Council amends policy to fund non-profit despite concerns from staff
NANAIMO — A senior staffer at City Hall is concerned Nanaimo council is setting a dangerous precedent by ignoring their own policies to fund a Campbell River-based non-profit.
Council approved up to $30,000 in funding for the Vancouver Island North Film Commission (INfilm) despite numerous warnings from deputy chief administrative officer Victor Mema that Council policy stipulates the organization is not eligible for City funding because it is not based in Nanaimo.
“You really want policies to be respected,” Mema told NanaimoNewsNOW. “If you can just change these things on the fly then it begs the question ‘why do you need policies at all, why don’t you just make it a free-for-all.’”
Mema also said even if INfilm qualified for the funding, there’s no money in the 2017 budget to pull from. “Unless you’re asking me to take money out of reserves, which I wouldn’t recommend, we don’t have funding for that,” Mema told Council on Monday evening.