City’s flower program survives, but with spending cuts

“But we’ve made strides, I think, in this past budget to deal with both of those things, whether it’s the flowers next to a street that needs repair or flowers along an avenue that obviously needs pruning,” he said.

The issue came under the spotlight after the city’s two-day line-by-line budget examination earlier this month.

In a report, administration recommended that a tender to Claribel’s Plant Shop be denied. The tender was more than $11,000 more than the amount the shop was paid in 2012 to maintain, plant and supply the city with plants.

The shop’s owner, Clarisse Kowbel, sent a letter to Mayor Greg Dionne on Friday, offering to sit down with him to discuss the price, if that was the biggest issue with the tender. She told the mayor she has “enjoyed working for the city to make it beautiful.”

But, in her letter, she suggested having more barrels and less flower beds to maintain is easier to water and weed, “and less flowers to buy.”

Coun. Tim Scharkowski cited Kowbel’s suggestions as he said he supported putting the flower program on hold for a year. “I kind of like some of the suggestions that the person [Kowbel] put forward about downsizing some of the flower beds and putting more mulch in. Putting smaller flower pots out, and kind of taking up some of that space so that we don’t have as much weed growth which was quite a bit of a problem that it’s been in the past.”

He said he thinks that’s the basis of a lot of the complaints the city has received. And Dionne said a number of residents asked that plants not be put back along Second Avenue West.

“’We have a nice fence up there now, and it looks so clean without the weeds.’ Because at the end of the day, what happened last year is we had no weed control,” the mayor said.

Dionne said that a number of people also called him to say the planter at the Tourism Information building is “10-times too big.”

“It’s huge,” he said. “If you ever get out of your vehicle and walk up to that planter, I’m amazed at how many plants that planter is going to take.”

But Dionne said people from the business community have suggested adopting a planter, and putting a sign in the planter stating which business has adopted it.

“And I got that idea actually, when you drive through Melfort in the winter time, on their main street, they’ve got every tree lit up and they have a sign underneath it,” he said after the meeting.

“Well that could go right to our planters and its’ a great idea, and we have lots of seniors that are horticulturalists that would be pleased to take on some of that project if they had someone to pick up the cost.”

During the meeting, he said the program was worth the discussion, strictly because of the amount of money the city has been putting into it.

Coun. Lee Atkinson, who brought the issue to the forefront in recent weeks, said having city staff and non-profit groups maintain the plants is a “good compromise.”

He said he thinks discussing ways to do things differently is worth it. “Because what we have done isn’t necessarily the best thing. It hasn’t really engaged the community. I mean, there’s horticultural societies, there’s people who love growing all kinds of wonderful things. Well, let’s engage that community and see how we can do that.”

He said that’s where the city needs to head with the flower program. “Not just, ‘oh, the city will do it.’ Because, quite frankly, at times, I don’t think the city is the best entity to do some of the things we do. And therefore, getting away from that is, I think, one of the objectives we need to entertain.”

Atkinson then said he wanted to see the flower program budget reduced to around $10,000.

At the March 18 executive committee meeting, Atkinson put forward recommendations to have the purchase and maintenance of flowers be curtailed for a year and the community should be encouraged to participate in a floral program.

The committee had also requested a report from the director of community services, Greg Zeeben, about floral displays at the golf course and cemetery.

And in his report to council, Zeeben said one of its crews that would ordinarily be taking care of landscaping at Scarrow Plaza could maintain the flowers while the plaza is being redeveloped this year. They would work on the flower beds downtown and at Diefenbaker House. He also said staff at Kinsmen Park could maintain the flowers at the Water Park and the Cemetery staff could maintain flowers there and at the Tourism Information site.

“Due to the high maintenance requirements of the planter and barrel program we suggest that we review the program to see how we can guarantee a quality product,” Zeeben said in his report.

At the meeting, Zeeben explained the budget implications of his new recommendations, which would see the city save $25,450 as compared to its 2012 budgeted amount, bringing its cost to $12,000.

With $12,000 as the cap, Atkinson said he was willing to support the program.

The trimmed-down program was approved by council.
After the meeting, the mayor said people who had called him prior to Monday’s meeting were glad to see the barrel program go. “And it may be re-invented in a more professional way.”

Dionne said he will recommend that the city does something with the Tourism Information centre planter, since it is huge. “So maybe the answer to that is to make it half the size.”

“Because I do believe plants make a home and a community pretty,” he said.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames

by Thia James

City’s flower program survives, but with spending cuts

What's Trending