It wasn’t listed on Peterborough city council’s budget meeting agenda as an item for consideration, but council has reversed its earlier decision to defund the Electric City Culture Council (EC3) in 2025, following a motion by Mayor Jeff Leal, ultimately approving $150,000 in funding for the arts council.
On Monday morning (January 20), city council met as general committee to review a report from finance and corporate support services commissioner Richard Freymond with proposed options to reduce the 2025 draft budget by almost $5.7 million, which would reduce the proposed 2025 tax increase to 6.6 per cent.
After council discussed and voted to support a proposal to remove stormwater protection funding from the municipal tax base and transfer it to a user fee, reducing the 2025 budget by $4.34 million, Mayor Leal introduced a motion under other business to partially restore funding for EC3 — with conditions attached to the funding.
First established as as signature recommendation of the City of Peterborough’s 2012 Municipal Cultural Plan (MCP), EC3 is an independent, arm’s-length, not-for-profit corporation with a mandate to champion the development of the arts and culture community for the people of the city and county of Peterborough.
Some of the organization’s programs and activities include the Bierk Art Bursary Program for graduating high school students, the Peterborough Arts Awards and Mayor’s Luncheon for the Arts, Artsweek, the Poet Laureate program, the Grants for Individual Artists program, and professional development workshops.
In 2024, the city provided EC3 with $177,000 in funding, including an operating grant of $100,000, $50,000 for the Grants for Individual Artists program, $25,000 for Artsweek, and $2,000 for the Poet Laureate program.
During city council’s budget deliberations on November 19, community services commissioner Sheldon Laidman presented a report to city council that included four options for funding EC3 in 2025.
Councillor Lesley Parnell moved acceptance of the final option in the report, that council “opt not to renew funding to EC3 at this time in anticipation of the completion of a renewed MCP, which would provide further direction for the future of a culture council.”
Councillor Parnell’s motion passed 8-3. Along with Parnell, Mayor Leal and councillors Dave Haacke, Andrew Beamer, Matt Crowley, Don Vassiliadis, Gary Baldwin, and Kevin Duguay voted in favour of the defunding option. Councillors Joy Lachica, Alex Bierk, and Keith Riel voted against it.
The decision to defund EC3 came only hours after council voted almost unanimously not to reduce funding for 75 community groups and arts organizations by a proposed 25 per cent.
At Monday morning’s meeting, Mayor Leal moved a motion that would restore $110,000 in city funding to EC3 in 2025, including $25,000 coming from the city’s public art maintenance reserve for the “administration and execution” of Artsweek in May, and an $85,000 operating grant for EC3 in 2025, which would be funded by the municipal tax base.
According to the mayor’s motion, the funding would come with terms and conditions to be outlined in a service agreement that EC3 would need to sign within 30 days.
The terms of the service agreement would be that funding is subject to council budgetary approval, that EC3 would be required to work from a publicly accessible office at least three days per week while holding regular office hours, that EC3 would provide the city with a list of current board members, that EC3 would provide the city with required reported documents before the funding is released, that EC3 would be located within the city limits and conduct most of its activities there, and that EC3 would work with their city staff liaison person as their primary contact with the city.
In his comments on the motion, Mayor Leal noted that city staff will be reviewing the MCP in 2025, “and it’s anticipated that this work will lead to an updated and redefined cultural council for Peterborough.” He added that, with the city now responsible for economic development, “we can use this review to start to take advantage of all the ways that the arts are connected to economic development,” using the example of fostering the local film industry.
“An arts council in 2026 will certainly look different than an arts council in 2012,” the mayor said. “While we await the new MCP, it’s important the city continues to have an arts council in 2025.”
Mayor Leal noted the city would “pause” funding for the Grants for Individual Artists program and the Poet Laureate program in 2025.
As for where EC3’s office could be located, the mayor said “I understand that the city has some space that may be suitable for this purpose.” He added that the Kingston arts council has a publicly accessible office that is located in a municipally owned building.
