Quesnel council approved up to $15k to refurbish and place a moose sculpture donated to the city by Bert DeVink.
The funding includes the quote of what is required to refurbish and place the moose at $10,672.20 and contingency funding of $4,327.80 in the event of unforeseen costs. Council agreed to place the sculpture in front of Arena 2 provided there is no objection from the North Cariboo Joint Advisory.
"It speaks to Quesnel's character, it speaks to Quesnel's environment. A moose would be a good logo as much as a gold pan would be a good logo for Quesnel. It just sort of fits," Mayor Ron Paull said in an interview Monday. "It's gonna be a place where people will say 'hey, let's get a picture of us in front of the moose' I think it's a very fitting icon."
Paull personally brought the moose to Quesnel from its original home on Vancouver Island where DeVink built it for a metalworking class at Camosun College. DeVink built the sculpture in the 70s and now, in his 90s, he wants to see it come to Quesnel.
Paull retrieved the moose himself spending $2,000 with support from former mayor Nate Bellow and Coun. Mitch Vik. Paull said the reason he went rather than sending city staff was to help lower the cost to the city.
"They would have to claim the standard per diem rate and they would have to be paid for their time and the whole bit," Paull said. Council had originally agreed to pay Paull's expenses but retracted that because the moose wasn't city property at the time and due to issues around liability.
The vote to accept the moose was 4-2 with Coun. Roodenburg and Coun. Goulet voted against it. Coun. Vik was absent from the meeting.
"When I think about our priorities, this moose is not a priority to me," Roodenburg told the Observer. She added that while she is in favour of public art, the time that has gone into the moose could have gone towards things like meeting with West Fraser Timber which council has yet to do this term. "It's about the whole process and the fact that we're ignoring some of the pieces in our strategic plan we should be concentrating on," she said.
Roodenburg added that she has concerns about people climbing the moose and getting injured. Paull said while the moose was abducted and hung from a bridge once, people climbing on it hasn't been an issue for the college.
Goulet's major concerns were about the cost of the sculpture.
"The upkeep of it over time. We put it up there and what kind of condition with our weather, (it's) different than Victoria," he said in an interview, adding that with Quesnel's colder, snowier winters it could face more damage. "Is it going to rust out? Is there going to be other issues that we have to put forward for the moose sitting outside the arena too?"
Paull said he's confident the city won't have to spend the extra contingency funding and he's optimistic that it can be placed outside the arena and ready for an unveiling within the next couple of weeks. He also hopes to have DeVink give a speech at the unveiling event.
DeVink has several other pieces of art throughout Quesnel at City Furniture, the West Fraser Centre and the Women's Resource Centre.