Members of the Dionne Home Special Committee, if they can sway City Council, have decided on the "where." It's the "when," "how," and "how much," that will take some work.
Monday, at North Bay City Hall, proponents of keeping the divisive Dionne home in North Bay had their say in a less formal setting than a traditional city council meeting. Two weeks have passed since the Friends of the Dionne Home earned their latest reprieve after a series of political manoeuvrings that has seen the Dionne homestead more than once come mere seconds from being shipped to Strong Township, and its artefacts divided amongst various entities.
The group met with Councillors Chris Mayne, George Maroosis and Derek Shogren. New CAO Keith Robicheau, senior staffer Peter Carello and city clerk Karen McIsaac were also present for the meeting, as thirty people crammed into the fifth-floor boardroom.
A consensus was reached after a presentation by Jeff Fournier, Chair of the Friends, that the Dionne museum should be relocated in close proximity to the Discovery North Bay Museum. The City owns the land already and is in an operational agreement with Discovery Museum.
Annette and Cecile, the surviving Dionne sisters, have played a large role in recent development in this story by letting their wishes about their former home be known in two separate letters.
See: Dionne sisters send a letter to City Council: You have a 'moral obligation'Dionne sisters send a letter to City Council: You have a 'moral obligation'
and: Keep our home intact, Dionne sisters plead to City Council
Mayne and Fournier recently visited with one of the surviving Dionne sisters in Quebec. In a Facebook post, Mayne wrote: "Annette is very supportive of keeping the old family home and artefacts together and if the Friends of the Dionnes' efforts are successful in keeping them in North Bay, she and Cecile, subject to their health, would be pleased to consider visiting North Bay to see them again."
See also: Museum battle causing Dionne sisters 'great amount of stress'
The executive at the Discovery Museum, according to presentations at Monday's meeting, have been near-silent on the matter, and there have been murmurs throughout the entire process that the board does not wish to take on the Dionne home due to financial reasons.
According to Maroosis, the meeting solved "the problem of location," adding that the home "should go adjacent to the Discovery Museum, whose board seems to be less than attentive."
Fournier said he has reached out to both the board of the Discovery Museum and the Municipal Heritage Committee without satisfactory results. Due to the ownership and funding arrangement in place, the City of North Bay seems to hold no leverage over the Discovery Museum when it comes to simply placing the Dionne home next door. An amendment to the agreement would be necessary.
"Speaking generally, I don't think Council will be willing to impose anything upon anyone," said Mayne.
Fournier, who has been working at rallying the community to save the home since starting a petition in October 2016, said that the Friends seek "a cooperative approach," to solving the Dionne saga, which has drawn attention on the national level. In his opinion, the Discovery Museum "has a mandate to tell the story of North Bay."
"We've always wanted it somewhere near the museum," said Fournier, who did present an alternative location near the Heritage railway and carousels. That option was quickly dismissed as the lesser of the two by Fournier and the committee.
The committee agreed that selecting the location was a start, but that they must schedule a meeting with the Discovery Museum board to discuss matters. If an agreement can be reached between the City and the Discovery Museum, the group can proceed with a tender process to ascertain the cost of moving the Dionne home to the downtown core.
A cost of $75,000 to move the home was discussed in the proposal for the move to Strong. Robicheau pointed out that although the distance to downtown North Bay is shorter, there may be additional costs incurred due to overhead electrical wires and traffic re-routing.
As far as where the money will come from to make the move, that is another question. The Friends were encouraged to set a fundraising target (the group is holding an event at the Davedi Club). Fournier seemed to bristle at the suggestion, saying that no fundraising goal was imposed on Strong.
Shogren, on moving costs, said "Ideally, I'd like to have unanimous support at Council. I'm OK with using some of the money from the sale of the land. This is not a slam dunk yet, we have four no votes. We need something that will get the other councillors on board."
Costs of maintenance to the building will also need to have a dollar figure put on them. As far back as 2001, those costs were estimated to be $85,000, although some maintenance work has been done in the interim.
Shogren also raised concerns about operating costs. He was not sure that there would be a majority "willing to put dollars in yearly."
See related story: Federal lifeline coming for Dionne home?
The Dionne Special Committee will meet again next Monday, March 13 at 6 p.m. in the fifth-floor boardroom at City Hall.
The mandate of the group, according to City staff will be to "make recommendations with respect to the future of the Dionne home and artefacts to the Community Services Committee on or before April 4, 2017."
One of the conditions of the sale of the land where the Dionne home currently sits is that the home is removed by June 1.
