On July 22, Sechelt council released the Sechelt Innovations Ltd. (SIL) 2015 strategic plan and budget from in camera.
The budget showed that SIL planned to spend nearly $180,000 in 2015 and nearly $100,000 in 2016 on fixed expenses to operate. In addition, the budget showed projected costs of about $176,000 in 2015 and about $59,000 in 2016 to advance SIL’s goal of attracting new business to set up in Sechelt.
The District of Sechelt dissolved SIL in February and Sechelt Mayor Bruce Milne said it was important to release the information from in camera during the July 22 regular council meeting.
“We’re releasing it because in the financial committee we also released the financial statements, so we wanted the two to go together so people would finally get a sense of what SIL had been about,” Milne said.
The financial statements, released in a July 15 finance, culture and economic development committee meeting, are from 2014 and show that SIL spent more than $212,000 that year on goods and services. In addition, SIL paid over $115,000 for employee remuneration in 2014.
Annual report
Sechelt released its 2014 annual report in a unique way on July 18 during a summer music performance on the lawn outside the District office.
The Saturday afternoon affair drew about 75 people and Mayor Milne, who chaired the meeting, responded to questions.
Following the release of the annual report and the question and answer period, attendees were treated to ice cream and music by Definitely Diva.
Milne said during the July 22 regular council meeting that the event was a success and he’d like to see the District follow the same model next year.
SOFI
Within the 2014 annual report was the statement of financial information which lists all employees who made more than $75,000 that year.
Among the top earners listed were chief financial officer Victor Mema, who earned $148,797.29, director of development services Ray Parfitt, $144,266.01, and director of corporate services Margi Nicholas, who earned $129,923.89.
Most expenses for top paid employees were under $8,000 for the year; however, Mema racked up a total of $44,678.46 in expenses in 2014.
CF funds
At the July 22 regular council meeting councillors approved $101,400 in Sunshine Coast Commu-nity Forest Legacy Fund grants for three non-profit organizations.
The Sunshine Coast Community Services Society was granted $65,000 to help fund an expansion of its kitchen. The new commercial kitchen will help the society provide food and nutritional education to members of the community.
The Sunshine Coast Bot-anical Garden Society was granted $6,400 to build a wheelchair accessible ramp in the native plant garden.
And the West Sechelt Elementary Playground Enhancement Committee was granted $30,000 to help complete a natural playground project at the school.
While most councillors were in favour of approving the funding for the playground committee, council also decided to write a letter to the school board, letting them know about the donation and pointing out that the playground sits on school district property.
Traffic money
Council awarded $56,498 in traffic fine revenue to three important programs on July 22.
Council approved $10,000 for the Sunshine Coast Restorative Justice Program, $22,725 for the youth outreach program and $23,773 for the victim services program.
The restorative justice program was expecting a deficit for 2015 and the funds are meant to help. The District funds 28 per cent of the restorative justice program on the Coast.
