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Advertising with the City of Stratford is set to expand after an updated policy was approved by city council on June 22.
The new policy establishes guiding principles, eligibility criteria, procurement safeguards, agreement requirements and approval authorities to support transparent and strategic decision-making, according to the staff report.
It will also allow for certain assets to be named.
Per an amendment from Coun. Jo-Dee Burbach, staff will bring forward a list of eligible assets to be approved by council ahead of any negotiations with interested parties regarding naming rights. Through the new policy, the city will retain ownership and control of its assets, all arrangements will be documented through fixed-term written agreements, financial obligations for the city will not be created beyond the terms of an agreement, staff and elected officials must comply with City of Stratford code of conduct policies and privacy legislation, benefits provided to third parties must be proportionate to the size and scope of the agreement and no agreement will imply city endorsement of a product, service or organization, or create an obligation for the city to purchase goods or services unless otherwise specified (official supplier agreements).
There are prohibited sectors barred from advertising with the city, including businesses involved in tobacco, e-cigarettes, vaping, cannabis, pornography, businesses that conflict with human rights protections or any proposals that negatively affect the city’s image or operational integrity.
Originally, organizations associated with religious belief-systems were included as an excluded partner within the policy; however, Coun. Lesley Biehn moved to have them allowed when she put forward the motion.
Council approval is required for any agreements beyond an aggregated annual value of $50,000, agreements longer than five years, agreements that fall outside the policy and any future policy changes.
At this stage the policy does not have a benchmark or expected revenue from sponsorships or naming rights, though it is set to be open doors to some additional streams.
“I think it just leaves to further commercialization,” Coun. Cody Sebben said about the policy during a debate amongst councillors. “And for the amount of income it’s proposed, potentially going to bring in … personally I think we could just go further at budget time … having less expansions and less things that we don’t need to necessarily need to burden the taxpayer with – and just be more responsible that way instead of selling naming rights to our municipal facilities.”
“When we’re talking about the Grand Trunk site and the possible naming rights for those facilities, (it) could be a significant advantage for us in getting that whole thing done,” Coun. Larry McCabe rebutted. “So I would disagree with Coun. Sebben on the idea of non-value of naming rights for some of our facilities. It may enable something significant … to actually get done.”
The motion passed with only Sebben and Coun. Geza Wordofa opposing it.
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