Last evening, a subdued council formally received news that the grant request of $14.5 million for a proposed $27.5 million arts and culture building was rejected by Infrastructure Canada.
Acting Director of Public Works, Bill Goulding, began an overview of his written report referencing earlier comments resident Mike Thomas made during the Public Input Session. During the Public Input Session, Thomas shared his opinion that the report lacked details about the reason the application was rejected.
Referring to Thomas’s comment as a 'good catch,' Goulding said he wanted the opportunity to explain the response from the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program (GCIB) “because the language in the letter could have been interpreted a number of different ways.” Commenting about his written report in the agenda package, Goulding noted, “I don’t have the opportunity to clarify the situation as [the written report is being read from the website].”
Goulding quoted from the GCIB letter, “Following a thorough review of your application for the Elliot Lake Arts and Culture Centre, we regret to inform you that your project was not selected for funding for the following reasons.”
Goulding advised the council that GCIB “simply said that we were not in a place to provide full construction documents for this project to forward for consideration.” He added, “There was no time and it wasn’t a practical thing to even endeavour upon.”
Although discussed at committee, the cost for the design work was not finally approved by the council until January and the submission to GCIB was due Feb, 28.
Considering the very short timeline, staff and council agreed that the consultant was a good partner and delivered on what they said they would do.
Councillor Norman Mann commented, “I would agree with Mr. Goulding’s assessment of our consultants. I don’t believe they let us down at all.”
Elliot Lake’s submission did not include construction-ready documents. Goulding believes it is likely other competing grant applications included these. Construction-ready documents are more detailed, take more time to prepare, and are more costly than design concept documents.
Goulding also believes it is likely the grant program was “oversubscribed” meaning, it had more requests for funds than funds available.
Councillor Mann believes there are other reasons too.
“It’s unfortunate. Last year when we were denied as well, and - other communities with ‘different coloured ridings,’ I believe is what I said last year- are receiving this funding, he said. "It’s unfortunate that communities like Elliot Lake that would be well served from a facility like this are not considered to move on to next stages. It’s very unfortunate. It’s disappointing.”
Councillor Luc Morrissette echoed Mann’s disappointment:
“It is sad for the community that we’re not going to go ahead with this.” Morrissette wondered, “Is it possible that we could still work on a project learning our mistakes and maybe make headway for possible future grants that could come through and be more ready?”
Goulding mentioned the community fundraising component that was part of the plan put forward to GCIB.
Morrissette asked if there are “potential groups out there that could help us fundraise some money. Should we sort of start and maybe have commitments and fundraise and then reapply and have a bigger product to show [in a grant application]?”
Goulding added, “I think that we put a lot of consideration into the vision for this project with the previous council. I think that in order to meet a budget, we made significant changes to it in order to have our best chance of approval with this funding round. I think with those changes in place, I think we need to know what we want before we go asking for it. And I think we also need to really give consideration to what we can sustain properly as a municipality before we ask for something.”
Goulding informed the councillors an investment of millions of dollars, about 10 per cent of the project cost, is required to produce construction-ready documents.
Councillor Mann responded to Councillor Rick Bull’s question about what happens if the investment is made for construction-ready plans but a grant is not forthcoming.
“What happens, is there’s a giant tube of paper somewhere in this building that gathers dust, which we’ve done on several occasions with at least two arena projects and one other building that I’ve been around for, Mann said. "They do last because they’re on paper. However, does the original architectural firm still exist? What [about] other changes? Mr. Goulding is correct, we spend a lot of money to put our best foot forward and it’s either a go or no go situation and then we’re left with rolls of paper.”
“I agree with you, Mr. Golding. Nobody made a mistake here. We put our best foot forward. We’ve been elected to be up here and make decisions like this," Councillor Charles Flintoff said. "What we hope is for the betterment of the community as a whole. So, if we’re not up here trying, then we’re not doing our job. So, I know you and your staff work quite hard on this. It’s not the great greatest scenario that we have, but now we know where we stand and we just keep on going.”
Councillor Merrill Seidel noted how the cost of the project had escalated, commenting, “You see where our hands are tied here?”
“Ultimately, this is quite disappointing. We just found out about this seven days ago. I believe it came through,"
Acting Mayor Andrew Wannan said. "A lot of effort went into it and a lot of hopes went into this. This definitely doesn’t really kill the project, but we still have plans and budgeted money in case this happened.
“But I mean, for the community to come together to raise ‘23 odd million dollars,’ that’s what you’re faced with.
“I’m sure through the next three years we may be able to get more money," Wannan said.