Despite opposition from the Rotary Club of Orillia, city council has left the door open to shop the naming rights for Rotary Place arena to commercial interests.
The west Orillia arena has been named Rotary Place since it opened in 2009, when the local non-profit paid $150,000 to secure naming rights for the facility — a move, at the time, that club members understood to be permanent.
However, Rotary Place is now one of seven city facilities that could be up for renaming, as city council recently gave staff the nod to explore a variety of revenue-generating possibilities, including seeking expressions of interest for leasing naming rights.
At Monday’s council meeting, the club pressed city council to drop Rotary Place from this list of facilities.
City staff previously reported the facility had a 15-year sunset clause for its naming rights, which the Rotary Club disputed in its argument to keep the name.
“The Rotary Clubs who donated money never agreed to a timeline on this name,” president Sarah-Jane VandenBerg told city councillors Monday.
“While a report … advised that it was common for naming sponsorships to have a limited term, the March 29, 2010 minutes of the council meeting record the motion regarding a limited time to have been lost," she explained, meaning, in club members' opinion, the sunset clause was not approved.
With over a dozen Rotary Club members in attendance at the meeting, VandenBerg said there’s precedent for facilities named after service clubs to retain their names indefinitely.
“We are a not-for-profit, volunteer-run service organization in Orillia,” she said. “There's actually precedent for long-standing names of entities being connected to service clubs: The Rotary Aqua Theatre and Kiwanis Skatepark. It would be challenging to locate any municipality that has withdrawn the name of a service club from the name of a park, trail or building anywhere.”
VandenBerg highlighted the contributions of the club to the community, such as over $1.5 million given to various local initiatives since the club’s inception, to “countless hours serving our community hands on,” in making her case for the city to leave the facility’s name intact.
Later in the meeting, Coun. Jay Fallis requested an amendment to remove Rotary Place, Orillia Opera House, and Brian Orser Arena from the list of facilities being shopped for leasing naming rights.
“For me, the historical value, I think, is quite significant. I believe keeping that on the table is a bit of a slap in the face to Orillia heritage,” said Fallis regarding the Opera House and Brian Orser Arena. “I know, too, we've heard a lot about Rotary and the importance of that name as well.”
City staff responded they are simply seeking expressions of interest, and that it would be a “disservice” to the taxpayer not to at least consider any opportunities that may come along.
“Nothing is happening at this time and to presuppose what the public input would be, based on expressions of interest that we receive, at least from one perspective appears to be a disservice to the taxpayer,” said Amanpreet Sidhu, the city's deputy CAO.
“Those expressions of interest will come back before council,” Sidhu said. “Council and the residents of Orillia, at that time, will have an opportunity to say, ‘Well, that seems like a great deal for us, or that does not seem like such a great deal,’ and this should be maintained.”
Fallis said “regardless of what the particular phrasing was” when Rotary Place was named, it’s “something that is worth setting in stone.”
Not all members of council agreed, however, with Mayor Don McIsaac reviewing the minutes from the 2010 council meeting and arguing the 15-year sunset clause was indeed in place.
“(A councillor) asked for an amendment that limited it to 10 years, because that report said 10 to 15,” the mayor said. “That motion was defeated on the 10 years, which meant the report stood.”
Members of council alternately expressed support for retaining the Rotary Place name, and for keeping the proposed buildings on the list for naming rights.
Ultimately, the final vote on Fallis’ amendment came down to a 4-4 tie, as Coun. Ralph Cipolla excused himself from the debate due to a conflict of interest. Given the tie, Fallis’ amendment was lost.
