Lack of programming, poor relationships led to breakdown between City and NPCS

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – The City of Fort St. John cited programming, facility use, financial mismanagement, and maintenance concerns as reasons for its decision to assume control of the North Peace Cultural Centre.

Another concern regards the North Peace Cultural Society staff allegedly pocketing gratuity charges at catered events instead of staff.

On Tuesday, Mayor Lori Ackerman sent a letter to Rosemary Landry, President of the Fort St. John Community Arts Council, addressing the concern and surprise at the recent announcement.

In the letter, Ackerman says the City’s concerns have been raised in closed-door discussions with the Society board and that they have been aware of the concerns for months.

“Although it was our original intention to keep the discussion of these deficiencies private, the record needs to be corrected,” wrote Ackerman.

While she understands the impact of COVID-19 on the planning and use of the facility, the City expected that some virtual programming would be offered. However, when City staff contacted NPCS to assist with virtual events, there was no engagement, and Ackerman says their experience was not unique.

Ackerman noted that the Kiwanis Performing Arts Centre in Dawson Creek had various programming and events, including virtual programs advertised on its website. By comparison, she says the NPCC website only listed a kids art class.

On the topic of the Fort St. John Public Library, Ackerman says the City was surprised to learn that its viability was at stake, based on the fact that the City provides “a large funding envelope every year to support their essential services.”

City staff felt that a non-profit should not pay over $80,000 a year in rent to the NPCS.

“Despite this being the equivalent to a commercial rental rate, requests for health and safety and basic maintenance issues were ignored by the NPCS as it managed the facility on our behalf. In recent months, our staff had to undertake the maintenance and repair activities at the library to address these considerable concerns.”

Ackerman finished by raising one last concern regarding gratuity charges at catered events.

“As typical in catering, the NPCS charged gratuities on the food prepared; however, these gratuities were not passed on to the staff but, instead, were kept by the Society. We are making further inquiries to determine the extent of this practice.”

Ackerman says one staff member was able to recover their tips successfully, but others have not.

In the Employment Standards Act, the policy interpretation surrounding gratuities is identified:

According to subsection 4 of the Employment Standards Act, “If an employer takes or withholds tips from an employee, they can be recovered by the Employment Standards Branch on behalf of the employee in the same way as wages.”

In a separate letter to the NPCS, CAO Milo MacDonald clarified several points of concern.

The first issue was the lack of visible content being created online. The board acknowledged the strategy was lacking but could be improved.

MacDonald says NPCS staff were not engaging with City staff to create and plan events, and there was an unwillingness to plan or commit to programming. The NPCS board recognized it had been ineffective in managing the performance of its staff.

Facility rentals at the North Peace Cultural Centre were found to be for groups that had nothing to do with arts and culture, which resulted in the bulk of the facility rentals. While NPCS said, this was intended to offset the costs of facility rentals by non-profit organizations.

“We have had repeated conversations with members of the Arts and Culture community who question these rates and indicated that a 20 per cent discount to the commercial rate remains unaffordable,” says MacDonald.

MacDonald says Occupational Health and Safety had not been prioritized despite the safety-sensitive nature of the facility.

One example included was a report from the library that their safety-sensitive requests for support were not heard, such as requests for AEDs and safety doors for staff areas.

Delays in supporting documentation during negotiations made the review process impossible, says MacDonald.

“During our meeting on May 5th, 2021, you committed to providing the requested information the following Monday; it has yet to be received. This was merely to provide a list of those groups who were satisfied with the status quo.”

MacDonald says the North Peace Cultural Centre is a City-owned building operated on behalf of the city, and the city is dissatisfied with the quality of management.

On June 15th, the City of Fort St. John announced in a media release it would assume management of the North Peace Cultural Centre, effective in September 2021.

The most recent agreement ended in 2020, and discussions about a new agreement broke down between the two groups. In the release, the City cited “fundamental differences between the two groups relating to the responsibilities and opportunities of community cultural services.”

On June 18th, Chair of the North Peace Cultural Society, Connie Surerus, wrote a letter to the City voicing concerns about a term in the Management Services Agreement: Termination without Reason. Surerus referenced that the term says either party may, without reason, terminate the Agreement upon 12 months’ notice to the other party.

“This did not happen, and if the City of Fort St. John did not intend to renew the agreement, you should have issued the 12 months’ notice at that time,” said Surerus.

Surerus says NPCS received a draft Management Services Agreement for a 5-year term with the same funding and services as the previous agreement. She says final changes to the Agreement were being discussed as recently as March 9th, 2021, when new ideas were presented.

Written letters from the City in response to the Society and Arts Council can be viewed below: