Elliot Lake City Council supported a grant application for $405,000 for the Downtown Arts Centre at the Monday council meeting, Sept. 25.
“It's a requirement of the NOHFC (Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation) that we have a resolution of council in support of any application that we make to their program,” Acting Director of Public Works, Bill Goulding, told the council.
The NOHFC is an agency of the Government of Ontario.
Goulding explained the Downtown Arts Centre project “has a number of funders that we've received support from. The most obvious of which is FedNor who committed three-quarters of a million dollars to this project.”
The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) is the Government of Canada’s economic development organization.
Goulding commented, “One of the cardinal rules when approaching two funders for a single project is never have either one fund portions that the other is already funding. And we are not doing that.”
“Constituents in our municipality may notice that the [expenses for the] Downtown Arts Centre project are greater than $810,431. That number represents the difference between the commitment that Fed Nor made us make for their three-quarters of a million dollar funding and the total cost of the project,” said Goulding.
Councillor Merrill Seidel inquired if the grant is for the building’s new front façade. Goulding informed Seidel, that it is.
Acting Mayor Andrew Wannan inquired about the completion date. “With the façade repairs, what’s the estimated date of completion?”
Goulding responded, “We’re looking at a target date of November for total completion of all the project aspects that we’ve contracted for. So, before Christmas certainly, I would expect.”