The City of Rossland is going to change its form for applying for support for recreation programs after a local man complained there was too much red tape involved.
Mike Ramsey told city council at its last meeting that it’s more complicated to apply for the Trail Recreation Program reimbursement than apply for Canadian citizenship.
“I can’t imagine the objectives of designing and implementing an application process that is this complex,” he told council in a presentation.
The TRP form asks a resident to answer 29 questions, 22.5 of which are informational, and 6.5 need essay responses, Ramsey said.
He then compared the form to other government applications.
For Canadian citizenship, Ramsey said there are 11 questions, 10.8 informational and .2 requiring explanation. For a passport, only nine questions have to be answered.
Ramsey says it’s strange the process to apply for financial support from the city is more difficult than getting a passport.
“I won’t even compare the value,” he said. “I will also not speculate on why the application form is so onerous.”
Ramsey says the burden of the application may make it difficult for seniors or persons with disabilities to apply.
“Surely the City of Rossland can streamline this application, shorten it, make it less subjective, improve everyone’s productivity and make it more inclusive of individuals with special needs or in specialized programs.”
Mayor Kathy Moore says council heard Ramsey, and she reviewed the document with another councillor.
“Mike made some excellent points about the form. It is needlessly long and complex,” she said. “I have to laugh because I had a lot of input into it back in the day. Aaron Cosbey and I traded drafts of a revised form over the weekend.”
Moore says she’s passed that draft on to city staff and it should be reviewed at an upcoming meeting.
