The future of the successful men’s shed program (T.O.Y.S) at the Clarence Park Community Centre is assured thanks to a Council decision last night.

A motion put by myself at last night’s Council meeting and my argument in support of the motion saw a unanimous vote in favour of providing the Clarence Park Community Centre Board with a transitional period subsidy. This has secured the future of the T.O.Y.S program in that the centre can now afford to take over the employment of the coordinator of the program. The program had been in some quandary after Council , at a previous meeting and in my absence, voted as a result of the recent Community Centre Review to cut the employment of one of the staff who was on the Council payroll.

The Management Board of the Community Centre were caught on the hop by the original decision and were not financially secure enough to take on the responsibility for paying for someone to be the coordinator, at least not in the the short term. They (the board) needed a transitional period to consider ways and means of being able to fund the position.

The motion has secured a subsidy for the wages of a coordinator for 12 months with a commitment by Council to consider a further twelve months. I don’t know who will form the next council but if the nucleus of this Council is retained then I believe the likelihood of a further 12 months is good.

I have every confidence that the Board will find a way during this transition period to take over the full responsibility. The Board meets tonight and will certainly be buoyed by this news. They can now get on with the job of serving the community as they have for such a long time already secure in the mind that one of the communities favourite programs will live on.