Council Update – February 27, 2018

Last night at Council, members discussed my motion to have the Petch house be used for marriage services. As I said at the table, the Petch House has sat empty since it was moved and refurbished. And that is a shame. Many ideas for use of the Petch House have been put forward over the years. The biggest stumbling block to realizing those ideas has been that they require occupancy of the building and in order for the building to be occupied it needs plumbing. The costs of putting in plumbing are pretty high and thus Councils have shied away from making a decision to install it.
What’s different about this idea is that it doesn’t require occupancy and therefore there are limited to no additional costs required. As background, in 2015, Staff put forward the idea of holding marriage services at Town hall and began providing those services in May of 2015. As the Petch House is a lovely space that is currently underused I thought, well, why not offer the marriage services there? This could be done with minimal costs. Some raised concerns about access to washrooms; however, the Town will set when they will provide marriage services and thus can ensure services are only conducted during periods when the Senior Centre – which it is immediately adjacent to – is open. Anyone using the Petch House can then use the washrooms at the Senior Centre if needed. Hence the minimal to no costs in using the facility for marriage ceremonies. Not only will this see the Petch House used regularly, it will also generate revenue. Staff are already out at the bridal shows promoting the Town marriage services.. This will provide staff with an upgrade to offer. When you see the Petch house you would see how beautiful it is to have a weeding there. Another point of consideration is that while the Petch House is used for weddings, it can still be used for other purposes. The motion passed 9-0. I am looking forward to receiving the Staff report on this and moving forward with this initiative. #GettingThingsDone