City council voted Tuesday to co-sponsor a handful of community organizations, including the Flin Flon Bombers.
The city will sponsor the Bombers to the tune of $7,500 this season by subtracting that amount from the team’s ice rental fees at the Whitney Forum.
That’s also how the city will provide a $600 sponsorship to the Flin Flon Minor Hockey Association this season.
A vote carried to donate two days worth of use of the Community Hall to the Flin Flon Arts Council’s Culture Days celebration next month.
The Kinsmen and Kinette clubs will also enjoy two complimentary days at the Community Hall for a district-wide conference in May 2016.
Council further voted to reimburse the Flin Flon Fireworks Committee for training expenses in the amount of $2,075.
Coun. Colleen McKee supported the motions but said the city may have to scale back its support for organizations going forward.
“I think that people need to recognize that the city supports these groups, but at the same time I think it’s going to be soon where we’re going to have to make some hard choices as to what we can continue to support,” she said.
McKee added that she thinks volunteer numbers are dwindling and “it would just be really nice to see” more people “step up and volunteer for some of these organizations, because they need your help.”
Partnership
Council had yet to reach a decision on a request to partner with the Flin Flon, Creighton and Area SPCA on dog licences.
Last month, SPCA shelter manager Carmen Ward proposed selling city dog licences each time her organization sells a canine to a new owner.
“We would hope we could bring more awareness to the need of licensing dogs in our community,” she wrote.
Ward suggested the SPCA and city share the income from those licence sales.
She noted the SPCA recently discontinued a program that saw identification microchips implanted into animals.
“It wasn’t being utilized properly and it was a financial cost we decided to end,” Ward wrote. “But, with ending the micro chip program another form of identification is needed.”
Advice withdrawn
Mayor Cal Huntley offered council’s formal position on residents snapping photographs of ATVers who break the law.
At a July council meeting, during a discussion on quad violations, Coun. Bill Hanson suggested people take photos of offending operators as evidence.
But Huntley said he has received advice that this was not an appropriate suggestion for council to give.
Council is monitoring complaints around ATVers ahead of a May 2016 review of whether to maintain a bylaw that offers quad operators limited access within Flin Flon.
Still vacant
Huntley said the city has yet to replace recreation manager Mike Dubreuil, but “we’ve interviewed and it’s a work in progress.”
“I think we’ll hear something in the near future,” he added.
Dubreuil left the city earlier this summer after accepting the position of director of community services with the municipality of Gibbons, Alberta. He had been with the city for five years.
