The City of North Battleford is once again considering a request for rent-free space at Cameron McIntosh Airport for the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association.
This time, council appears willing to consider some way to allow the organization's Zone 3 to be based at the airport without having to pay rent to the City, or to at least cover their costs.
No final decisions were made last Monday, however, as the city plans to study the issue further. While councillors voiced support for possibly accommodating CASARA's request, they also want to know what the implications are for all non-profit organizations.
CASARA Saskatchewan's Zone 3 has operated out of the North Battleford airport for two decades, but in a letter from Ray Sass, vice-president of CASARA Saskatchewan, they raised the prospect the organization might have to cease operations in the area due to rent costs.
"We are a volunteer organization that is funded to train our volunteers to specific standards and do not have additional funds to cover additional costs such as facility rentals," noted Sass. "In order to fund the rentals we must take away training from the volunteers which in turn can deem the zone inactive due to not being trained to the standards required. "
Sass noted Zone 3 is the only zone in the province of Saskatchewan that is being charged a rental fee for use of an airport facility.
It was pointed out the request had previously come before council in May. That request for rent-free space was turned down.
Monday, though, there was support expressed for accommodating the organization's request this time, with some councillors noting the valuable service the organization provides for search and rescue operations.
Councillor Grace Lang supported their rent free request at the May meeting, and was the only one on council to vote to allow them to stay there rent free. She urged administration to look into making some sort of arrangement with them.
Councillor Trent Houk, who had not been in attendance at that May meeting, asked "what are we afraid of" by granting the request, saying he saw value in having them at the airport, particularly in instances when looking for missing city residents.
One way to address the situation, he suggested, might be to provide a pre-rent grant to CASARA as an alternative, similar to the annual grant extended to Operation Red Nose.
That organization's request to waive criminal record check fees was turned down, but instead the City agreed to provide a grant for Operation Red Nose to cover those same costs.
Houk suggested a similar arrangement could be done for CASARA Zone 3 to cover their rent at the airport.
"I'd really like to see them hang around," he said.
Council awaits more information from administration on the issue.
