A Belleville councillor has questioned the costs involved in the reduced celebrations for the two major events in July.
Belleville Chamber of Commerce, which has a contract to carry out a number of events for the city, announced recently the Canada Day and Waterfront Festival celebrations would be significantly downsized.
They will not be held as crowded events at Zwick’s Park.
At council this week, Councillor Paul Carr asked if any of the $125,000 contract would be returned.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk answered that this has not yet been discussed.
Panciuk added,”Regardless if events are cancelled or not, the Chamber still put all the work into organizing them. This is their decision to modify this event which I think we are all going to endorse. They spent the resources on their staff. Waterfront (Festival) is not just an activity that just happens a couple of months before. They work on it throughout the year.”
“What I’ve said to Ms. Raycroft ( Chamber CEO) was that when we get through this we can sit down and have an accounting from them of what their costs were.”
Carr emphasized he did not want to “short change the Chamber but with the COVID-19 situation, every little dollar counts.”
In a letter to council, Belleville Chamber of Commerce set out the changes being made because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can read the outline by clicking HERE.
