Taylor separates policy documents in grants, forgiveness and sponsorship revamp

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The District of Taylor is revamping its grants, forgiveness and sponsorship policies to try to better fit with the needs of the community. 

During the September 2nd committee of the whole, the District of Taylor council read through several new policies from staff broken down from the Grants/Forgiveness/Sponsorship policy passed in 2019. 

Mike Whalley, the district’s interim deputy corporate officer, explained the new separated policies came about in an “overarching” review of the Grants/Forgiveness/Sponsorship policy. 

“While [the policy] held some good points, it became challenging at some times to decipher the application and what was permissible and what wasn’t [so] the feeling was we needed to upgrade our policy to reflect more of what was current [and] relevant, and to provide some guidelines,” Whalley said. 

One of the new documents pertained to funeral and cemetery services in the community.

Whalley explained the new policy was “identical” to what was included in the 2019 policy, and simply served to collect every obligation the district has towards funerals into one document. This would assist staff in researching, as all the information would be in one place. 

Councillors also confirmed that if an individual believed they were not applicable under any policy they could come before council to argue for an exception. 

The second proposed stand-alone policy pertained to bursaries, specifically the two $1,000 annual bursaries provided by the district to support academic goals of local students, adults or seniors who have contributed to the community and are a resident of the district.

This was originally part of the 2019 policy, but staff explained they felt it would be better to make it a stand-alone policy. 

The third and final document addressed grant-in-aid forgiveness of fees for volunteer, community-based organizations that, according to staff, “positively impact the quality of life” for Taylor residents. 

According to the staff-proposed policy, eligible organizations can receive grants to support programming upon outlining their objectives and the specifics of the request, and demonstrating a financial need and other fundraising activities. The applications must be received by district staff at least 90 days before the date funds are requested for. 

To be eligible for fee forgiveness, the organization must be not-for-profit, volunteer and community-based. Applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and “continued support should not be anticipated,” according to staff. 

Minor wording changes and adjustments for the first two policies were recommended by the council, and no recommendations for adjustments were made for the grant-in-aid policy. 

As the policies were reviewed during a committee of the whole meeting, no votes or final decisions were made, and staff will bring the three policies to the council for approval in a future meeting.