Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 57 • Issue 37
City council rejects resolution to officially rename community centre VRCC BY KYLE DARBYSON KYLE@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
HEALTH AND LEISURE MART KICKS OFF BUSY SEASON NEWS - PAGE 2
PELLET GUN SHOOTING LEADS TO ARREST NEWS - PAGE 6
PRIDE NORTH OF 55 NEEDS RECRUITS NEWS - PAGE 7
On Sept. 5, Thompson city council voted to put an end to the confusion surrounding the name of the local community centre. A memo prepared by city manager Gary Ceppetelli recommended that council officially change the name of the facility from the Thompson Regional Community Centre (TRCC) to the Vale Regional Community Centre (VRCC) for a fiveyear period ending Dec. 31, 2021. Ceppetelli justified this recommendation by referencing Vale’s $3 million donation to help build the $24 million facility, which was the biggest contribution out of any other private donor. But the vote ended in a 4-4 tie, so the resolution was defeated, which means that the facility will officially revert to using the name TRCC. Councillors Blake Ellis, Penny Byer, deputy mayor Kathy Valentino and Colleen Smook voted in favour of the name change with Dennis Foley, Duncan Wong, Judy Kolada and Ron Matechuk opposed. Mayor Dennis Fenske recused himself from voting due to a conflict of interest as he is employed by Vale This topic was previously discussed at an in-camera meeting on Nov. 16, 2015, and the name change was announced in November 2016. Ellis and Byer said the naming rights were about recognizing Vale’s contribution to getting the facility built in the first place. “To me, giving them the naming rights for five years is a small thing given the fact that we would not have the facility without their kind of support,” said Byer. However, Kolada said this recognition should be given out proportionately. Since Vale paid for roughly 12.5 per cent of the project, Kolada suggested giving
Thompson Citizen photo by Kyle Darbyson Coun. Duncan Wong brandishes a 2010 contribution agreement between Vale and the City of Thompson to back up his claim that Vale shouldn’t receive naming rights for the local community centre. A resolution to officially rename the community centre the Vale Regional Community Centre until the end of 2021 was defeated in a 4-4 tie vote Sept. 5. the mining giant naming rights to one of the building’s boardrooms instead of the entire facility. Wong later backed up this idea by pointing to the original contribution agreement between the city and Vale from Nov. 15, 2010, which states that the company never wanted naming rights to the building to begin with. “The contribution agreement, at page nine, it stated very clearly what Vale wanted. All they wanted was a hall of fame or a plaque in front of [the lobby]. They never mentioned a name change. So, why all of the sudden we have to change the name to VRCC?” Ceppetelli later pointed out that this 2010 agreement was signed before Vale made an additional $1.5 million contribution to the final phase of the project, bringing their total to $3 million. Wong went on the say that council’s decision to jump the gun and announce the name change back in
2016, and use the term VRCC for local signage on the city’s website in the interim, before a resolution was passed, was inappropriate and “illegal,” in his opinion. Valentino threw her support behind changing the name to VRCC, saying that this move is standard operating procedure for other small Manitoba communities. To back up her point, Valentino pointed to municipalities like Portage la Prairie and Dauphin, which have facilities named after Portage Credit Union and Credit Union, respectively. “So it’s not that we’re doing anything different than anybody else. We’re just acknowledging that the biggest private corporate donations that are allowing these communities to have these facilities built,” said Valentino. Before council voted on the resolution, Foley attempted to table this resolution for a future meeting so they could talk about these issues in more detail.
“We have not met as a council to discuss the agreement since we’ve received it,” he said. “The only time we’ve had to have a roundtable discussion back and forth has been at this meeting.” Although the motion was seconded by Byer, the rest of the council voted against it. According to Ceppetelli in a follow-up interview with the Thompson Citizen, this result means that the name TRCC will be restored to the city’s website and all corresponding signage. Although council members have the option to bring this resolution back for a vote in the future, there’s no telling when or if this will take place. Mining Community Reserve Fund Fenske also went through the council’s correspondence at this Sept. 5 meeting, which included a letter from Dave Dyson, the provincial government’s acting deputy minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade. Dyson’s letter was writ-
ten in response to council’s request to utilize a $10 million Mining Community Reserve Fund, and contained instructions on how the City of Thompson can go about submitting proposals for financial assistance. “I think this is a start,” said Valentino. “I look forward to us as a city now putting in some of these proposals to getting the help that we’re going to need from the province.” Other business Similar to the last couple council meetings, Fenske started the evening off by handing out certificates of appreciation to some exceptional local residents. This latest group included gold medal winning Special Olympian Brandon McDonald, Canada Summer Games athlete Dennita Cameron and this year’s Canadian Scholastic Achievement League provincial champion Simon Hopton. The next Thompson city council meeting is set to take place on Sept. 18 at City Hall.
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