{"id":26847,"date":"2020-06-25T09:12:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-25T13:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26847"},"modified":"2020-06-25T09:12:14","modified_gmt":"2020-06-25T13:12:14","slug":"library-square-could-be-run-as-a-not-for-profit-entity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/library-square-could-be-run-as-a-not-for-profit-entity\/","title":{"rendered":"Library Square could be run as a not-for-profit entity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The shovels haven\u2019t yet hit the ground, but the future\ngovernance of Library Square is starting to take shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, local lawmakers tentatively approved a not-for-profit\/municipal\nhybrid governance model for the multi-million-dollar redevelopment that is\nintended to make Aurora\u2019s historic Downtown Core a destination once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Complete with an extension to the historic Church Street\nSchool, a bridge connecting the new building with the Aurora Public Library,\nand the construction of a public gathering space in between, the governance\nmodel, as approved at last week\u2019s General Committee meeting, would be similar\nto the Town\u2019s current agreement with the Aurora Cultural Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile there is not one perfect governance model to\nchoose from, one of the consistent messages throughout the governance review\nprocess was that the Town should leverage resources, skills and expertise\nalready available to it,\u201d said Phil Rose-Donahoe, Project Manager for Library\nSquare. \u201cEach of the Town\u2019s main partners on the Library Square initiative have\nhistorically exhibited good governance practices and possess proven track\nrecords of delivering quality programs and services to the community. Rather\nthan start from scratch, therefore, the Town should adopt a governance model\nthat builds on the past accomplishments and strengths of its partners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The governance of Library Square, once complete, is not a\nsubject new to Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Council received a short list of possible delivery\noptions this past winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a lengthy debate around the table, they settled on\nexploring further a direct delivery model as well as a not-for-profit\/municipal\nhybrid structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a direct delivery model, the Town would operate\nLibrary Square exclusively and take on the duties of delivering cultural\nprogramming, theatre performances, museum administration, and other uses that\nwill be part of a fleshed-out Library Square plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, in his report, Mr. Rose-Donahoe said it was agreed\nthat the present model with the Aurora Cultural Centre provides expertise that\ncan be built upon. Additionally, a direct delivery model could hamper Library\nSquare\u2019s ability to fundraise through donors and granting bodies like the Ontario\nTrillium Foundation and add an extra layer of bureaucracy to the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThroughout the consulting phase, there was a unanimous\nfeeling that as co-located organizations, the ACC and AMA (Aurora Cultural\nCentre and Aurora Museum & Archives) have successfully provided cultural\nand heritage programs\/services to the community under one roof,\u201d he said.\n\u201cFurthermore, many stated that the hybrid model provides a solid foundation on\nwhich to build and should be sustained where possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome benefits of the non-profit\/municipal hybrid model\ninclude expertise in cultural and heritage program and service delivery; proven\ngovernance integrity as demonstrated by the ACC\u2019s accreditation from Imagine\nCanada, an organization whose mission is to strengthen Canada\u2019s charitable\nsector; ongoing development of the AMA\u2019s collection and important strides in\nexhibition development and public access to Aurora\u2019s material culture; Town\noversight through the annual budget process, key performance indicator tracking\nand participation of two Council members on the ACC\u2019s Board of Directors; [and]\na strong network of partnerships with artists, artisans, performers, heritage\nexperts, volunteers, cultural organizations and professionals that demonstrate\nthe municipality\u2019s commitment to local cultural development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenges with the proposed model include \u201cpotential for\ninefficient customer service due to the absence of centralized leadership and a\nunified direction for the facility as a whole; greater potential for\nduplication of program delivery\u201d and lack of municipal control over space\nallocation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherefore, if Council approves the adoption [of this\nmodel] for Library Square, the Town will need to continue to work with key\nstakeholders to determine how best to address these challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last week\u2019s General Committee meeting, the\nrecommendation to proceed with the not-for-profit\/municipal hybrid model passed\nwith little discussion, but within the brief discussion, some Council members\nquestioned whether now was the right time to move forward with the Library\nSquare project as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am supportive of this, but I do want to be\nconsistent,\u201d said Councillor John Gallo. \u201cNotwithstanding my support\u2026 it\nremains the same: I don\u2019t support the overall project until such time as we get\nconfirmation from the upper levels of government of the funding we\u2019ve applied\nfor. Should it move forward, should we get the funding, I agree that this\nshould be the model to move forward with its governance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added Councillor Wendy Gaertner: \u201cI thought about this quite a lot and, yes, I am voting on this as what I think is the appropriate governance model \u2013 should all those things happen that Councillor Gallo said.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The shovels haven\u2019t yet hit the ground, but the future governance of Library Square is starting to take shape. Last week, local lawmakers tentatively approved a not-for-profit\/municipal hybrid governance model for the multi-million-dollar redevelopment that is intended to make Aurora\u2019s historic Downtown Core a destination once again. Complete with an extension to the historic Church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6Z1","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 16:08:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}