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Bravery Park funds released by council ahead of deadline

March 28, 2015   ·   0 Comments

On Friday evening, a special meeting of Council was called to discuss the need for immediate approval of the releasing of funds for the Bravery Park monument’s development. If work on the monument does not begin before March 31, the project will lose its federal funding.
“We need to be able to provide a signed invoice showing that work is underway,” explained Mayor Jeremy Williams, during the meeting. “Unfortunately, we only recently found out about this situation, which is why we had to call the meeting.”
An application had been made for an extension to the March 31 deadline, however due to already receiving an extension, the Mayor and CAO Ed Brennan received word a few weeks ago that they would have to meet the deadline or risk losing the funding.
Deputy Mayor Maycock, and Councillors Sylvia Bradley and Gail Campbell expressed concerns over why the matter wasn’t brought before Council earlier, to provide more time to discuss the matter, but Mayor Williams said that there simply wasn’t the opportunity or enough advanced notice.
The monument, which will feature a Canadian soldier kneeling with two children, will be the second bronze statue to be placed in Orangeville, and will be built by American company Icon Bronze, who was awarded the job after the tender process.
Mayor Williams added that the Bravery Park Committee, which is separate from Council committees, will not be requiring any tax dollar funds for the monument, and is working to avoid utilizing them for any other part of the park either.
“Outside of the grant money, so far all money for the park has been provided through donations and fundraising,” said Mayor Williams. “Part of the reason they haven’t moved forward yet is that they were hoping to raise enough money to cover everything before moving forward.”
Council passed the motion to release the Bravery Park funds unanimously, adding that once budget deliberations are done, the rest of the matters surrounding the park should be brought before Council in order to get the project underway and figure out what assistance and approvals are needed.

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