The liquidation and dissolution of the Downtown Soccer/Field House Facilities Inc. (DFFH) organization have picked up speed after city council approved two bylaws that affect the corporation’s future.
During its Dec. 7 regular meeting, council approved a bylaw that revokes city manager Jim Puffalt’s managerial authority of DFFH and appoints Mayor Fraser Tolmie and councillors Kim Robinson and Jamey Logan as directors so they can shut down the corporation, as per The Non-Profit Corporation Act, 1995. Furthermore, council also approved a second bylaw that repeals an existing bylaw that would allow the temporary board to liquidate and dissolve the organization.
The DFFH as a corporation could likely be shut down before Dec. 31, as that is when the terms of office for the three temporary board members expire.
Background
Council created a bylaw to create the DFFH on Feb. 11, 2013, and continued using the organization to operate Mosaic Place, a council report explained. Following the DFFH general manager’s departure in 2016, council resolved to amend the bylaw and reduced the board composition to three elected members from council and the non-voting director from the parks and recreation department.
Following an internal investigation after the firing of manager Graham Edge in 2018, the municipality decided to remove the elected members, dissolve the board, and install Puffalt to oversee the management and direction of DFFH personnel and operations. He received $20,000 in compensation for doing so. This occurred after council passed a bylaw on Aug. 15, 2018.
In 2019, the municipality hired Spectra Venue Management Services — a private management company — to oversee Mosaic Place. This includes purchasing, payroll, security, crowd control, repairs, preventative maintenance, janitorial services, promotions, advertising, box office, admission procedures and general user services.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, Dec. 14.
