Councillor Bonnie Henderson said that it was unreasonable for the City of Stratford to only give Stratford Bingo Country a couple months to find a new location from their current spot at the Burnside Agriplex, but she got little support from the rest of council.
At Monday's council meeting, Henderson put forward a motion to renew Stratford Bingo Country’s lease until the Grand Trunk Renewal Ad-Hoc committee gets underway and more information about that development becomes available.
As Henderson explained, the Grand Trunk development will have community space available once it's built and she is worried about loss of revenue.
“I realize we're looking at that space, because it's a lovely space,” Henderson said. “I just think we need to keep that space right now until we find out what’s going to happen, because what if the Grand Trunk gets built up in two years from now and we got all this space (at the Burnside Agriplex) and no income.”
Just last week the news broke that the city will not renew Stratford Bingo Country’s lease in the Burnside Agriplex Hall, meaning that the organization has until the end of the month to vacate the space.
Without another option, that means that local bingo employees may be losing their jobs at the end of the month.
Tim Wolfe, director of community services with the city, told council last night that under previous direction given to staff from council, staff have been working to better utilize the municipality’s spaces for all of its communities.
He further reasoned that the space is often not being used by Stratford Bingo Country, resulting in a large room sitting empty for long periods of time.
In an earlier discussion with StratfordToday, Wolfe said that the room fits 300 people and the bingo events average 43 players per night.
After some discussion, Henderson amended her motion to incorporate a timeframe of one year for the lease, though only garnered support from Coun. Cody Sebben.
After the original motion failed, Sebben put forward a motion to extend the lease by four months, allowing them more time to find another space and to have their New Year’s Day Bingo games, though again, only he and Henderson supported it.
Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach expressed why she was opposed to the motion.
"This is a city space," she said. "And it's sitting empty for the majority of the hours and it really isn't a good use of our space."
Mayor Martin Ritsma suggested early in the discussion that it might be prudent to refer the matter to staff for more information, though Henderson pointed out that given the time crunch that wasn’t feasible.
After both previous motions to renew the lease failed, Ritsma’s suggestion was brought up once again by Coun. Lesley Biehn and the matter passed unanimously.
Under the current agreement, Stratford Bingo Country has until the end of the month to leave the hall. They may still rent the hall as any community group could.
The city has offered the Tim Taylor Lounge in the adjacent Stratford Rotary Complex to Stratford Bingo Country, which Wolfe said comfortably sits 91.
