The Mayor of Ritchot says they are extremely grateful for the more than a quarter million dollars in provincial grant money announced for the municipality this week.
Chris Ewen is referring to the Building Sustainable Communities program. A total of 428 community development projects across the province were provided with a grant this week, totalling more than $25 million. Ten of those, worth nearly $260,000 are in Ritchot alone.
Ewen says three of those projects are specifically for the RM of Ritchot. That list includes $75,000 for Phase 1 of the Bartman Park development. Ewen explains that the park is being built inside the Tourond Creek development on the south side of St. Adolphe.
"This is a park that we've been wanting to get on the go for quite a number of years," he says.
Ewen notes he recalls this being talked about already when he first became Mayor.
"For them to get this money, they are going to be able to create a vision that works for, not just the community of Tourond Creek but the whole community and municipality of St. Adolphe and Ritchot," adds Ewen.
The RM of Ritchot is also getting $50,600 for an economic development strategy and another $45,150 for its community facilities capacity-building strategy. Ewen says these two grants will help the municipality improve its economic growth and evaluate its buildings in order to make them better in the long run.
These are the other grants coming to organizations within Ritchot:
$21,000 to St. Adolphe
Centre Sportif St. Adolphe Sports Centre Inc. for facility improvements,
$18,375 to Seine River Minor Baseball for equipment purchase,
$13,125 to Ste. Agathe
Centre Culturel et Communautaire for facility improvements,
$10,500 to Grande Pointe Homeowners Association Inc. for facility improvements,
$8,925 to Howden Community Centre Inc. for facility improvements,
$7,875 to
Ile des Chenes
Centre TC Energy Centre Inc. for facility improvements, and
$7,363 to St. Adolphe Community Club for facility upgrades.
"I'm always thankful that our MLA Ron Schuler is always lobbying on our behalf," says Ewen. "To see this amount of money come to Ritchot alone is significant and we're very appreciative to have the relationships we do with our upper levels of government."