Councillors push for Chase the Ace policy
No decision on how next licence will be awarded or to which group
Paul Bickford
Northern News Services
Monday, November 21, 2016
HAY RIVER
Now that the first Chase the Ace lottery has come to an end, people are starting to wonder when the next one will begin and which organization will be get to hold it.
At the town council meeting on Nov. 7, Coun. Jason Coakwell said he has been asked a few times just what the plan is and how the town is going to move forward with the next lottery.
"I was hoping we could set a target and plan to get this done by Christmas or somewhere in the New Year," he said. "I was just wondering if there were any official plans as to how we could move this forward."
The creation of a process to decide the next organization to receive a licence for Chase the Ace was discussed by council on Oct. 3 and the matter was tabled with the plan that it be sent to council's policy committee.
Gloria Murdock-Smith, the town's senior administrative officer, said there has not yet been a meeting of the policy committee.
Deputy mayor Donna Lee Jungkind said she would like to have something completed by the policy committee and back to council by the end of November or the beginning of December.
However, Mayor Brad Mapes said that time-frame might be difficult to meet because of discussions on other important matters.
"The only issue I see in that is we're going to have our budget talks," he told council. "We're going to have the organizational review coming up right away."
However, he suggested a meeting of the policy committee be held.
"I realize there's quite a bit of work to do," said Jungkind, adding at least some initial information could be provided to council by December.
The issue has arose at council because the first Chase the Ace in Hay River ended on Nov. 4 with the awarding of $511,034 to Les Ring, who drew the ace of spades from 10 remaining cards.
That lottery was organized by the Hay River Curling Club, which made about $600,000 in profit over the 43 weeks of the game.
At the Oct. 3 meeting, town administration recommended, and council agreed, that the awarding of a new licence for Chase the Ace not occur until changes to the Lottery Licensing Bylaw are enacted to outline a process by which a licence is awarded.
At that time, council agreed that awarding a licence should be the responsibility of town administration, which would follow a policy established by council.
Council had previously agreed that the town would award just one licence at a time for Chase the Ace.
