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Report To: General Government Committee
Date of Meeting: May 9, 2022 Report Number: CSD-010-22
Submitted By:
Reviewed By:
File Number:
Report Subject:
George Acorn, Director of Community Services
Mary-Anne Dempster, CAO By-law Number:
Resolution#:
COVID Support for Community Halls and Arenas
Recommendation:
1.That Report CSD-010-22, and any related communication items be received for
information.
Municipality of Clarington Page 2
Report CSD-010-22
Report Overview
Staff presented report CSD-007-21 on October 18, 2021. The report outlined the ongoing
challenges being faced by Community Hall and Arena Boards in meeting the requirements of
the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA). Through that report, Resolution C -322-21 directed the
Director of Financial Services/Treasurer to provide funding for the proof of vaccination
process, utilizing the COVID-19 Recover Funds and/or Safe Restart funds. The
arrangement was to remain in place until March 31, 2022, or earlier if amendments were
made to the ROA to eliminate the need for proof of vaccination.
Staff committed to reporting back in the spring of 2022 on the total costs of supporting the
proof of vaccination requirements. This report identifies that the total cost for proof of
vaccination is $25,920.14 for the hall and arena boards.
1. Background
1.1 Starting at the beginning of the pandemic, staff recognized the impact of the closures on
our Community Hall and Arena Boards. As a result, different financial supports were put
in place to assist the boards.
1.2 Most recently, through report CSD-007-21, it was identified that to meet the
requirements under the Reopening Ontario Act (ROA), vaccination status was required
to be verified when entering recreation facilities, starting on September 22, 2021,
including Community Halls and Arenas. The requirement was lifted by the Province of
Ontario as of March 1, 2022.
1.3 To support our community hall and arena operations, Council, through resolution C-322-
21 identified the need to support our Community Hall and Arena Boards to meet these
requirements. Boards were able to access support in one of two ways. Boards could
either choose to pay for their own verification process and then submit costs to the
Municipality for reimbursement, or the Boards could choose to access the Security
company under contract to the Municipality.
1.4 Community Services staff were responsible to work with each Board to, either make the
necessary arrangements to schedule private security services, or to coordinate the
reporting of costs incurred by the Board and arrange for reimbursement.
1.5 Staff also worked with Finance to track the costs of providing this support to the Boards
and have outlined the financial impact in this report.
Municipality of Clarington Page 3
Report CSD-010-22
2. Financial Impact
2.1 Of the 11 eligible Boards, eight took advantage of the offered support for vaccine
verification. The locations included: Brownsdale Community Centre, Hampton
Community Association, Memorial Park Clubhouse, Newcastle Community Hall,
Newtonville Community Hall, Tyrone Community Centre, Orono A rena and Community
Centre and Newcastle Memorial Arena. The three Boards that did not use the service
are Haydon Community Hall, Orono Town Hall and Solina Community Centre.
2.2 The total cost for support for vaccine verification was $25,920 .14 from October 2021
through March 1, 2022. As outlined in the resolution, the funding for this support was
taken from the Safe Restart Program funding.
3. Concurrence
3.1 This report has been reviewed by the Director of Financial Services/Treasurer who
concurs with the recommendation.
4. Conclusion
4.1 Resolution C-322-21 requested that staff report back to Council on the financial support
provided to Community Hall and Arena Boards to support the ROA requirements to
complete vaccine verification. The report outlines that the total cost for providing
support for that service was $25,920.14 from October 2021 to March 1, 2022. At that
time the requirement for vaccine verification was lifted by the Province of Ontario.
4.2 By directing staff to undertake this program, Council provided valuable assistance to our
volunteer boards, that unburdened them of the added operating costs for vaccination
verification. This helped remove one barrier as they worked through the many
challenges of reopening their operations to the members of their communities.
Staff Contact: Lee-Ann Reck, Manager, Client Services, 905-623-3379 ext. 2508 or
lreck@clarington.net
Attachments:
Not Applicable
Interested Parties:
List of interested Parties available from Department.