By Jeff Labine

Concert seeks city support

Apr 26, 2017 | 12:00 PM

Now might not be the best time to ask city council for money, but that’s not stopping the organizer of a concert aimed at shedding light on abuse.

Conrad Burns asked for support from the city at Monday night’s council meeting for the second Rise Up concert in Prince Albert. The first concert was held in 2015 as a way to raise awareness about the abuse men, women and children experience. The event brought in roughly 2,000 people.

This year, the plan is to have the concert on June 3 run from noon to 7 p.m. at Kinsmen Park. Burns requested the city waive all costs associated with park rental, which included garbage fees, security and rentals.

“We have a budget of $15,000 for this,” Burns told council. “The money we raise is being raised by the community, businesses and non-profits and volunteer based. All the money that will be raised is going to support our initiative to create awareness. What I’m asking from city council is help me help the community.”

Burns explained the city fees came in at roughly $2,000. The rest of the costs will be covered by donations. The remaining money in the budget is being used to cover insurance, the free food, and entertainment and marketing.

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The request comes during a tough financial time for the city, which finalized the revised 2017 budget at the meeting. The city’s budget had to be trimmed even more following massive funding and grant cuts by the province. Some of the savings requested included asking the local police force to find an additional $200,000.

Ward 7 Coun. Dennis Nowoselsky made sure to remind Burns the situation the city was in.

“We’ve had stacks of dollars cut in our provincial revenue and tonight we’re looking at some reports later on in our agenda where we’re going to be receiving recommendations to vote on where we got to do some further cuts to the citizens of P.A.,” he said. “I’m wondering if something optional on your planning committee can be done to address those concerns with clean up or some of the other costs within that $15,000 budget.”

Mayor Greg Dionne echoed Nowoselsky’s statements and added it’s going to be a tough year.

Despite the financial challenges, some members of council stood up to praise the event, including Blake Edwards and Terra Lennox-Zepp, and supported the idea of waving the fees.

Burns was asked to meet with city administration to work out the exact costs and a report will come before council before the fees are waived.

Jeff.labine@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @labinereporter