A Fort Frances councillor would like to make sure that whoever eventually takes over the operation of Sunny Cove Camp is up to the task.
At Monday night’s Town of Fort Frances council meeting, Councillors Doug Judson and John McTaggart pulled item 5.3 for discussion, that being a report from the town’s Community Services Executive Committee to accept the withdrawal of a proposal to operate Sunny Cove Camp from the Emo-Devlin United Church Group, as well as to reissue an RFP for another organization to begin the process of operating the camp.
In a letter provided to town CAO Faisal Anwar, a representative from the United Church Group stated that due to unexpected events like the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other obstacles, they would be withdrawing their proposal to take over day-to-day operations of the camp. The town had chosen to divest itself of Sunny Cove Camp earlier in 2020 in light of a tighter town budget.
While discussing sending out another RFP, coun. Judson noted the high level of public interest in the eventual fate of the camp might be cause for the town to keep a closer handle on the RFP and what it contains for potential applicants.
“I think there’s a very public interest in this public property and we’ve been through a lot of process on this to make sure that we get it right,” Judson said.
“I think there’s also a lot of investment around the council table too. I think Councillor Brunetta had a family wedding there, I went to the camp several times as a child, my mother and all of her sisters went to the camp several times when they were young, and I think a lot of people have ties to it. It’s really important to me that we get this right.”
Judson noted he didn’t have a problem with the direction for the camp that comes out of the committee level, but he said he felt it important to outline what the town expects from the next organization to take over the property.
“To me, that requires a bit more narrative,” Judson said.
“I think we need to see that as a council before it goes out and I’d actually like to see the précis or template that they are going to submit their proposal in. When we went through this the last time, I felt like we weren’t clear and it was all over the map, because we weren’t really clear what we were expecting from the proponents. I would simply like to see a bit more detail.”
To that end, Judson suggested the resolution presented to council be amended to reflect that the draft RFP package come back to council again before being issued.
Coun. McTaggart said he was saddened to learn that the united church group had withdrawn their proposal and echoed Judson’s sentiments regarding the important place Sunny Cove Camp has in the hearts of many different people in the district. McTaggart voiced his concerns about the number of potential groups in the area who could feasibly take on the management of the property, and suggested that, when the RFP does go back out to potential proponents, the playing field be made a bit larger, so to speak.
“This is a tremendous asset for the community and we need to get it right,” McTaggart said.
“My only comment is that we may need to cast our net a little further with the RFP to get the results that we want. There may not be somebody close to town that’s willing to do it, but there may be someone a little further afield, so we should not be afraid to cast that net as broadly as we can.”
The amended resolution was accepted by council and will return to the committee level to develop a new RFP for review.
