As the Municipality of Chatham-Kent works on getting a new arena complex built in Chatham, more frequent updates about the finances related to the project will now be made public.
During Monday night's council meeting, a motion was approved that will require administrative staff to prepare regular reports on all funds spent or committed to be spent relating to the proposed arena complex.
Councillor Douglas Sulman was behind the motion. He said for him, the decision all came down to creating more transparency for the project.
"I think we've heard in council chambers about a mega arena project and I think the public deserves to know where we stand and how much has been spent on it," he explained.
The motion requests that council is updated on the expenditures on a quarterly basis. Sulman said the financial implications of building a new arena is a concern he's frequently heard from citizens.
"Residents want to know more about what's happening," he said. "I think it's our duty to make these inquiries and on a regular basis... I want to know what we've spent to date and what we've spent quarterly."
Sulman also requested that a monthly report come to council on the status of provincial and federal funding for the project.
In October, council voted in favour of putting in an application for upper level of government funding to go towards a new twin-pad entertainment centre and multisport complex with a seating capacity of 2,200. One of the stipulations is that the building of the arena only moves forward if Chatham-Kent is able to secure $46.6 million of government funding to go towards the costs of construction.
Chatham-Kent is applying for the Community, Culture, and Recreation Funding stream being offered by upper levels of government. The application for the grant has to be in by November 12, 2019 and it's estimated to take up to seven months to find out if the municipality was approved for the funds.
"We also deserve to know where the grant process is at any point in time," said Sulman. "If you recall the motion, if we don't get federal and provincial money it doesn't proceed. So we should know as soon as we can. Ultimately we still need to do something about this whether there is grant money or there isn't grant money."
Sulman added that he's unsure what kind of financial updates would have been provided going forward had he not introduced his motion on Monday night
"I haven't seen anything come forward," he said. "So the only way to get things to come forward is to bring these motions to get transparency."
The motion passed unanimously.