ATHABASCA – Athabasca County will pony up $500 to be one of the sponsors of the Alberta Junior Disc Golf Championship which will be held at Rocky Lane Fairways, located six kilometres south of Athabasca.
During their June 13 council meeting, county councillors voted 9-0 to donate to the event, which is being held for a second time Aug. 19 and has 16 youth registered according to the documents prepared for council, with some coming from as far away as Vancouver.
Coun. Tracy Holland suggested that they donate $500 instead of the recommended $300, noting Athabasca Minor Hockey received $500 when they hosted provincials earlier this year.
“I chose $500 because this is a national event, Athabasca Minor Hockey received that for a provincial event, and I think that this is something that is going to bring a lot of attention to our community,” said Holland.
Not everyone was initially on board with the donation with reeve Brian Hall saying he was more in favour of the $300, which was the same amount that had gone to Edwin Parr Composite School earlier in the year.
“Simply because of the difference between minor hockey and this event when it comes to volume, and the number of local participants. I do think that the fact that we have this disc golf course and tournament in our region is something that we should celebrate and get behind either way,” said the reeve.
For other councillors, the remaining budget for the Youth Assistance Fund was a bit worrying; after the $500 withdrawal, the fund will have $500 left out of an initial $1,800.
“I’m just cautious about what’s remaining in our budget, things do just pop up,” said Coun. Natasha Kapitaniuk. “We might cut ourselves a little short for something that also promotes our community in the future, so I would be comfortable staying at the recommended $300.”
An amendment to reduce the donation back to the recommended motion failed 4-5, with councillors Holland, Kelly Chamzuk, Gary Cromwell, Rob Minns and Joe Gerlach voting against the motion.
College fieldtrips get $500 donation following debate
Councillors also voted in 5-4 in favour of donating $500 to the Northern Lakes College Students Union to help support a field trip to the Edmonton Valley Zoo. Councillors Ashtin Anderson, Minns, Gerlach, and Wallach voted against the motion for a variety of reasons, but the age of the students was a common mark against the request.
“I feel a little uncomfortable with the layout,” said Gerlach. “We’re supplying food, transportation, admission, I just don’t know … they say that there taking seven vehicles, I don’t know, I would be embarrassed to put in something like this.”
Minns shared the sentiment with his colleague, noting that this wasn’t a group of grade school students going on an annual field trip.
“I feel the same way, this is a college, it isn’t a grade school, like Grade 4 or Grade 6 students. These are adults asking for the donation. I feel the same way as councillor Gerlach, I’m a little iffy on if we fund this or not.”
“I understand what you’re feeling or saying,” said Cromwell. “We would have to change the policy, and I don’t think that that’s a fair thing to do right now given the fact that we have open submissions.”
Anderson felt that an amendment wouldn’t be required, since the policy did give them some discretion over what was approved and denied.
“I echo the sentiment that if this was a grade school that we were paying for a field trip for, I would be in favour, but not for college students. We don’t actually need to amend the policy, council has the discretion for what we approve and what we decline,” said the deputy reeve.
“Northern Lakes students are a unique bunch,” said Hall, who recently attended the colleges convocation June 2. “There are certainly people cross the stage from all different groups in our society, and I think in the application it talks about how these experiences are designed to be enlightening and team building. Remembering that these guys can tend to be younger people depending on the program, I don’t know that it’s a bad thing, and we have a policy that applies to this. The zoo isn’t my first choice of a place to go, but that isn’t my decision and I think they meet the requirements.”
