Council seeks non-for-profit partners to run markets

Date: Tuesday, 28th April 2009

Markets at the Flinders Mall, The Strand and Riverway could soon be generating thousands of dollars for community groups as Townsville City Council looks to partner with not-for-profit groups to run the successful events.

The council today voted to call for expressions of interest from not-for-profit groups to run the markets, returning the funds generated back to the community.

Corporate Governance Committee chair Cr Natalie Marr said the council would go to the market place and see if there was a service club or community group that could partner with the council to deliver the markets.

"We have had a number of community organisations approach us and inquire about running some or all of our markets," Cr Marr said.

"It is good business practice to go to the marketplace and offer an opportunity, but it will only eventuate if a suitable provider can be found and if the integrity of the markets is maintained.

"Our intent is to give the markets to the community, so that any funds raised can be used for local projects.

“Utilising council staff and resources to manage the markets obviously involves overheads that would not necessarily be incurred by a non-for-profit organisation if it were the manager.

“Labour, infrastructure and promotion costs would be diminished for a service group with access to voluntary labour and logistics.

“The responsible thing to do is to make this opportunity available to the community at less burden to the ratepayer, and any profit can to go back to the community.

"Other markets in Townsville such as the Showgrounds and Willows are run very successfully by community groups, and this is what makes us think that we might find a suitable provider.”

Cr Marr said there would be little impact on stall holders and patrons, except for the knowledge that, by attending the markets, they were contributing to worthwhile community projects.

She said the council was observing the process that other councils were using and would not go down the path of the Brisbane City Council in offering the markets to a commercial provider.

"If our expressions-of-interest process fails to find a suitable community group provider, the council will continue to host the markets in the current model," Cr Marr said.

Under the proposal, the council and the successful provider would form a management committee to ensure the integrity, safety and growth of the markets.

A fixed-term resource agreement would spell out the responsibilities and goals of the provider and the council.