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Red Deer city council debates street closures and mustering volunteers for special events

Which falls within the city’s responsibility, the mayor questions
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(Advocate file photo,)

How can Red Deer city council strive to bring special events to the city, then stick organizers with the high cost of street closures, questioned Coun. Ken Johnston.

Johnston asked council to fund the $8,000 Cyclovia needs to cover the cost of shutting down some streets for its cycling event in 2019 (it ran for the first time last August).

This was not recommended by city manager Craig Curtis because of the precedent it would set for other groups or events that need road closures.

Council was told that 144 special event applications are processed annually, with 35 requiring road shutdowns. The city only regularly budgets for closing streets for the Westerner Days Parade.

Covering this expense proves too much for some groups, such as Fiestaval, which no longer runs a Latin cultural event in the downtown after citing the high cost of street closures as one factor.

Mayor Tara Veer said it’s always a balancing act to support events that enhance community life, while also watching the bottom line and not favouring certain groups over others.

She suggested interested groups can apply for a $5,000 grant towards covering these street closing costs from the Red Deer Recreation Enhancement Fund.

Most city councillors opposed giving Cyclovia the $8,000. But Johnston predicted city council will have to grapple with this issue as it starts up a bid committee to pursue bringing special events to Red Deer. If council supports economic development, he said, it will have to make it sustainable for groups to operate here.

In a similar vein, councillors Johnston and Dianne Wyntjes threw their support behind Volunteer Central‘s request for a total of $240,000 over two years.

“We must not be hypocritical. We must find a way to support” a group that helps find volunteers needed to pull off special events such as the 2019 Canada Winter Games, said Wyntjes.

Coun. Buck Buchanan said someone must muster volunteers if Volunteer Central goes under, due to being cut off from provincial funding. He noted people donating their time at the police detachment save the municipality about a million dollars a year.

Council compromised by approving $90,000 for Volunteer Central to the end of 2019. They hope this provides time for the non-profit to come up with another funding plan.