Town flub could cost library grant

Ken Johnston

The good work of volunteers and the staff of the Rainy River Public Library may all have been for nothing.
At last Monday’s Rainy River Town Council meeting Councillor Deb Ewald informed council that the library board and its staff have filed an application for a grant from the Trillium Foundation.
“The grant will be used to enhance the learning area for children and help fill the family literacy gap identified in the region,” said Ewald.
The library is hoping for $15,000 from Trillium, however they may have trouble getting the funding due to a screw up made last year.
Councillor Brent Anderson said the town recently received a letter from Trillium informing them that they had tried three times to get a final report on how the grant for the RR centennial was spent last year. After not receiving any reply from Rainy River, Trillium closed the file and red flagged Rainy River. The letter Anderson read from said the fact that RR had failed to file a final report for the centennial could affect the community’s ability to access future Trillium funds.
Councillor Ewald asked if the final report could be sent now to clear up the matter. Anderson said that it was his understanding that once the file was closed it was closed and could not be reopened.
“It would be unfortunate if the library suffers because we didn’t do the paperwork for another organization,” said Ewald.