The report that resulted from the Community and Cultural Services Task Force was presented to council and the public at a special meeting of council on Tuesday June 15, and it was clear that a project that held high hopes of bringing the community together did not exactly achieve that goal.
Though that might not necessarily be a bad thing.
The official task force report was not the only report put before council. A second report dubbed “The Minority Report” which was authored by Meaford Hall and Culture Foundation Directors Michael Anderson and Barb Clumpus was also presented, and offered a position on the future of Meaford Hall that was in stark contrast to the vision put forth in the official task force report.
Anderson and Clumpus both participated in the citizen task force, specifically on the Meaford Hall sub-committee, and they found themselves unable to support the recommendations that were being put forward in the task force report, so they developed their own.
The rift certainly won't help with any immediate desire to bring the local arts community together, however over the long term, the differences of opinion may prove to lay the groundwork for some constructive debate about just how the Hall should be operated.
Though one task force participant Deborah Thompson attempted to address council in a bid to express displeasure that the presentation of the Minority Report on a night that was to have originally been dedicated to the findings of the entire task force, Thompson's request to speak was denied.
Michael Anderson told The Independent in an interview on Wednesday that he and Clumpus were invited to present their report by Meaford CAO Frank Miele.
“It should be said, that we presented (our minority report) because (Meaford CAO) Frank Miele invited us to,” said Anderson, “We did not go to him and demand a voice, he came to us and said Council needs to get your report, they need to know it's there.”
Anderson also said that any criticism that the minority report should have been presented at another time so as to not overshadow the presentation of the report that task force members laboured over for several months while noted, would not have been practical from a logistical perspective. He also noted that he tried to make it clear that he did not want what he had to say result in the hard work of the task force as a whole to be overshadowed.
“I went out of my way at the beginning of our presentation to say that I did not want what we had to say to take away from the good work that everyone else had done,” said Anderson.
The crux of the difference of opinion is two very different visions regarding how Meaford Hall should be managed and operated, and how it should achieve it's goals.
The official task force report recommends that the Hall be managed by a governing board, and that a fund-raising foundation be established that would essentially take that function away from the Meaford Hall & Culture Foundation.
Billie Bridgman who chaired the Hall sub-committee segment of the task force told The Independent that the other members of the task force understand that not everyone will be pleased with their recommendations but feel that they have come up with a plan that could work to help Meaford Hall thrive going forward.
“This structure, anchored by a volunteer Board, will ensure that the community has full input, the Municipality has assurance of wide participation, and the Hall has the benefit of the expertise, time and passion so evident in this community,” offered Bridgman, “Lively plans for programming, marketing and increased funding support all rely on building this structure first.”
Bridgman went on to say that she is proud of their report, and feels that council was receptive to their recommendations.
“As is true of all such processes, not everyone on our Sub-committee agreed with all the recommendations and two members chose to withdraw from the report and make a separate deputation to Council with their views. Having worked within a City structure for many years, this deputation process is very familiar to me – it is an important element of every Municipality’s operations which allows all citizens to express their views. That being said, our report has been accepted by the CAO (prior to presentation to Council) and is the only official document before Council for consideration.”
Task force member Kerry Riley told The Independent that she too is proud of the work done by the task force, and in particular those that wrestled with the Meaford Hall portion of the project.
“I am proud of the entire Community Services Strategy Task Force report,” Said Riley, “We put the town first, and we put Meaford Hall first. We came up with recommendations based on best practices in cultural facilities and a lot of research. We want Meaford Hall to move toward the future and it's promise of citizen engagement from the entire municipality.”
For his part Anderson says that there is no disagreement by anyone on the task force about what they want for Meaford Hall, the dispute is how to get there, and Anderson is convinced that the task force report has not provided a business case that would support the recommendations put forward, in particular the notion of a governing board made up of citizens.
Riley disagrees.
“The minority report indicates that there is no need for a community, skilled based governance model of any kind that should help with many aspects of the Hall including fund-raising, marketing and volunteerism,” said Riley, “(But) we have many governing structures/boards in the community that provide leadership, expertise, and funding to a variety of facilities, each with a member of council involved.”
Riley cited the library, museum, and Woodford Hall as examples.
“Yet the facility that has the largest operating budget, that has a deficit of several hundred thousands of dollars each year has the smallest amount of community involvement,” argues Riley.
While this task force may not have achieved it's goal of bringing the community together and getting everyone on the same page, it has certainly laid the groundwork for some interesting, and hopefully productive future debate.
CAO Frank Miele and council have their work cut out for them indeed.
