The Saugeen Times

Half of Tiverton Reunion committee resigns over beer dispute
By Liz Dadson

Members of the Tiverton Reunion committee worked themselves into a lather at the Kincardine council meeting Wednesday night (June 3), after council rejected the committee's recommendation to have Labatt's Brewery supply beer at the reunion slated for the end of July.

A report, presented by clerk Donna MacDougall, said three submissions were received - from Steelback, Molson and Labatt's. They were rated by the committee on the following criteria: experience/expertise/reliability of firm, 20 points; price, 10 points; dispensing proposal (ease, resources required, etc.), 30 points; sales statistics in the Municipality of Kincardine of the proposed product, 20 points; promotion/support package, 20 points. Plus, the reunion committee had said it preferred to use cans for the event.

MacDougall said the South Bruce OPP has advised that it does not support the use of cans or bottles for reasons of public safety.

The reunion's bid committee reviewed the three proposals and Labatt's received the highest rating and was recommended as the beer supplier.

There were some miscalculations in the pricing during the review, said MacDougall, but when corrected, they did not change the ranking order.

In the bids, Steelback's cost per case (based on seven cases per keg) is $30.33, while Labatt's is $37.03, and Molson's is $43.94.

Steelback offered a $2,000 donation, 115 T-shirts for volunteers and 115 hats for volunteers, banners, posters, coasters, free delivery and pick-up, biodegradable cups (17 boxes equal 17,000 cups based on 100 kegs, $1,533.91), staff set-up, train and remain on site, on-site refrigerated truck for Reunion Gardens, 2X4 keg and 1X2 keg draft caddy units for Reunion Gardens, 3X2 keg units for Tiverton Sports Centre, 1X2 keg unit for Underwood Community Centre, 14 canisters of beer gas/CO2, refrigerated keg trailer, if preferred.

Labatt's offered a $2,000 donation, 300 T-shirts for volunteers, banners, posters, prizing for some events, such as slo-pitch, free delivery and 4,000 cups ($250). Molson would contribute cups, banners, merchandise, T-shirts, donation to a value of $4 for every case sold, and free delivery.

"The OPP is not keen on the use of cans," said deputy mayor Laura Haight. "I'm not keen on cans either. What is the drive behind the use of cans?"

"They're fully recyclable and can be returned for a refund," said councillor Randy Roppel, who sits on the reunion committee. "And the rings off the cans can be put toward the Lions Club wheelchair fund. As for the police aspect, we're not in agreement." He said if there is concern that cans would be thrown at people and used as weapons, there are other things that could be used as weapons. "I have no fear using cans for this event," he said.

"Given the demographic of the (proposed) crowd, my gut feeling is that cans would be easy to toss around and trip over," said Haight. "You'd think you would want to eliminate as many risk factors as possible. My big concern with cans is, what if something goes wrong?"

"I think you're painting too large a picture of this," argued Roppel. "You can have something go wrong with bottles and kegs as well. I hope nothing goes wrong, but you can't ban everything. Chairs could be used as a weapon too. The committee has put a lot of thought into this and this is our recommendation."

Councillor Kenneth Craig noted that the criteria grants only 10 points for price; however, one purpose of the reunion is to raise funds to donate back into the community.

"We were looking at a break-even basis," said Roppel. "The last thing we rated was price. We didn't want to let price affect the criteria related to this. There's little (cost) difference between kegs and cans."

"I don't remember ever being in a situation like this when the recommended tender was 20-per-cent higher compared to the competitive local product," said mayor Larry Kraemer. "There are no points given for local employment or local investment in the community. All products are of acceptable quality so you'd think you would do your utmost to support the local community. I have a hard time working through the reasoning behind this recommendation."

(next column)

04/06/2009 10:16 PM

Haight continued her concern about the cans. "With draft (in kegs), all that people can throw around are biodegradable cups. The OPP has identified a risk, why not eliminate it when there are options available to you? Is it not a better way to go? It's a safety issue, and cans are not the best way to go."

"If I break a plastic glass, it could be used as a weapon," said councillor Marsha Leggett, who also sits on the reunion committee. "I could slit your throat with it, Laura (Haight)."

"If your intent was to slit my throat, you could use anything," said Haight. "That's a ridiculous comment, saying plastic cups are as big a threat as cans. We're talking about throwing things around, and cans are dangerous. And it's a totally separate issue to the tenders."

Roppel said if council has a problem with people being hit with cans, then the cans of beer could be poured into plastic cups.

When questioned about last year's Kincardine Reunion, which used mainly kegs and plastic cups, Haight said canned beer was sold in Victoria Park, but the crowd was an older age group. "We had a lot of discussion before-hand," she said. "We wanted no cans at the beach as a primary source of beverage, and we got a better price with draft beer."

Haight struggled to answer the question, given the rude shouts from the reunion committee in the audience.

The consensus of council was a 3-3 tie, which meant the recommendation was defeated. Roppel, Leggett and Craig voted in favour, while Kraemer, Haight and councillor Ron Hewitt voted against. Councillors Gordon Campbell and Mike Leggett were absent, and councillor Guy Anderson declared a conflict of interest.

The reunion committee then stormed from the council chamber for a private meeting with Roppel and Leggett outside.

When Roppel returned, he announced that 50 per cent of the committee had resigned, effective immediately. The remaining members would reconsider the issue, possibly switching to pouring the beer from cans into plastic glasses. They are to bring a recommendation to the June 10 council meeting.

"I would assume that if the recommendation is not reconsidered by council, the remainder of the committee could collapse," said Roppel. "It's quite a quagmire we have going here now."

Council agreed to defer discussion of the beer supplier to next week.

Thursday morning, Deb Cote, chairperson of the reunion committee, told The Kincardine Times that those who have quit the committee include Al and Marlene Ribbink, Blake Cote and Donna Hendry.

She said that previous to the council meeting, there was a lot happening between Steelback and the committee. President Ian MacDonald gave a presentation and did a taste-sampling. "We offered to have him do the spring dance for us, but he declined unless the beer tender went to Steelback, but the tender process was still ongoing," she said. "Then he started calling us, E-mailing us, and harassing us. He was rude to us."

Cote said MacDonald went on a media spree and despite the tendering process being under way, he spoke to the media about it and to the mayor. "That's a breach of tender, but we rated it (Steelback's bid) anyway."

She said the prices were within hundreds of dollars, not the 20 per cent quoted by the mayor. "We asked to see the clerk's report before the meeting but we were not allowed. She (clerk) had made changes to the prices and we were blind-sided at the meeting."

Cote said the committee members will meet June 10 to consider their options. "Maybe the municipality wants to take it over," she said.

^{for
world news,

books, sports, movies ...}

Search the site. Enter Key words