East Hawkesbury Township has $50,000 to spend from its share of the UCPR Cultural Fund but council is divided on what to do with the money.
There was a long discussion during the October 10 session among council members over a recommendation from township administration to dedicate the money towards completing some of the priority work on construction of the new community centre for the Village of St-Eugène. But not all council members agreed with the suggestion.
The township will receive $50,000 from the United Counties of Prescott-Russell’s (UCPR) Cultural Fund $400,000 allocation to the eight member municipalities. The UCPR’s original plan was to share out the $400,000 based on the population size of each municipality.
That would have meant $16,000 for East Hawkesbury Township because it has one of the lowest populations in the UCPR. But during a UCPR council session earlier in the year, Mayor Robert Kirby argued for an equal distribution of the Cultural Fund money, saying his township should not be penalized for having a smaller population compared to some of the other UCPR municipalities.
The other mayors accepted Kirby’s argument and agreed to $50,000 shares for each municipality. East Hawkesbury administration then reviewed ideas for how to use the township’s share and recommended in a report to council dedicating it to the St-Eugène community centre project.
But not all members of council agreed with the recommendation. Council spent about half an hour discussing other possible uses for the money.
The subject was tabled for further discussion at a future council session.
