RDOS pondering how to spend provincial COVID-19 Safe Restart grant money

Photo: Contributed

The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen has had some preliminary discussion on how to spend $773,000 of provincial COVID-19 Safe Restart grant money, with a significant focus on expanding available office, meeting and storage space for the board and staff. 

In a presentation to the board Thursday, finance manager Jim Zaffino outlined staff recommendations for the money, which needs to be spent by Dec. 31, 2021. 

The proposal calls for $206,600 set aside in a reserve for unanticipated expenses related to COVID-19 recovery in the new year. 

Further recommendations include leasing space across from City Hall in Penticton for five years at a total cost of $250,000 to house the district's data bank and provide around 10 office spaces to allow for some relocation of staff to adhere to social distancing. 

"We don’t think that [COVID-19] is going to last forever, I don’t think anybody does, but it’s definitely going to last for the next six months or so,” CAO Bill Newell said. ”The fact is we are too tightly jammed in here anyway. It’s too stressful for the staff.”

The lease term of five years was chosen because more permanent, long-term plans are in the works for data bank storage and additional office space, possibly via a shared space with Penticton or Summerland to cut down on costs.

In the rest of the proposal, $61,500 is recommended for an upgrade to video conferencing software, $165,000 to go to Information Services for much-needed IT upgrades, $14,900 for board management software to improve efficiency of board reports via Webex, $125,000 for an HVAC system upgrade and board room upgrades to COVID-19 protocols at the RDOS headquarters on Martin Street and $30,000 for a needs assessment at RDOS facilities region-wide. 

Zaffino explained that all spending from the grant must be approved by the province as fitting with COVID-19 restart needs. The province has already pre-approved leasing the new office and storage space. 

Some board directors had concerns that too much of the money was going to building upgrades, and not enough directly to RDOS residents and organizations. Suggestions included funding for local fire departments and community facilities. 

Zaffino said that a more efficient democracy, which many of the recommendations would ideally lead to, was a benefit to everyone, and that the remaining $206,600 was there for more projects as the board directs. 

"The board has a lot of time between the first reading and the third reading to take a look at that and how to spend that $206,600," he said, explaining that changes and additions could be made to the proposal throughout the budget deliberation process beginning in January. 

Director Mark Pendergraft of rural Osoyoos Area A pointed out that municipalities within the RDOS have already received their own Restart grants from the province, and that $185,580 of this grant is based on a per capita amount of $8.13 for the rural population.

"That should probably be distributed in those rural areas directly," he said. 

Board members were encouraged to send suggestions for the money directly to staff.

They voted to approve including the proposal as it stands in the 2021 budget, to be presented in January and further discussed and modified.