Councillors deny request to waive Agrena fee

Although the Town of Barrhead councillors said the Glass Breakers intentions were honourable, they had no choice but to deny their request to waive the $1,600 Agrena rental fees for a fundraising ball hockey tournament with the proceeds going towards the Humboldt GoFund Me campaign.

On April 24, councillors unanimously voted against the request citing that if they waived the fee for one organization they would potentially be opening the door to countless other requests.

The GoFundMe campaign was started by Humboldt, Sask. resident Sylvie Kellington in an effort to help support the victims of the horrific April 6 bus accident that killed 16 and injured 14 people who were attached to the town’s junior hockey team. Originally her goal was to raise $5,000, however, when the campaign officially ended it had received more than 140,000 donations totaling more than $15 million.

The Glass Breakers asked council to consider their request through an April 19, e-mail by Todd Zwicker stating the club would be hosting a ball hockey tourney on the April 28 weekend.

“In light of the tragedy that happened in Saskatchewan, the team felt compelled to make some sort of monetary contribution. We decided to host this ball hockey tournament to raise funds and donate all monies raised to the Humboldt Broncos fund. We are asking council to donate the use of the Agrena for this event,” he stated, adding the donation would allow them to donate more to the fund.

Mayor Dave McKenzie kicked off the discussion by noting Zwicker sent the letter before the Broncos announced the end of the campaign.

Coun. Leslie Penny said even before it ended she felt the campaign probably had raised enough money to accomplish its goal.

“Perhaps they could donate the proceeds to something more local and make a donation to send a couple kids to a hockey school or something like that in honour of the kids of Humboldt,” she said, adding she didn’t have a problem in waiving the rental fee.

McKenzie said he also favoured helping a local youth who might not have otherwise been able to attend a sports program.

“It might be a better tribute than just throwing money into an already giant pot. It is a tough balance,” he said. “Perhaps we should contact the Glass Breakers and suggest an alternative.”

Coun. Ty Assaf said regardless of where the money is donated, or if they got the subsidy for the Agrena, the organization planned to host the tournament.

“So do we know how much, if we decided to waive the fee, it would cost the town?” he asked.

Chief administrative officer Martin Taylor said he didn’t know, but estimated it would cost several hundred dollars, in large part due to the staffing requirements.

Policy 72-002 states the off-season rental for the Agrena’s ice surface for non-profit groups at $800 a day.

“The challenge is there are tragedies all across the country. This one is unfortunate and the world jumped on board to give and to help those involved in this horrific event, but council has to be careful because every time something happens out there we are going to have the same request,” said Coun. Don Smith. “We are running a business here and unfortunately we can’t give to everything and for that reason, I am against granting this request.”

Councillors Shelley Oswald and Rod Klumph agreed both stating they were also concerned about opening a potential floodgate.

“Although I commend people for giving of themselves. That is what we are supposed to do. We have to realize there is a cost to our facilities,” she said.

Klumph added: “We have to keep our business in order, keep our taxes low and look after our facilities. That is our task. The residents then can donate to this cause if that is what they choose to do.”