LATE DISTRIBUTION
FOR COUNCIL NOVEMBER 14, 1995
A8
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: November 9, 1995
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: General Manager of Corporate Services
SUBJECT: Funding for City of Vancouver Gift
for Guangzhou Friendship Park
CONSIDERATION
A. THAT Council approve a $5,000 grant to Vancouver-
Guangzhou friendship Society for the purchase of the
George Pratt salmon/sundial sculpture as a gift for
Guangzhou's Friendship Park. The source of funds to be
the Sister City Grant budget.
- OR -
B. THAT Council approve the purchase of the George Pratt
salmon/sundial sculpture, at a cost of up to $6,300, as
a gift for Guangzhou's Friendship Park. The source of
funds to be the Sister City Grant budget.
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Corporate Services presents the
choice of either A or B for Council's CONSIDERATION.
COUNCIL POLICY
In the 1995 operating budget Council allocated $15,000 for grants
to Vancouver's sister city societies. The guidelines for such
grants were set out by Council at the meeting of March 24, 1992
and are as follows:
1. Each society to provide an accounting for the expenditure of
the previous year's grant before the next year's grant
application is considered.
2. Each society to present an outline of its plan for the next
twelve months along with information on the projects it
would like Council to support.
3. Grants to sister city society for a specific project should
be no more than 20% of the total funding for that project.4.
Maximum grants per society should be no more than 40%
of the total sister city grant appropriation for any year.
5. A significant portion of the expenditures for the projects
supported by the City's grant should be made in Vancouver.
The grant year runs from June 1 to May 31.
BACKGROUND
No grants have been allocated for the current grant year which
ends on May 31, 1996. However, Council, with the agreement of
the Vancouver-Yokohama Sister City Society, approved the
expenditure of $5,000 from this account for the hosting of a
delegation from Yokohama led by Mayor Takahide, leaving a balance
of $10,000.
The Chairman of the Vancouver-Guangzhou Friendship Society, in a
letter dated November 3, 1995 has requested Council to approve
the purchase of a sculpture by a local artist as a gift for
Guangzhou's Friendship Park. The total cost of the is $6,300.
The sculpture, is a sundial with a salmon motif base and will
simultaneously indicate the time of day in Guangzhou and
Vancouver. It is sculpted from BC granite and will endure
outdoors for an extremely long time. The Friendship Park is
important to the City of Guangzhou, and such a sculpture would
appropriately commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Vancouver-
Guangzhou sister city relationship as requested by the City of
Guangzhou.
On September 12, 1995 Council accepted Guangzhou's invitation to
send a delegation this Fall and allocated a budget of $14,000
from the Contingency Reserve. That budget was structured as
follows:
Airfares (return) x 3 $6,000
Per diems 1,500
Banquet 4,000
Gifts & contingencies 2,500
Mayor Owen is scheduled to lead a delegation from Vancouver to
Guangzhou on November 20th. If Council approves the proposed
expenditure, it may be possible for Mayor Owen to dedicate the
sculpture during that visit.
COMMENT
Normally, the Vancouver-Guangzhou Friendship Society would be
eligible for 20% (that is $3,000) of the overall $15,000 Sister
City Grant budget, but it has not yet fulfilled the first two
policy guidelines listed above, and in this instance is
requesting that the City pay the entire cost of the gift.If
Council wishes to assist the purchase of the sculpture with a
grant instead of a direct purchase it could vary the guidelines.
Regardless of how the purchase is achieved, Council should
reserve some funding for both the Vancouver-Los Angeles Sister
City Society and the Vancouver-Odessa Sister City Society as
neither have yet applied for grants this year.
If Council approves the direct purchase of the sculpture by the
City of Vancouver the total cost will be about $6300 leaving a
balance of only $3,700 in the Sister City Grant budget to be
shared by two other sister societies. If Council approves a
$5,000 grant to the Vancouver-Guangzhou Sister City Society, the
balance to be shared by the two other societies would be $5,000.
There are three apparent courses of action for the City:
1. Provide no funding.
2. Purchase the sculpture directly for $6,300.
3. Provide a grant to the Vancouver-Guangzhou Sister City
Society for:
a. $6,300
b. $5,000
c. a lesser amount.
Staff believe (given the importance of the relationship with
Guangzhou, the desire for the gift to be presented jointly by the
City of Vancouver and the Vancouver-Guangzhou Friendship Society,
and the need to retain funds to assist the other sister city
societies) that Council should approve a grant of $5,000 on the
understanding that the Vancouver-Guangzhou Sister City Society
will raise the balance.
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