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New Reserve Fund established to fund Elliot Lake Arts Hub

Reduced worries about Retirement Living outcomes revealed
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With demolition machinery clanging on-site tearing apart Elliot Lake's Lester B. Pearson Civic Centre on Highway 108 this week; a few blocks away, members of the city's Ad Hoc Budget Committee decided to establish a new reserve fund to back the building of a new Arts and Culture Hub planned to rise on that same site. 

City CAO Daniel Gagnon told the committee that it's unknown now, how much of original $800,000 insurance payment made after the collapse of the Civic Centre roof just over a year ago, will be left to apply to the new reserve.

He said, "We still have a lot of accounting and sifting to go through. Right after the collapse we got $800,000. A lot of that was related to the expenses related to the aftermath so we'll have to figure how much of that (money) is still available after actual extraneous expenses from the collapse."

"There's also still room for more coming from the insurer as well. Without question, the $3.5 m is there, except for the $200,000 for the demolition, so we still have a lot of work to do. But we do know that we're going to be in the $3.5 m to $4 m range, I believe, for leveraging the future," the CAO added. 

The $3.5 m is the largest Civic Centre insurance claim payment that Elliot Lake has received to date.

On another topic, Gagnon produced a statement and report with more information on the expenditure last year of $403,000 to purchase a new snow groomer for city-owned Mount Dufour Ski Hill.

It was partially funded with $300,000 re-allocated from the Fleet Reserve fund last year, along with another $100,000 of Mt. Dufour Lift Reserve money.

In light of that, committee members voted to accept Gagnon's recommendation that the city pay $30,400 per year back to the Fleet Reserve over ten years, plus interest. The payments will begin in the 2020 tax year from the ski hill's operating budget.

He also recommended reducing the capital allocation for the city-owned Stoneridge Golf Course. Stoneridge now has $328,000 in its reserve account.

The committee voted in favour of Coun. Chris Patrie's recommendation to throttle back the golf course's operating loss and capital needs in the budget, from $150,000 to $100,000, in light of its healthy reserve fund.

Budget committee chair Coun. Norman Mann had a warning.

"We truly haven't come to the operating side of this budget process. And I think we're all at a point where we know that the (Elliot Lake 2020 spending) percentage increase is still hovering around 9," he said. "We still need to move that number south of 9 (per cent), far south, I would hope. I think staff will bring it back when it's reasonable."

Mayor Dan Marchisella said that just prior to the Wednesday meeting he had a discussion with the CAO about how and why the money being earmarked for the Stoneridge Golf Course, had traditionally been decided.

"A lot of it was unstable relations for a brief moment in time with (Elliot Lake) Retirement Living where there was a concern. It came forward that there may be a need to repay a million dollars, at some point, as per the (Elliot Lake Retirement Living) management contract," said the mayor.

"The way things have been going the past couple of years, I don't think there's any need for that fear or concern, that we need to be coming up with those type of funds any longer," said Marchisella.  

Last Monday, Elliot Lake City Council held a closed-door meeting with Elliot Lake Retirement Living officials to hear proposals that involved development of the agency's property west of Spine Beach. 

Prior to the meeting, Gagnon wrote the closed meeting was based on, "Positive trends of low vacancy rates and a developing housing shortage across the community." 

He said Elliot Lake Retirement Living was expected to make a pitch for a development that could mean the city would buy land for municipal purposes.

In addition, he said the organization was expected to share confidential information that could harm its competitivetive position in the retirement housing industry if made public.

As of the time of publication, Elliot Lake city officials had not responded to ElliotLakeToday's request for a statement about what outcomes, if any, resulted from the Monday afternoon meeting.

The next Elliot Lake Ad Hoc Budget Committee meeting is set for Wed. March 4, at 4:15 p.m. in the council chambers at city hall.

 



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About the Author: Brent Sleightholm

As a reporter, Brent has covered everything from amateur and professional sports, to politics, entertainment, police and courts, to human interest stories and government issues
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