Meaford CAO Frank Miele consolidated the findings of the recently completed Community and Cultural Services citizen task force into a report containing a work-plan to implement a total of 89 recommendations and presented that report to council on Monday July 12.
Miele told council that because he and his staff agreed with and will implement “90 to 95 percent of the task force recommendations,” he chose to let his report and work-plan speak for itself, and instead focused on the recommendations surrounding Meaford Hall for his presentation.
The Meaford Hall segment of the task force resulted in a fractured sub-committee, and saw a secondary report dubbed the “Minority Report” submitted by two members of the task force who are also members of the Meaford Hall & Culture Foundation board of directors- Michael Anderson and Barb Clumpus.
That 'Minority Report' was presented to council at a previous meeting along with the general task force report. Anderson and Clumpus strongly disagree with the concept of a governing board for Meaford Hall, and in their report they insist that no business case exists to support such a shift in direction.
Though he and his staff supported the majority of the task force report and recommendations, Miele's report to council was not supportive of the general task force recommendation to establish a board of governance for Meaford Hall which would oversee the operation of the hall and report to council.
“Meaford Hall already has a board- it's called Council,” offered Miele during his presentation.
Miele also indicated to members of council that discussion about, or making recommendations with regard to the governance of Meaford Hall was not within the scope of the mandate for the citizen task force to consider.
“Staff provided clear direction that governance was not to be focused on as part of this report,” said Miele, “I would rather that the citizen task force had focused on specific tactics, and reviewing the current Meaford Hall business plan, and recommended practical suggestions to improve attendance and community involvement at Meaford Hall.”
According to Miele other municipalities have tried the governing board model for similar facilities and those boards have failed to produce results and were ultimately disbanded by municipal councils returning responsibility for operating such venues to council and management staff.
“Parry Sound, Orillia, and Guelph had established governing boards which were disbanded by council,” informed Miele who then said that in each case control of the facilities were brought back under municipal and council control because of, “continuous operating losses.”
Miele said that the governance model suggested by the task force would shift Meaford Hall from a presenting house to a producing house which would increase risk, and cost to the municipality.
Citing an existing five year business plan, which Miele suggested is ahead of schedule as the Hall has reduced it's annual operating deficit in each of the last few years and is on target to be in a break-even position by 2013, Miele expressed confidence that the current management model for the Hall is effective and not in need of change.
He also said that Meaford Hall has become more accessible to the community.
“In 2009 alone community use of Meaford Hall was up 63 percent over 2008,” said Miele who went on to read a lengthy list of community organizations that have made use of the hall over the last year.
As a compromise to the recommendation of establishing a governing board for Meaford Hall Miele has proposed developing a “Friends of Meaford” program for many of the municipal facilities similar to those that exist for the Library and Memorial Park, that would allow community volunteers to participate in the operation of municipal venues though not on the level sought by the task force sub-committee for Meaford Hall.
When pressed for details about what that model would look like by Deputy Mayor Michael Traynor, Miele said that the concept was in the early stages and he would prefer to hold off providing details until a Director of Community Services has been hired which would allow the new director to have a hand in the development of the program.
Also in his report Miele requested that council direct staff to implement his Community Services Strategy work plan, and that the municipality post the position of Director of Community Services immediately.
While the municipality is working to fill that position, Miele has asked that the contract of the current General Manager of Meaford Hall be extended beyond September when the contract is currently due to expire.
Most members of council were pleased with the report and work plan as presented by the CAO.
“I smell success,” offered Deputy Mayor Traynor, “I really see things starting to happen.”
Traynor did caution the CAO to ensure that any initiatives to engage and include the community be approached carefully and with respect to those that want to be a part of making Meaford Hall a success.
Councillor Cynthia Lemon though happy with the report expressed frustration that the focus of such a wide ranging citizen task force covering municipal assets such as the public pool, arena, parks, and community centres came down to extensive discussion about Meaford Hall. Lemon said that she didn't want to see the other facilities and recommendations get lost in the process.
“Meaford Hall is our biggest asset, but it is also our biggest liability,” said Lemon.
One member of council was clearly unhappy with the report, and had some words for the CAO.
“I am very displeased that you are not willing to embrace the community's recommendation, it saddens me greatly,” began Councillor Jim McPherson, “You've rejected it out of hand, I'm incredibly disappointed.”