Before proceeding to a vote on whether to rescind the November 19 motion to defund EC3 and then a vote on whether to support the mayor’s motion, councillors discussed the latter.
Councillor Riel said he was “puzzled” by the reduction of EC3’s operating grant from $100,000 to $85,000, given the requirement that EC3 maintain an office space would result in additional costs.
Councillor Baldwin asked Mayor Leal whether the city would be offering office space to EC3, and whether the mayor had consulted with EC3 on the requirement of having someone in an office open to the public up to three days a week.
“We do have space available,” Mayor Leal said. “We own that house right beside the library and we could use that as office space. There is a process in place to look at a full-time manager and a full-time assistant position … all three of them could be located there.”
Councillor Baldwin also expressed a concern that EC3 would be expected to deliver their current programs and activities with less funding, and questioned EC3’s ability to maintain its independence if it is closely associated with the city.
Councillor Bierk asked whether the city has the ability to revoke funding for the Grants for Individual Artists program given that the city has a contract with EC3 to deliver the program.
Commissioner Laidman replied that staff had reviewed the contract and, since it is a pilot program, there are provisions not to continue with funding for the third year of the program if council decides not to do so.
Councillor Lachica noted that the service agreement with EC3 “shouldn’t be done in a public forum like this.”
“A service agreement should be decided with management and with the staff, the employeees, that have runs the arts council,” she said, adding there should be no funding cuts to EC3 in 2025.
Responding to councillor Baldwin’s question about EC3’s independence, Mayor Leal referred to the city’s recently signed 10-year operating agreement with the Art Gallery of Peterborough.
“The mayor of Peterborough doesn’t go to the director of the art gallery to tell her that ‘You should just be doing exhibits of the Group of Seven for all 12 months of the year’,” Mayor Leal said. “We all respect that independence. They (EC3) will continue to have that independence to make the appropriate decision, which is fundamental to how arts operate in that environment.”
With respect to reduced funding for EC3, the mayor said the organization would benefit from the presence of city staff to assist with administrative tasks.
Commenting on the Grants for Individual Artists program, Councillor Duguay compared grants for artists to municipal funding for physician recruitment.
“We are not, for one year, not supporting individual artists but, I need to emphasize, we don’t support, individually, our doctors,” he said.
Responding to councillor Duguay’s comment, councillor Lachica said “I’m curious if we are aware of any individual artists from the City of Peterborough that are on the sunshine list. I don’t know how we can compare the medical profession to artists.”
She later said that municipal support for artists is important for them to obtain support from the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Arts Council.
At the end of the discussion, council then voted on a motion to support its original decision from November 19 to defund EC3. The motion lost, allowing council to consider Mayor Leal’s motion.
Councillor Bierk then proposed two amendments to Mayor Leal’s motion: to increase the funding for EC3 coming from the city’s public art maintenance reserve from $25,000 to $50,000, with the intent that the additional $25,000 would be used for the Grants for Individual Artists program, and to increase the operating grant for EC3 funded by the municipal tax base from $85,000 to $100,000.
Commissioner Laidman advised council that, should they approve the amendment for an additional $25,000 to be taken from the public art maintenance reserve, no funds would be available for new public art in 2025, only for maintenance of existing art. He noted that acquiring public art for the Miskin Law Community Centre cost $55,000.
Council then voted on councillor Bierk’s amendments, with each passing 6-5, before voting on Mayor Leal’s motion, which passed 10-1, with only councillor Beamer voting against it.
For the remaining three hours of the meeting, council considered and appproved the recommendations of Commissioner Freymond’s report, as well as a motion from Councillor Crowley to hire a paralegal position at the cost of $141,692.
As a result of that decision, as well as the decision on EC3 funding, the property tax increase in the 2025 draft budget would increase from the 6.6 per cent in Commissioner Freymond’s report to 6.72 per cent.
Items endorsed by general committee will be confirmed by city council at its meeting on Monday, February 3.
With files from Paul Rellinger.
