Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
Town of Peace River chose to make some changes to its Council Grants to Organization policy at its regular meeting Feb. 10.
Council reviewed updates to the policy initially at its Feb. 3 governance and priorities meeting, proposing changes to the former policy.
“Some changes (were made) to clarify the policy including a new clause making it clear that applicants must return funds if the project does not proceed,” explains Mayor Elaine Manzer.
“Another change included that clarifies that the grant does not fund regular operational expenditures of the organization, a clause stating the situations in which retroactive funding will not be provided, and another clarifying the requests for capital funding,” she adds.
Manzer says council has experienced situations in the past where an organization has applied for and been awarded funds for a capital project, but then the project had not completed. The former policy left a grey area as to whether or not the funds had to be returned.
“(The changes to the policy) will hopefully help applicants decide if they are eligible to apply for funds,” notes Manzer.
“The budget allocates a total of $50,000 to be awarded to groups with intake deadlines of March 15, June 15 and Sept 15.”
Other changes to the policy include simplification of the scoring chart used to decide if the organization is suitable to be awarded money.
“Organizations that can apply for the funding include not-for-profit community groups, teams and organizations of Peace River for community development, sport and recreation purposes,” Manzer says.
“This grant was created to help community organizations who are working to improve the well-being of the community and quality of life for residents.”
Interested Peace River groups can apply for the grant by visiting the town website at www.peaceriver.ca.
“It helps with some funding when they are not always able to fully fund their work,” Manzer says of the grant. “These organizations help to keep our community attractive and viable.”