Social plan budget breakdown: Kamloops

By MARKUS ERMISCHStaff reporterApr 13 2007 http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/

$70,000 project to guide city’s response to marginalized for next five years Devising a social plan for the City of Kamloops will cost taxpayers $70,400, which will be spent in the course of this year. Is spending that sum on developing a document that will guide this city’s social policy money well spent? Yes, says the mayor of Kamloops. “It’s kind of like providing fish to someone that’s starving,” Terry Lake said. “It feeds him for a day. But if you teach him how to fish, it feeds him for life. “And this is the same thing. If you spend $70,000 to make the system better, then it can function in a better fashion for years to come and help people more effectively.”
Three organizations submitted proposals to develop the social plan.

City hall gave the nod to the Social Planning and Research Council of B.C. (SPARC), an independent charitable organization specializing in researching social issues. Ron McColl, the city’s corporate programs manager, said the agency was selected because of its proven track record in the field, which includes developing a social plan for the City of Surrey. The bulk of the contract — $62,900 — will be spent on staff and consulting fees. Nick Istvanffy, a researcher with SPARC, is the lead consultant. He is also in charge of subcontracting components of the work to other individuals, such as Jane Mastin, who works for Kamloops-based TRUE Consulting Group. The remaining money will be spent on covering transportation costs ($6,000) and providing food and beverages for workshops ($1,500).

Once the plan is completed at the end of this year — and provided council adopts it — the document will guide social policy in Kamloops for the next five years. Lake said one objective he’d like the social plan to accomplish is to prevent a duplication of social services and enhance communication between social agencies. “That’s what I’d like to see,” Lake said. “How do we make sure that we’re working together for the same objective?” Another objective, he said, is to identify gaps in the social network and close them. McColl cited two reasons why the social plan is not being developed in-house. One is the lack of time. “We don’t have the time to dedicate,” he said, noting that, according to the contract, a total of 123 work days will be spent on developing the plan. Lack of the necessary expertise to complete the job is another reason the job went outside city hall.