Deadbeat councillors play hooky from committee meetings

If Steve Butland, David Celetti, Frank Manzo or Debbie Amaroso try to tell you they're deeply concerned about the plight of Sault Ste. Marie's charities, don't you believe a word of it.

All four of the above-mentioned City Councillors were appointed to the City's Charities and Not-for-Profit Funding Review Committee.

But aside from an inital get-acquainted meeting, not one of these elected representatives has bothered themselves to show up at a single working session.

Even Mayor John Rowswell, who's supposed to be the committee's chair, played hooky from the latest committee gathering on Friday.

Our photograph shows him sticking his head in the door to say he was sorry he had to be somewhere else but "how is everything going?"

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Ward 6 Councillor Frank Manzo has contacted SooToday.com since this article appeared this morning, indicating that he was never notified of this committee's meetings. Members were advised by e-mail, he said, and he no longer has an Internet connection at home and prefers not to use the computers at the Civic Centre. Ward 5 Councillor David Celetti also indicates he was not informed about the committee's meetings. At the conclusion of the first working meeting, Scott Reid, secretary to the committee, commented that he was aware of some people not having access to e-mail and said he would be notifying them by phone. However, Celetti and Manzo have city e-mail addresses which they concur are frequently not checked because of problems with the computers available to councillors at the Civic Centre.)

Publicly, committee members are for the most part keeping their feelings to themselves.

But privately, they're expressing profound discouragement at the poor attendance as the committee rushed last week to draft a set of recommendations for Consumer and Business Services Jim Watson.

And privately, some committee members are wondering whether their suggestions will receive any kind of serious consideration from the province.

Committee members stay away in droves

The committee is supposed to have 19 members, including the mayor, the four councillors and numerous representatives of local charities.

At one meeting last Tuesday, just four committee members showed up. One week earlier, five members attended a similar gathering.

"None of these recommendations can go in the report unless they are passed by the committee as a whole," Scott Reid, the committee's secretary, told last Tuesday's meeting.

The only committee member with perfect attendance so far, Carol Weirzbicki, represents those charities that don't have a voice in the Greenbelt Bingo Association.

"If nothing else comes of this," Weirzbicki said, "I just really hope that people can have their little 50-50 draws, bottle raffles and such and be left alone."

Summary of committee recommendations so far:

- individuals or organizations ineligible for lottery license should be allowed to conduct one draw a month where the prize package cannot exceed $200. No licensing fees. No restrictions on funds generated by the draw. Applicants must submit a lottery notification form before a draw

- any organization eligible for a lottery license should be allowed to conduct one draw per month where the prize package cannot exceed $400. No licensing fees. No restrictions on funds generated by the draw. Applicants must submit a lottery notification form before a draw

- information bulletin No. 032 sould be changed to allow a blanket license to function without a lottery trust account and with no restrictions on the spending of the proceeds of the lottery

- the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario should change the maximum allowable license fee from three percent to one percent

- eliminate, or cut the provincial levy on Nevada tickets in half

Other things the committee intends to do:

- formulate a recommendation to increase Trillium Foundation funding from $100 million to $150 million annually

- formulate a recommendation to restructure Trillium funding from a current formula based on population to a formula that takes into account regional concerns and the impact of local charity casino

- create a fund to facilitate the ongoing education of charities and not-for-profit organizations on more effective fundraising activities and fundraising activities that do not including gaming

What happens next?

Next step for the committee will be to meet with Robert Han, author of a Charity Impact Study on Tuesday evening.

Han will make a presentation to City Council tonight and hear what members of the Charities and Not-for-Profit Funding Review Committee and others have to say tomorrow.

Once done with their recommendations as a whole, the committee will be breaking them up to deliver some to Council, some to Minister Watson and possibly some to the federal government for changes to the Criminal Code of Canada regarding gambling and lotteries.