Council approves formation of a sponsorship committee made of Morinville and County residents

closed session

by Tristan Turner

The Morinville rec centre project will have eight new hands on deck to attempt to attain Council’s goal of acquiring $6,185,000 in sponsorship money for Morinville’s new $30,500,000 rec centre project. The committee’s terms of reference were unanimously approved by council following some amendments at their June 12 meeting.

The terms of reference for the committee were presented by administration to council to consist of seven Morinville citizens and Mayor Barry Turner for the purposes of overseeing the process of acquiring sponsorship/naming proposals for the new centre and approving final selections.

During debate, Deputy Mayor Stephen Dafoe proposed an amendment to include Sturgeon County residents in the process as well, enabling administration to select up to three County residents to sit on the committee.

If county residents cannot be found for the three spots, Morinville residents who apply will replace them.

Dafoe spoke in favour of his motion by saying: “If we want the County to be more involved in this project, we need to bring them to the table,” going on to argue that bringing in people with different networks in the county could provide new leads for sponsorship opportunities as well.

The amendment was swiftly passed unanimously after Mayor Turner offered some brief words of support as well.

That evening, CAO Labonne informed council that the Town has already been looking into acquiring the services of consultants in sponsorship management to assist the committee in their work, and that he is “hopeful that the committee will meet our ambitious goal [of $6.2 Million].”

Sponsorship is a significant portion of the project’s projected payment plan, representing approximately one-quarter of the remaining amount left in project costs for the long-term financing plan.

Steering committee abolished

That same evening, after limited debate, council unanimously voted to abolish the Morinville Recreation Facility Steering Committee, a group that was organized in the early planning stages of the project to plan for the new centre and present to council. The committee has not been very active since construction began and most of their work was completed, but council unanimously thanked them for their work on the project.

The committee was made up of members of council and local citizens, including many representatives of key user groups, including sport representatives.

CAO Labonne informed council that many members of the now abolished Steering Committee have expressed interest in joining the newly created Sponsorship Committee, and that he will be on the lookout for their applications.

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