Council OK'd a review of two separate partnership and grant policies at a recent meeting with aims to have a short turnaround for the policy recommendation.
At the Jan. 23 committee of the whole meeting, council approved a review and potential update of the community partnership policy and community grant policy after a short presentation by Sarah Morris, District manager of arts and culture. Morris said the review is warranted for several reasons, one being to improve clarity.
"There's a lack of clarity for staff, the community and for council and how to process and fund any new community partnership proposals that come forward," she said. "In addition, there's often confusion between the community grants and the community partnership policies."
A report given to council at the meeting clarifies the differences between the two policies. While there are numerous differences, the main is that the community partnership policy involves collaborations with local groups. In contrast, the grant policy simply provides funds for local projects or non-profit organizations.
Moreover, the report states the community partnership policy has "remained unchanged since its approval in 2007" and the agreements with community grant organizations are due for renewal this year. Morris said they aim to have policy recommendations in about six months, during June 2024.
Coun. Jenna Stoner called the timeline "quite tight," but important nonetheless.
"I think [this] will be a really important piece of work, to add clarity to council's decision making, to staff's process, and most importantly to our community to understand what the various processes are for engaging and working with the District."
Coun. Andrew Hamilton said the policy review and potential update would result in more transparency for Squamish residents.
"And when I say transparent, I don't mean things are hiding. I mean, transparent as in people know what's happening, what's available and where are tax dollars being spent more broadly."
Several examples of both partnership and grant agreements were given in the report, but not all of the agreements the District maintains.
"We are looking to do an inventory of all existing partnership agreements within the District as part of this process," said Morris. "In addition to, looking at the permissive tax exemptions and whether or not grants and partnerships and permissive tax exemptions should be provided to the same organizations and the fairness in that."
Among the examples given in the report, the two highest District funded organizations for 2024 are the Squamish Community Foundation and Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association (SORCA).
The community foundation receives $131,000 from the District to distribute as community grants. Similarly, Squamish Arts receives $54,000 to distribute as community grants.
Meanwhile, SORCA's District grant is $110,000 for trail building and maintenance.
Our Squamish and the Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association have partnership agreements with 2024 funding of $30,000 and $45,000, respectively.
For more information, watch this portion of the Jan. 23 committee of the whole meeting on the District's YouTube channel, which begins at about the 1:06 mark.
