Stephen Chait, Director, Economic Growth, Culture & Entrepreneurship, introduced the item.
Don De Los Santos, Manager, Small Business Centre, addressed the Committee and provided an overview of the staff report and the process surrounding grant funding allocations.
The Committee discussed the following relative to the staff report:
- need for funding allocations to take into account event costs borne by volunteers through required fees and charges, particularly those related to road safety and security
- need to streamline the process for reviewing community event applications to lessen the burden on volunteer groups
- considering geographic equity as a factor in determining grant eligibility and funding disbursements
- importance of consulting with all appropriate agencies and groups to fully understand cost requirements before making decisions about changes to grant funding calculation criteria
- opportunities for additional sources of revenue to provide supplementary funding to major street and tourist-driven festivals
There was discussion regarding the Celebrate Markham Grant Program's post-event reporting guidelines and the need to hold grant recipients to greater account in satisfying these requirements. The Committee consented that recipients that have not submitted the required outcome and financial documents for events held in 2017 and 2018 by December 1, 2019 should not be considered for grants in future funding cycles.