Councillors here think it is premature to answer to a Clifford groups’s request for a home for its historical exhibits.
At the Nov. 3 council meeting, councillors considered a request from the Clifford and District Historical Society seeking direction for available space to place Clifford memorabilia.
In September, council reviewed a letter from Bonnie Whitehead, of the society, stating its executive is still interested in acquiring a museum in Clifford.
“We have looked into the possibility of two buildings within the community of Clifford,” Whitehead wrote. “We are still looking forward to hearing from you with any advice you can offer to have this become a reality in our community.
“There is an abundance of memorabilia in the community that will be lost if we have no place to store and showcase any of these items,” she added.
Mayor David Anderson said earlier this year, council was approached by the Harriston Historical Society to see if it would support the group in its application to Wellington County for 1,000 square feet in an expanded Harriston library.
“One of the stipulations we indicated to them is that we would endorse it – if they would open it up for other historical societies in Minto to use.”
Anderson said the original Clifford request came almost a year ago regarding the potential purchase of a building for museum space.
However, “It gets to the point as a municipality with three urban centres – it’s pretty hard to have three of everything.”
He asked that council send a reply to the group stating Minto had endorsed the Harriston group’s request for space in the Harriston library, and the Clifford group should contact its counterpart about sharing space in that area.
Councillor Wayne Martin considered it a bit premature to think everything will fit in one location.
“Even if we do, it will be dealing with the county.”
He said, “You partner with them to do certain things, but we still have to maintain what we have in the area.”
Martin said the Clifford group is basically following up its request from a year ago for a partnership with the town.
“All the resources, in my opinion, will not be coming to one centre,” he added.
He cited the additional work being done on a cultural plan for Minto, and he believes the town should let that process run its course first.
Then, he said, council could look how it would fit.
He said the county is also looking for expanded partnerships and cited the expansion of the Wellington County Archives. He noted some communities have already started their own archives.
Martin said storage of municipal files and information should also be considered.
He said the “first thing Clifford is looking for is a response, which they didn’t get a year ago.”
The second part, he said, is there are people in Clifford involved in the cultural planning process. As that moves forward, council can make better decisions, he said.
Anderson said the big question is that the group is looking for a location.
Deputy-mayor Judy Dirksen said her understanding was that the deal with the library in Harriston was because Minto was “not well-healed enough” to have a building in each of the three urban areas, perhaps it would be a short-term fix to have everything in one location.
“Then, perhaps at a later date, things could move out and back their respective areas.”
She said 1,000 square feet is not a lot of room, and can fill up rather quickly.
Dirksen said her thinking was that the space in the library is a band-aid solution.
Martin contended the issue actually dates back to the construction of the Clifford medical clinic. At that time there was discussion about using part of that building, but those plans did not pan out.
“They’ve been left floating around since then.”
He did not believe it was wise to make a decision until the cultural planning process was complete.
