ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
	TO:	Mayor and Members of Council
	FROM:	Stuart Taylor, Director, Strategic Services
	PREPARED BY:	Mavis Urquhart, Manager, Environmental Leadership
	DATE OF MEETING:	2004-Dec-13
	SUBJECT:	Report on Spending of 2004 Markham Council Grants for Rouge River and Don River Watersheds

RECOMMENDATION:

That the staff report entitled “Report on Spending of 2004 Markham Council Grants for Rouge River and Don River Watersheds”, dated December 13, 2004, be received;

And that a cheque in the amount of $25,000 be issued to the Rouge Park Alliance for their programs, as outlined in this report.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this report is to provide details on how the $50,000 grants, approved through the 2004 budget process, to fund capital projects in the Rouge Park and Don Watershed were spent and what projects were undertaken in Markham as a result of the grants.

BACKGROUND:

During the 2004 budget process, it was recommended that a grant of $50,000 be provided for Rouge Park and Don Watershed improvements. The recommendation included a requirement that each organization procure matching funds and that a summary report be submitted to Committee, outlining how the grants were spent. This report identifies the 2004 program for the Rouge Park that has now been completed. The Don Watershed Regeneration Council has not spent their grant for 2004 or 2003 yet.

DISCUSSION:

Reporting Requirement

To ensure accountability, both the Don Watershed Council and the Rouge Park were to submit a written report to the Town of Markham through the Manager, Environmental Leadership as to how the grant was spent. The report was to include, but was not limited to:

· Location of the Project

· Monitoring

· Future requirements for the Project

Rouge Park

Council committed $25,000 to projects located in the Rouge Park in the 2004 Budget.

The attached report Summary (Appendix 1) from Rouge Park Alliance representatives describes the all the projects that they undertook in 2004 and the location of the projects. The $25,000 grant was used for the Milne 2004 Tree Planting in Milne Park and the 10,000 Trees for the Rouge Valley Planting.

Table A to the Summary shows that $25,000 from the Town was spent together with $36,248 from other sources and $82,104 from the community “in kind” for the two projects for a total value of $143,952. This information demonstrates that the Rouge Park has leveraged the Town’s grant contribution from 2004, so that for every $1.00 contributed by Markham, approximately another $6.00 worth of work was implemented.

Rouge Park Alliance representatives advise that ongoing monitoring is being undertaken for both projects and there are likely no future requirements for these projects, although they do anticipate undertaking other new projects in the future and will be seeking funding from the Town in 2005.

Don Watershed

Council also committed $25,000 to projects in 2004 located in the Don River watershed. The Don Watershed Regeneration Council (DWRC), formerly the Don Watershed Council, has not used the grants ($50,000) made to them in 2003 and 2004.

The DWRC have, however, submitted a letter outlining how they may use the aggregated grants from 2003 and 2004 for development and installation of river crossing signs and potentially a large project (see Appendix 2 – letter from DWRC dated September 9, 2004). By aggregating the grant funds over two years, the DWRC will have $50,000 to leverage with other partners to secure additional funding, in addition to the matching funds provided by the TRCA. The DWCR has therefore requested that the grant money from 2003 and 2004, plus any additional funds offered, be held until an appropriate project is established. The Town has recently created a task force to work on an implementation plan for the Pomana Creek component of the Don River. Initiatives and funding requirements proposed by the DWCR in this area should be co-ordinated with that Task Force and submitted to Markham Council for approval.

Prior to issuance of a cheque to DWRC, a report on the completed project must be presented Environment and Community Services Committee.

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

Funds have been dedicated for these initiatives in a capital account from taxed based funding. The attached financial summary from Rouge Park representatives provides details on the projects and illustrates that the condition of procuring matching funding has been satisfied. Staff recommends that a cheque for $25,000 (2004 funding) be provided to Rouge Park.

BUSINESS UNITS CONSULTED AND AFFECTED:

Finance, Planning and Engineering staff have been consulted in the preparation of this report.

ATTACHMENTS:

Appendix 1 - Rouge Park Project Summary

Appendix 2 - Letter from DWRC dated September 9, 2003

Stuart Taylor, Director, Strategic Services Department

Jim Sales, Commissioner, Community and Fire Services

Z:\Strategic Services\Members\Victoria McGrath\Reports\2004 Reports\Rouge and Don grants report to F & A C 12 06 04.doc