The committee responsible for St. Albert’s 150th anniversary celebrations will file its final report after its last project is completed later this summer, its chair said.
Margaret Plain said the only outstanding work is the installation of the statue honouring 1999 Volunteer Citizen of the Year Millie Seitz in the St. Albert ACT/UBT Celebration Garden near Chateau Mission Court. That is expected to take place some time in July.
“So once that is done and we have the expenses done for that, then we can complete the financial project to the city,” Plain said.
To finish off its books, the committee must finish and install the statue and submit the necessary paperwork to the federal government in order to receive the 10 per cent of a $25,000 grant that was held back until the work was finished. Once that money is received, the report will be finished.
The report is expected to be filed by Sept. 24.
“That’s what we’re hoping for,” Plain said. “We should be able to be done by then.”
Chris Jardine, general manager of community and protective services, said wrapping up three years of activity in one report is bound to take some time.
“One of the things a lot of people have difficulty reconciling was this was a yearlong event three years in the making and there are some windup activities that have to happen,” Jardine said. “There’s a few different legacy things that don’t get done until the year is over.”
Besides the statue, the maquette of which was unveiled in November, the committee also printed a commemorative book earlier this year.
“We did the book launch in April so that was an outstanding expense in relation to a provincial grant so the final report for that should be able to go in soon,” Plain said.
According to Jardine’s estimate, the committee raised approximately $1.5 million for its expenses for the 150th celebrations. The city gave the committee two grants once the committee was formed — $500,000 as seed money and then approximately $30,000 for office space.
“The city will not be putting another penny into this but part of the committee’s responsibility was some legacy works,” Jardine said. “I think everybody needs to know the city’s commitment was finite and we’re not expecting to get any money back from that.”
Any remaining funds will be distributed to other community groups for legacy work. Under arrangements already made, any surplus funds will be distributed to the Spirit of St. Albert Society, which was formed to continue some of the events the 150th committee held, such as the river valley picnic last August, and the Arts and Public Places program.
The public art program will receive 60 per cent of any remaining funds, while the Spirit of St. Albert Society will receive the remaining 40 per cent.
In the interim, Plain said she will be working on compiling the non-financial component of the report so that it is ready to go when the city’s financing department is ready to crunch the final numbers.
