Once again the interpretive centre has come up for discussion at the council table.
I think that Village of Burns Lake councillor Luke Strimbold does have a valid point when he suggested that further attention needs to be paid to the actual use of the village owned, interpretive centre building on Hwy. 16.
Councillor Strimbold said, either sell the building or work towards creating an interpretive centre that fits more in terms of the original intent for the building.
However, because the interpretive centre was partially built with grant funding from Western Economic Diversification there are rules and regulations that need to be followed.
One of the rules is that the building can not be sold by the Village of Burns Lake.
New to the table, this is something that Coun. Strimbold must not have realized when he made the suggestion, but still, I can see where his thinking lies.
The issue has come up time and again around the council table and probably will come up again.
Another point Coun. Strimbold made before agreeing to a one year lease renewal, is that he did not want council to be seen as subsidizing local businesses, which I also think is a fair comment.
He asked the question, is the Lakes Artisan Cooperative considered to be a business?
To answer the question a definition of a cooperative was researched and provided to council.
A few words from the definition provided hinted that the cooperative could be considered a business ..... the words? ...... enterprise and economic.
When you look up the definition of ‘business’ you find, ‘a business, also known as an enterprise or firm is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers and is administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of its owners.
The answer to Coun. Strimbold’s question may be a little clearer, when both definitions are used to determine an answer.
So is the Lakes Artisan Cooperative getting a good deal on the rent and being subsidized by council?
I am not a business owner so I can’t say for certain.
Is $500 a month including utilities, snow plowing and repairs a good deal?
I do understand that council is limited in its choice of businesses that can rent the interpretive centre and the Lakes Artisan Cooperative do represent Burns Lake and the Lakes District through original and locally produced artisan crafts and works of art.
But there are also other businesses in town that are similar, who are perhaps not currently receiving the same sort of deal on their rent.
Perhaps this is something that could be further addressed by council when the lease comes up for renewal again in August next year. Mayor Bernice Magee is also correct in that it is better to have the building leased than sit empty, but with this deal is money being made or lost?
Either way I think the issue will keep cropping up unless council bites the bullet and uses the building strictly as an interpretive centre, or perhaps investigates the possibility of amending the terms of the contract to enable them more freedom for the use of their building.