Council discusses sponsorship

Imagine Vauxhall’s community complex with your name on it.

That’s what Vauxhall town council could be asking local businesses to do as they plan to seek sponsorship for town facilities. During their regular meeting on April 7, council discussed the possibility of securing a sponsorship agreement for the complex which would allow a business to name the building.

“It’s not just the signage for the rink,” said Coun. Martin Kondor. “I want somebody to name the building.” He added some discussion as to whether any companies would be interested in an ongoing payment for naming rights to the building, or a one-time fee for eternal naming rights on the building, or perhaps even a hybrid of both options could be made available.

He went on to say he has fielded several inquiries about naming rights for the building, and he was interested in moving forward with the project.

“There’s been people asking to put their name on the building,” he said. “The sooner we get it out there, the sooner we can get it (done).”

Deputy Mayor Russell Norris raised a point about any possible legal issues pertaining to the town soliciting advertising, something the previous chief administrative officer had been looking into.

Kondor and Mayor Margaret Plumtree both agreed their understanding was that it was allowable for the town to pursue advertising for the building complex, but Plumtree admitted administration was having some difficulty locating specific e-mails sent to the former CAO pertaining to the project.

“I thought (the former CAO) said we were good to go,” said Kondor.

“(The former CAO) did say other municipalities were doing this,” replied Plumtree.

Kondor said an opportunity to name the building could be made available to any business interested in securing that form of advertising. Plumtree replied she thought it might be a good idea to go with a year-to-year deal in order to give smaller local businesses an opportunity to secure naming rights if they desired.

Kondor said other sponsorship positions could be made available inside the building as well, and that was an option for local businesses who might not be able to afford to name the building. He added it was important to move the project forward, as there are repairs and renovations the building is in need of. Securing funds through sponsorship is one way the building could be improved every year, one piece at a time.

“It would really do a lot of good for us,” agreed Plumtree.

Following discussion, council tabled the issue for a future council meeting.

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