The Manna Homeless Society was facing a crisis during the cold snap of the past couple of months, scrambling to help people in Parksville Qualicum Beach to stay warm, fed and indoors.
The society put out the call to local governments for money, asking the Town of Qualicum Beach, the City of Parksville and the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) to make up a $5,000 shortfall.
Qualicum Beach gave $5,000. So did the RDN. That gave Manna double the $5,000 it was seeking. When it came time for Parksville to make a decision on Monday night, Coun. Leanne Salter couldn’t even get a seconder for her motion for the city to provide $5,000. The motion died without a vote.
That’s when the discussion became heated in council chambers.
“Shame on Parksville,” said Salter. “Parksville does nothing but rub its hands together, pay lip service (to homelessness issues). We have no problem spending $13,500 to put up Christmas lights.”
Coun. Mary Beil suggested Manna has what it needs to get over its most recent crisis.
“With $10,000 in hand, I’m thinking it’s no longer an emergency situation,” said Beil.
Coun. Kirk Oates looked to the gallery and asked if there was a representative from Manna in attendance. There was no reply.
“I guess that says a lot,” said Oates, who then turned his attention to fellow councillor Salter.
“Perhaps you might want to educate yourself before you come in here and accuse us of doing nothing,” said Oates.
Mayor Marc Lefebvre also had a reaction to Salter’s comments.
“I take exception to what Councillor Salter said,” he said. “Parksville does more than its share.”
The request from Manna, and one from Parksville Scouts for $2,000 to help replace equipment stolen recently (request denied by council Monday night), spurred Coun. Kim Burden to suggest council look at changing the way it disperses funds for requests.
The city currently has a few ways to provide money for these requests. They can be worked into budget talks, which is not exactly a quick-response option. They can be slotted into the grants-in-aid program, a $5,000/year pot where applications are accepted twice a year. Or they can be funded through a council contingency fund that has $25,000.
Burden suggested adding some money to the grants-in-aid program from the council contingency fund and processing the applications quarterly.
“I don’t want to cut off the requests,” said Burden, “I just want them to go through a process.”
Council did not support Burden’s idea. Oates said the one-off funding requests are going to come to the city from time to time, regardless of policy.
“I can’t support cutting off that line of communication between residents and council,” said Oates.
“Emergencies happen.”
