Coun. Paddy Weston is charging ahead with her pet project, the Spirit of Kimberley, which will work on building Kimberley’s volunteer base so that all festivals, organizations and service clubs have a reliable volunteer base from which to draw.

Part of that plan is an event to showcase all the non-profits in Kimberley.

“The idea is to have an event where all community organizations can present what they do, have a motivational speaker and a workshop on board development.”

Weston thinks that such an event would be a great thing to host in Kimberley’s new conference centre when it opens this fall, but the rest of Council had some reservations about jumping on board to host at that particular venue.

Weston suggested that the City act as co-host. She has support from the Columbia Basin Trust and the CBT would like to see another sponsor, like the City.

“I think this would be an excellent opportunity if this were one of the first events in the conference centre. We would draw people to see it,” Weston said.

However, other councillors were concerned about cost. Coun. Albert Hoglund said that there were other venues just as good that would cost less than the conference centre.Weston said the conference centre ballroom would be roughly $1000 without catering.

“I support it,” said Coun. Kieran Hickey. “I really am a proponent of the Spirit of Kimberley idea. We need to address volunteerism in Kimberley.”

Hickey said he could support it if City support was limited to $1200.

However, Mayor Jim Ogilvie said there was no money in the budget and Coun. Brent Bush said that while he commended the initiative, he was worried the City might be agreeing to host an event that may not draw enough people for the venue.

Coun. Bob West-Sells was worried that too much of the organization would fall on City staff.

In the end Council felt it couldn’t get on board as a host or sponsor until more details of the event were available. West Sells suggested that Council would support in principle a Spirit of Kimberley event this fall.