North Thompson Music Guild would like to again host music evenings in the Dutch Lake Community Centre field and would like $5,000 from District of Clearwater to help make that happen.
That was the primary purpose of a presentation made by guild representative Jack Keough to a town council meeting held Feb. 16.
The music evenings held last summer were well received, Keough said.
The money would be used to upgrade and enhance the guild's existing music and light system.
Most of the musicians who took part in the music evenings are local, he pointed out, as are the sound system people.
The guild now has a new stage, he reported, and he hoped it would enhance the music quality and provide a more professional looking venue.
The guild's major event last year was co-hosting a concert by Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Lahey.
This spring they are looking at bringing in Abbacadabra, an Abba tribute band.
As is standard practice with town council, the request was referred to staff and will be decided on at a later meeting.
Coupon program provides healthy eating
A nutrition coupon program carried out in collaboration with Clearwater Farmers Market and Yellowhead Community Services Society last year yielded positive results, according to a letter from Jon Bell, president of BC Association of Farmers Markets.
The program helped lower income pregnant women, families and seniors purchase fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs, nuts, fish, meat and herbs.
Total cost of the program over the year was about $5,000.
Under the program, participants received $15 in coupons per week for 16 weeks.
Council decided to invite representatives from Clearwater Farmers Market and Yellowhead Community Services to tell councillors about their success.
Recreation instructors to get insurance
Town council agree to a recommendation from staff to provide liability insurance to contract recreation instructors.
The coverage would come from the Municipal Insurance Association and would cost about $650 per year in total.
“There is a gap because some instructors have insurance and others don't,” said chief administrative officer Leslie Groulx. “If you buy it on your own, it's quite expensive, and so some instructors say why bother if they're only teaching one or two programs.”
The insurance would cover eight instructors working for the district's recreation program.
Needs assessment gets support
Clearwater council voted to provide a letter of support for a request by Yellowhead Community Services to get seed funding to complete a needs assessment with regards to affordable housing needs for Clearwater and area
If approved, the funding for the study would come from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.