UPDATE 11th hour agreement keeps cultural centre alive

Sep 24, 2020 | 5:00 AM

It took a four hour special meeting of the Greater Vernon Services Committee (GVAC) Wednesday night to hammer out essential details for the Greater Vernon Cultural Centre, so staff can proceed with grant applications.

Fine tuning with the two main tenants, the Greater Vernon Museum and Archives and the Vernon Public Art Gallery, saw the building footprint shrink by about 22 per cent, from 58,000 square feet to 46,000 square feet.

The reduction was achieved by integration of multi use areas, shrinking exhibition and administration, and reducing collection and storage space. The museum archives are staying at the current museum while pictures and documents are being digitized.

The project was facing a funding shortfall with operating costs coming in much higher than first costed out in 2018. Capital expenses have also changed with increased construction and contingency costs.

A deadline is approaching for federal infrastructure grants, key to the capital cost of the $40 million centre. The new proposal calls for $8.5 million from infrastructure funds, and $2 million in cultural grants.

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“We need to make a bigger ask, put a case together for it and don’t give up. If we don’t get it, we are going to have a mess here.” Coldstream Mayor Jim Garlick

Staff and other directors were concerned that asking for too much would result in not getting grants, effectively killing the project.

Vernon Public Art Gallery Executive Director Dauna Kennedy-Grant watched anxiously from the gallery.

Re-allocating millions of maturing debt from Kal Tire Place and the Vernon Performing Arts Centre to make up the gap resulted in some rancourous debate.

“I hate to stab this in the heart, but there is no way I’m going forward to people and tell them we are putting $5 million dollars in a cultural reserve. It’s a shell game. No way.” Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming

Nearly 24 million dollars in maturing debt being paid by Greater Vernon taxpayers will be completely off the books by 2023.

Electoral area “B” director Bob Fleming made a motion to restructure the proposed capital funding strategy to leave the maturing debt out of the equation.

Fleming proposed a $39.5 million dollar capital funding strategy that will include $25 million in borrowing (approved in the culture centre referendum) $8.5 million in infrastructure grants, $2 million in culture grants and $4 million in fundraising and donations. That motion passed unanimously.

GVAC Chair Akbal Mund indicated it wasn’t easy but it worked out.

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Staff were also instructed to develop a coordinated lobbying strategy for the grant applications, while the GVAC committee will be pressing provincial and federal politicians.

Thanks to a 3.9 percent increase in population and lower interest rates, the proposed cost of the facility pegged at $48 dollars per average taxpayer during the referendum has dropped to $42 dollars.

The following information was issued in a RDNO news release on Sept. 25:

Funding Strategy Approved by GVAC for the Greater Vernon Cultural Centre

On Wednesday, September 23, 2020, the Greater Vernon Advisory Committee (GVAC) was tasked with considering the capital and operational funding strategies for the Cultural Centre. The funding strategies are required components for a major grant application for the project. After nearly four hours of debate and discussion, the committee unanimously approved a revised funding strategy for both the capital construction of the project and the estimated ongoing operational costs.

The approved capital funding strategy is:

Borrowing:
$25 million (approved in 2018 by referendum)
Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program – Community, Culture and Recreation Grant: $8.5 million
Other Grants: $2 million
Fundraising / donations: $4 million
Total: $39.5 million

This funding strategy is consistent with the referendum in that it limits the taxpayer funding to the $25 million borrowing, with the remainder of the funding to come from grants and fundraising.

In May 2020, the project steering team was directed by GVAC to investigate ways to reduce the size of the building by up to 20% square footage and to update and review both the capital and operational costs. Four stakeholder workshops were held during which the Cultural Centre total square footage was reduced by 21%. The reduction in space resulted in innovative solutions for more flexible and adaptable spaces that can be used for multiple purposes.

For example, exhibition spaces will be designed to be flexible, with moveable walls, and classroom spaces will be multi-purpose, also serving as meeting rooms and as additional backstage area for performances. The decision was also made to leave the archives vault in its current location and increase public access to archival documents through digitization and remote terminals in the new building.

While the saving of square footage reduced some of the projected operational costs of the Cultural Centre, GVAC unanimously agreed to support an additional annual amount of $286,000 funded through taxation for projected utility, maintenance, and programming costs.

“Submitting grant applications does not guarantee we will be successful in securing the funding, but deciding upon these vital details is an important milestone in the project,” said Akbal Mund, Chair of GVAC. “Without these approved strategies, our application would be incomplete, so tonight’s decisions were an integral step towards the success of the project.”

by Kevin Rothwell

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