This year, the Bowen Island Municipality (BIM) received five applications for community grants and nine applications for grants in aid, totalling $146,206. Council had approved a $134,568 budget for this granting cycle and BIM's interim manager of finance Kristen Watson explained at the Monday, June 10, council meeting that $7,000 of the budget is traditionally set aside for the fall grants in aid and the sum of $11,114, the municipality's contribution toward the community school coordinator position, also comes out of the total amount.
Watson said that under the community charter, all applicants were eligible to receive funding but the grant requests exceeded the available budget by $29,752. She also explained that a BIM Community Grants Advisory Committee has been established with the aim to develop a value system that will make reviewing the applications easier and straight forward. "The committee is starting from the ground up and will bring a new recommended policy forward," Watson said. "The next step will be a review of the application process and to come up with nice simple application packages." She added that the committee is not yet in a position to provide advice to council on the current grant applications but is expected to weigh in on the permissive tax exemption and grants in aid requests in the fall.
For this round of applications, Watson suggested that council consider awarding the same amounts as last year for community grants. "Spring grants in aid awards will require some grant requests to be reduced or possibly denied as the available fund is oversubscribed," she added.
Watson recommended that a number of grant applications be deferred to the fall. One of them was the Bowen Island Scouts' request for $2,000 and the other the $1,600 applied for by the Bowen Island Community Fair Association (Bowfest). As reasons, Watson mentioned that the Scouts' programmings ends with the school year and doesn't start up until the fall. About the Bowfest grant, Watson said that the application was submitted by board members who are no longer involved with the organization.
Among the members of the audience at the council meeting were representatives from the organizations that had submitted grant applications. Colleen O'Neil, coordinator of the Caring Circle, said, "We haven't received any grants in aid before," she said. "And we have lots of programming going on." O'Neil mentioned that the Caring Circle has to move from its current location and suggested that it would welcome the opportunity to share the blue cottage behind the library. Murray Atherton attended the meeting on behalf of the Snug Cove House Society and explained that the organization has applied for the amount of $2,000 to cover its property taxes.
Jack Headley told council about the 25th Annual Festival of Plays that is currently under way at Tir-na-nOg. "Today, for the fourth Monday morning in a row, we did a show for 75 kids who were sitting entranced for 1 1/5 hours watching a play performed by their contemporaries," he said. Headley said that the grant money of $10,000 would go toward paying for the Tir-na-nOg building.
The delegation from the Bowen Island Historians explained that the community grant money would be used to hire a curator, archivist and administrative assistant. "We want to keep the museum open year-round and we have grown so much," Catherine Bayly said. Councillor Alison Morse questioned the increase in wages and benefits in the Museum and Archives' 2012 financial statements and added that all departments at the municipality were asked to keep the operating budget at the level from the year before. Bayly explained that the Museum and Archives play an active part in the community: "The more we are out there, the more people keep bringing us things. We welcome that but it creates the need for professional help."
Bowen Island Arts Council's president Carol Cram thanked BIM for past support and invited council and staff to attend the organization's 25th birthday bash on July 27. She distributed a graph demonstrating how the arts council has used the solid foundation of BIM funding to generate revenues from other sources including sales, memberships, donations and other government agencies.
The Seniors Keeping Young (SKY) were represented by Joan Anastasiou (past president) and Renate Williams (new president). "[The grant of $2,000] is planned to go to the expansion of the field trips for our members," Anastasiou said. Williams added that the trips offer opportunities for seniors that would otherwise not be available.
Susannah Braund spoke in support of the Coast Animal Welfare and Education Society (CAWES). "Some of the work of CAWES is almost invisible," she said. "We prevent problems that would be difficult to deal with for the community, like the feral cat situation."
The Bowen Island Chamber of Commerce had asked for support for Steamship Days but Morse said that the application was "very incomplete" and questioned whether it should be considered. Mayor Jack Adelaar spoke in favour of supporting the festival, especially in light of the its success in 2012. Watson suggested that the municipality could make a payment toward the event's insurance policy. Morse expressed concerns about deferring the grant for Bowfest to the fall because current policy doesn't allow for funding of past events. Councillor Darron Jennings suggested a similar approach as with Steamship Days - to cover insurance for Bowfest.
Councillor Wolfgang Duntz stated that he would support awarding CAWES and SKY the full amounts the organizations had applied for, rather than the sum suggested by Watson. Morse explained that Watson's approach ensured that the grants stayed within the allotted budget. "We can't spend something that isn't budgeted for," she said. "If we include the community fair association and the full amounts for SKY and CAWES, then we have to reduce the amount for the fall grants in aid."
Council awarded a total of $118,114 for community grants and $11,654 for spring grants in aid and deferred grant requests by the Scouts and the Bowen Island Museum and Archives to the fall. Council approved community grants for BIAC ($55,000), the Bowen Island Museum and Archives ($30,000), Snug Cove House Society ($2,000), Family Place ($10,000), Tir-na-nOg ($10,000) and BIM's contribution to the community school coordinator position ($11,114). For spring grants in aid, the Bowen Island Community School Association ($1,354), the Bowen Island Heritage Preservation Society ($1,400), the Caring Circle ($2,000), Seniors Keeping Young ($2,000), CAWES ($2,000) received support. Council offered to aid Steamship Days and Bowfest by paying up to $1,300 and $1,600 respectively for event insurance and waive applicable municipal fees.
