Lloydminster approves a policy for an advisory committee that will look after funding that supports family programs in the City.
In July 2017, City administration was asked if the Family and Community Support Services Advisory Committee (FCSS) be allowed to make decisions about where funding from the Saskatchewan Lotteries Community Grant Program be allocated.
The program provides funding to assist local non-profit organizations with their sports, culture and recreational programs. Councillor Jonathan Torresan says the advisory committee for the FCSS grants is a perfect fit to look after how the Saskatchewan Lotteries grants are being distributed as well.
“We think it’s a good way for the community to get a say in where these things are going rather than having some arm of City management making the decisions.”
Part of the policy that was debated upon in Council was penalties for committee members. The penalties state that any violation to the policy may be subject to a wide range of disciplinary action. Councillor Ken Baker says he doesn’t want the penalties to scare off any potential volunteers.
“It’s hard to get volunteers. I wanted to make sure that we weren’t imposing condition on volunteers that would scare them away because as we all know volunteers are hard to get and we appreciate their time.”
The committee is operated by volunteers and is currently in the process of hiring three more people to sit on the board.