Stuk PH26649 - Committee revises Millennium Clock Tower project

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Community : Bradford
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Description : The Downtown Revitalization Committee, a subcommittee of H.E.A.R.T., has been busy with damage control, in light of opposition to its Millennium Clock Tower project. The Committee now says that letters sent out last month, which described the cost of the project as $87,000 for the clock tower and $15,000 for the granite obelisk - figures were confirmed by Chair of the Committee, Mikki Nanowski - were incorrect. The cost will, members say be no more than $87,000, perhaps less, due in part to donations of materials and time by local firms. And the Committee has agreed to shift the location of the clock tower, just east of the existing Courthouse parkette, leaving the maple tree and ring of benches in place, and adding a walkway and new flower gardens, to expand the parkette area. Although the municipality has promised financial support of $12,000, the committee plans to "make every effort to come up with funds through fundraising." The project has received a $10,000 donation from the Ventra Group, $3,00 from Holy Trinity High School's
Community Help Day fundraiser, and the Committee has applied for an $11,000 provincial Millennium grant. The annual Mayor's Golf Tournament, to be held in August, is expected to raise $8,000. Other fundraisers planned include a "Clock Walk" and a Silent Auction at the Super Saturday Street Party on Labor Day weekend. The Committee is also hoping to raise $40,000 through sponsorships, encouraging residents and businesses to pay to have their names engraved on the granite obelisk that will sit within the clock tower's steel framework. There is a tight time schedule, if the project is to be completed by the end of the year. The clock needs to be ordered by June 30th, the obelisk by the end of August. Council, in Tuesday night's meeting of Committee of the Whole, suggested that the Committee should set the goal of raising the needed sponsorship by June 29th, for the project to proceed. "We'll have the pledge sheets out, forthwith," promised Councillor Gary Lamb, a member of the Downtown Revitalization Committee, adding that the cost of sponsorship "will be affordable for families." The Town will issue tax receipts for donations.