qathet Regional District’s finance committee is recommending the regional board enter into a four-year service agreement with Tourism Powell River.
At the June 17 finance committee meeting, members recommended the board provide $16,000 of annual operational funding for Powell River Visitor Centre beginning in 2020.
Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick, who sits as the regional district representative with Tourism Powell River, said it would be welcome to have a long-standing service agreement so there is continuity.
City director and finance committee chair George Doubt said it would be good for tourism marketing for the regional district and the whole area.
“Tourism Powell River is very happy with what is being considered here,” said Doubt.
Electoral Area A director and board chair Patrick Brabazon said the finance committee, previously in the meeting, had engaged in a lengthy discussion regarding the travails of tourism between Tourism Powell River and Sunshine Coast Tourism and yet the regional district might be engaging in a four-year agreement.
“I would like to consider sticking with the annual payment without locking ourselves into a four-year agreement,” said Brabazon. “That would be the wise thing to do. In this particular case, the outstanding issues should preclude us from doing this.
“In the current situation with the pandemic, who knows how much money they are going to be requiring next year as they try to rebuild from what is probably going to be a very poor year.”
Doubt said the finance committee had a report from staff on the term of the agreement and the amount of money but the report doesn’t include the service agreement itself. He suggested that in the final document, there be language that will adjust the agreement if there is some kind of change in the duties, if Tourism Powell River and Sunshine Coast Tourism merge and become one organization.
“That would take care of the length of time of the agreement,” said Doubt.
Chief administrative officer Al Radke said there was a funding contribution agreement attached, and if Doubt wanted to suggest some alterations to that, he would suggest a motion to that effect would be in order. Or, it could be referred back to staff, who would bring back the report with some proposed language.
“As it stands now, Tourism Powell River has accepted this language,” said Radke. “They’ve read it and sent it back and were agreeable.”
McCormick said issues between Tourism Powell River and Sunshine Coast Tourism were discussed at length previous to the discussion on a funding agreement with Tourism Powell River. She said the recommendation before the finance committee was to provide continuity of funding for operation of the tourism centre, which promotes all areas within the region.
“They do a tremendous job in reaching out to people,” said McCormick. “They have been extremely busy online during the COVID-19 period and they do a great job.
“There may be all kinds of adjustments related to COVID-19 but we don’t really know those impacts now. The important thing is to provide them with the stability they need to continue to operate the centre and serve the entire region.”
City director CaroleAnn Leishman said she concurs with McCormick and that it was important to provide continuity moving forward.
Doubt said he thinks the regional district should go ahead with the recommendation so Tourism Powell River has a reasonable expectation that it has funding to continue its work in the future.
“I’m in favour of passing this resolution for the Tourism Powell River service agreement and encouraging them to resolve their differences with Sunshine Coast Tourism,” he added.
Electoral Area C director Clay Brander said giving a four-year agreement was beneficial to Tourism Powell River and the regional district.
“We can have a better idea of what kind of grant funding we give out each year,” said Brander.
The finance committee voted to pass the agreement to the regional board for consideration, with Brabazon opposed.
The committee also carried a motion that the committee encourage Tourism Powell River and Sunshine Coast Tourism to come to an agreement as quickly as possible.
