You would think giving away $150,000 would be an easy thing to do.
But it’s not as easy as one might think.
At least it doesn’t look that easy if you have been following the saga of the Barrhead Elk’s Club attempt to donate the funds to the Barrhead and District Agrena Society’s aquatic centre fundraising efforts.
In late January, administration brought forward a proposal from the local Elks chapter who said they would donate $150,000 in exchange for the 25-year naming rights of the building because when they added up their other donation it automatically put the club into the naming rights category under the sponsorship information package the Agrena Society sent out at the beginning of their fundraising effort. In September 2016, they donated $100,000 for the 10-year naming rights of the facility’s competition pool.
As you will read on our front page, Town of Barrhead councillors turned down the money through a politely worded letter by mayor Dave McKenzie saying after months of deliberation they have decided to stay with the name Barrhead Regional Aquatics Centre.
And if that is their decision that is OK. I can understand it although I’m not sure I agree with it.
The argument can be made that the Agrena Society’s goal was to raise $1.5 million towards the construction cost of the facility, which was met, and therefore their fundraising effort is no longer needed and if the town agreed to accept the Elks’ latest donation it would have to be earmarked for a new capital project at the facility because it is one thing to fundraise for a capital project, it is another thing to do it for operational costs. It might be done in the private sector, but not for public facilities. That’s what taxes are for. However, that being said the extra $150,000 could be used to pay our debenture payment for a year or two.
I also ask why the decision wasn’t made at open council. At the March 27 meeting, council instructed administration to schedule a meeting with the Elks’ executive to discuss additional ways to honour the club’s donation. This to me suggests aquatic centre naming rights were still on the table and that the Elks still needed an answer which should have been done at the council meeting level.
In my opinion, as I wrote in our Feb. 27 editorial, is that the Elks have fulfilled the requirements as laid out in the Agrena Society’s sponsorship package, and the only question councillors needed to ask themselves is if they believe the Elks and the name they have chosen, ‘Barrhead Elks Club Regional Aquatics Centre’ are worthy enough to name one of its facilities after. If you ask me, the answer is an unqualified yes and I, for one would like to thank the Elks for all they have done in making our community a better place to live.
