2001-03-14 CC - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMO DATE: March 8,2001 TO : Honorable Mayor and Council, Fete des Lacs Committee FROM: Jim March RE : Fete des Lacs 2001 Budget Process ............................................................................ I have had the opportunity to attend the last two Fete des Lacs Committee meetings. Planning is well underway and I anticipate another fantastic event. The City has been the single largest donor to this event since its inception. Because of the amount of taxpayer dollars that are used in funding this event, I believe the City needs to playa role in providing fiduciary oversight. In a scenario where projected revenues do not meet or exceed actual expenditures, the City ends up covering the shortfall from the festival. I want Council to recognize this issue and calculate the potential financial risk that the event could pose in a worst-case scenario. I have noted several observations from attending the last couple of meetings. These observations are as follows: 1) Committee members are passionate in regards to their individual areas of responsibility for planning the event 2) Committee members that work in the same sub-area of planning the event for more than one year end up with a sense of ownership for that portion of the event 3) The contributions of committee members are invaluable 4) Committee members wish to see their portion of the event stay the same as last year or expand and improve that portion of the event 5) The festival itself is time criticaL each sub-committee moves at a separate pace and some contracts need to be signed earlier than others 6) The planning of the entire festival needs to proceed at the pace of the most time critical component, whichever piece that may be 7) Internal competition for limited financial resources frustrates the volunteers which could lead to volunteer burn out and the demise of the festival