Council rejects request to waive fees for event

Guelph-Eramosa councillors have rejected a request to waive township fees for organizers of this year’s Marden Marathon on April 14.

But councillors agreed to donate all proceeds generated from the fees - $2 per participant, expected to total about $700 - to the Groves Hospital Foundation in Fergus.

Councillor John Scott suggested the move on Jan. 16 and councillor Doug Breen supported it, saying it will “protect the integrity of the $2 fee” while also helping the hospital, which is used by many township residents.

Mayor Chris White agreed, noting the $2 fee was recently passed as part of a new township policy introduced because the municipality was inundated with similar event requests over the last couple years.

The purpose of the fee is to recover administration costs and build up roads reserves.

“We set this up for a reason and then the first one that comes to us we waive it?” White asked, stressing he did not like that idea.

The mayor said collecting the fees and then turning the money over to the hospital “ensures the policy remains intact.”

Council unanimously approved a resolution to that effect.