Mayor wants to ensure town is ‘spending our money wisely’
“The Town of Woodstock Youth Council (WYC) aims to engage and empower young residents aged 13 to 24 by involving them in municipal decision-making,” WYC Chair Gracelyn Grant told council members.
During Woodstock Town Council’s meeting on Aug. 11, Grant informed council about the fledgling organization and requested the new council continue to encourage and engage with them, as the former council had.
Originally championed by former Mayor Trina Jones, who wanted a new way to engage local youth beyond the pre-existing clubs, she sought better ways to represent and voice their concerns, needs, and interests, and to encourage greater civic engagement.
The town then convened representatives from schools, Planet Youth, the Multicultural Association, and Rotary. They were asked what they really wanted to see, hear, and do within the community. From those conversations, the WYC was born and began with its first council meeting last September.
“We had a secretary, chair, co-chair, everything like that,” Grant explained to council. “So you guys, but just a smaller form, and we just took off.”
The WYC decided to focus on three core pillars: education, communication and advocacy. To aid them in their mission, they toured various facilities, engaged with municipal leaders and stakeholders and asked lots of questions, learning as much as possible.
Grant said that one of the highlights of last year’s council was being interviewed by CBC News about the possibility of getting a Francophone school in the area. She also mentioned meeting with Glenn Group to discuss how to make Connell Park safer and more engaging for youth and young adults. They also met with the director of the AYR Motor Centre to discuss ways to create a youth space at the centre.
With plans for WYC to resume in the fall, Grant wanted to connect with the new council and request their continued involvement.
“So really in our first year, we wanted to kind of set the foundation, the building blocks. We wanted to make sure that what we’re doing is working, and we hope to continue that this year. I know that there are a couple of councillors who have already definitely expressed an interest,” said Grant.
“I think it’s a fabulous initiative. This council and the former council as well, they saw an opportunity; we see an opportunity. It’ll be a challenge for us over the next four years to match your energy and your enthusiasm,” encouraged Councillor John Dolimount. “We’ll have to focus on working with you and finding areas appropriately where your voice and your coucil and your thoughts and your ideas fit into some of the macro issues that we’re facing as a community.”
Finance
“I’m very cognizant of the fact that we are spending taxpayers’ money,” said Mayor Jeff Wright. “I think it’s 82 or 83 per cent of all our tax dollars come from taxpayers. The remaining 17 per cent comes from other user groups. One of the things the finance committee did talk about was looking at all of the MOU’s and where the money’s going, and is it beneficial to us. Is it beneficial to the community, and are we spending our money wisely?”
During Director of Financial Services and Treasurer Jennifer Crabbe’s presentation to council, Councillor Arthur Slipp requested more detailed information about the town’s funding budget for community groups.
Highlighting their ongoing funding requests from various organizations, he wanted to know how much the town originally budgeted and how much remained to help council make better decisions when requests came through.
Crabbe informed him that they had originally budgeted $250,000 along with an additional $38,000 in revenue from the BIA to offset some expenses. Out of that pot, there was about $50,000 remaining.
Chief Administrative Officer Allan Walker explained that many expenditures for this fund are known in advance. Most community grants are paid out in lump sums on the first of the year or the first of the month, and some Memoranda of Understandings (MOUs) are paid throughout the year.
Walker also explained that staff also have a small discretionary fund for items under $500 that they can disburse. The CAO also highlighted that just because they’ve budgeted a certain amount for community funding doesn’t mean they’re required to use all of it that way, and council can opt to use some of it elsewhere.
“One of the things we’ll be doing during the budget cycle is rather than doing it in piecemeal, we will set all of those in front of council at one time. And this council will have the opportunity to evaluate the priorities again,” said Walker. “The previous council had a certain set of priorities. This council may have a different set of priorities on how community funding is done and how money is spent.”
During Councillor John Dolimount’s report on behalf of the Finance Committee, he expressed his gratitude to Crabbe for all her hard work, which currently includes figuring out a more easily understood format to present finances to the public so they can have as clear an understanding as possible of where money is being spent and why, returning to the earlier questions about MOU’s and community grants as an example.
“A lot of folks that ask us for money wouldn’t survive without some contributions from the town,” said Dolimount. “As the town has grown and community groups have grown, we have to make sure that we’re spreading the tax revenue that we do allocate out to all the community groups around this large town of Woodstock appropriately.”
Dolimount also recommended that they approve a request from Woodstock’s Minor Baseball Association to donate $2,400 toward hosting three upcoming tournaments. The event is expected to bring in 26 teams, totalling 390 players, plus their coaches and families.
“It’s a fairly significant amount of people coming to this town, spending a lot of money in this town. Mayor Wright has said many times, based upon his experience before, that if you want to generate money for your town, bring in sports teams. They spend a lot of money here in town, use a lot of restaurant facilities, hotels, etc.,” said Dolimount. “We felt that was a fair allocation of funds.”
Council approved the recommendation.
Dolimount also mentioned that a group called Play On! requested funding from the town, but because the request was for $100,000, the committee recommended not contributing to the organization.
Reaching Home funding approval
“If you are unhoused today, it is expensive to get housed,” said CAO Walker.
A provincially funded two-person outreach team based in Woodstock covers an area spanning from Nackawic to Plaster Rock. Fully funded by a service agreement with the N.B. Department of Social Development, the team provides outreach services to homeless people aged 19 and older. They aim to reduce homelessness by getting those in need into shelters and housing and connecting them with necessary services.
“We [the town] provide some vehicle and office space and oversight. But all of their salaries and expenses are paid by the government,” explained Walker.
Recently, the province approved $169,000 in funding to be paid out in installments. Of that, $115,000 will be used to help qualifying individuals with first and last month’s rent, along with move-in and set-up costs; $50,000 would go towards qualifying individuals at risk of losing their existing housing, and $4,000 would be used for tablets and other accessories needed for the set-up and support of their operation.
Council approved the motion supporting the project and authorized and accepted the disbursement of funds, with signing authority delegated to the town treasurer.
