Coun. Mike McCann further explained the fundraising finances surrounding his Heart Barrie landmark sign Monday night
Using the announcements portion of the city council meeting, the Ward 10 councillor clarified the bottom line to his $200,000 fundraising for the sign, which will go in Heritage Park by July 1.
“The city sent out a memo in circulation showing that I raised $375,000. I did not raise $375,000,” McCann said. “It was closer to $300,000 and some of the sponsors… did not sponsor on a dollar amount, they contributed in-kind, whether it was media or administration.”
The May 30 memo to Barrie councillors lists 12 $20,000 sponsors, 11 $10,000 sponsors and five $5,000 sponsors. That totals $375,000 for the fundraising campaign, although the memo doesn’t add up the contributions.
On June 28, 2021, city council passed a motion that any funds raised on top of the $200,000 for the Heart Barrie sign, where no donation receipts have been issued, be donated to save the beaver and save the turtle programs in the city.
But last week McCann could not tell BarrieToday how much of the donated money would go toward saving beavers and turtles, or how much money was left over, after the sign was financed, that was not going to turtles and beavers. He did not address those questions Monday night.
He said last week not all sponsorship money had been collected, that it was still being collected. Why money is still being collected when the $200,000 was already raised went unanswered.
McCann did further clarify his accounting Monday.
“I also collected HST (harmonized sales tax), which I collected and sent to the federal government,” he said. “I have hired a professional accounting firm that has been preparing a spread sheet — monies in, monies out — and I’ll be sharing this with the city’s finance department once all my money is collected.
“I will finish collecting outstanding sponsorships and send a detailed summary to finance and lastly I firmly believe in full transparency," the councillor added.
McCann faced no questions from other council members on his comments, but the announcement portion of council meetings is not designed for such discussions.
He did note raising the $200,000 on time, as promised, giving the city a cheque for $150,000 last Oct. 10 and the remaining $50,000 on March 31, again at the scheduled time.
“It’s been an incredible success. Almost every sponsor I reached out to wanted to be a part of this project,” McCann said of the landmark sign. “They shared in council’s vision and they all knew how this would benefit our city in many ways.”
The sign will be located in Heritage Park, directly on the entry axis to the downtown waterfront park, as people come across Simcoe Street from Meridian Place. Council has added $15,000 to the city’s operations department budget, beginning this year, to cover costs of potential graffiti removal and winter maintenance on and around the sign.
The project’s working group members have agreed the sign should be the city’s logo with the heart. Also that the size of the heart should be increased from eight to 10 feet, which council approved. By making the heart that height a person as tall as six feet can fit inside the heart for photos.
McCann has said this project is intended to unite Barrie — to help businesses by driving residents and visitors to the downtown and have them celebrate the city by being photographed with the landmark sign.
