Town might pitch in for new sign for church

April 4, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Bill Rea
The people who manage Melville White Church near Belfountain want a new sign for it, and the Town of Caledon might be contributing to it.
Town council passed a motion Tuesday calling on staff to report on the feasibility of the sign being a project of the municipality.
The preamble of the motion, that was put forth by Councillor Richard Paterak, pointed out the Town owns the church, which is on Mississauga Road, south of the hamlet. It’s managed by the Belfountain Heritage Society, and it’s the Society that wants to see the current sign replaced with one that’s illuminated on both sides, with message boards.
It’s estimated the sign will cost about $10,000. The Caledon Heritage Foundation has expressed interest in contributing, to the tune of a little more than $2,000, and the Society has expressed willingness to raise funds, but it looks like the efforts will fall about $3,000 short.
Councillor Rob Mezzapelli said he wasn’t opposed to staff looking into the feasibility of contributing, agreeing that not a lot of money would be involved. But he was concerned that requests for Town money keep coming in throughout the year, and he indicated he would prefer to deal with such matters at budget time.
Paterak was enthusiastic in his support of the idea, commenting the Society takes care of the building and has raised about $200,000 for its upkeep. Among the results he cited is the church now has insulation, hydro and compostable toilets.
“This building is in great shape,” he declared. “The only thing the whole site doesn’t have is a sign that does credit to the building and the grounds.”
“I think it’s incredibly good value for the Town,” Paterak added.