and to refer the Cultural Plan to a Public Meeting for discussion, prior to the end of the year (yes, there is time to do this prior to the December Joint Committee meeting on December 9th, so we can make the local Arts and Culture Function the very best it can be 

Otherwise, she is telling me, as 1 taxpayer, that she only cares about her friends in the Arts and Culture community and not that of taxpayers' in the City and that of CRD Electoral Areas D, E,F.  If she isn't too careful - she may be the cause of CRD Directors' in Areas E (Steve Mazur) and F (Joan Sorley) to lose their jobs in the near future