Tuesday marked the first Timmins city council meeting after the Stars and Thunder Festival.

While no update on financials were provided, councillors got the chance to talk on the subject from their point of view before the meeting wrapped up for the evening.

Some were quite complimentary. Others, not so much.

Councillor Mike Doody got the ball rolling by saying he’s never received as many positive comments about anything in his 34 years of being an elected official.

He offered his thanks to the volunteers, who he says “stepped up to the plate” and made it successful.

Echoing his comments was Councillor Rick Dubeau, who proceeded to offer his experience at Gillies Lake on Canada Day. He says he spent at least three hours there, where there was no music and no beer tent.

“It was not a good experience…and the people had nothing,” he said, “We had two different celebrations for two different classes of people.”

“We failed there in my opinion.”

Councillor Walter Wawrzaszek—who was in the Mayor’s chair after Mayor Steve Black declared a conflict on a previous item and wasn’t around afterwards—relayed many positive comments he received in the community.

“I can’t wait to see the encore,” he said.

Councillor Noella Rinaldo then spoke. She says it’s too bad Dubeau had a bad experience, but was complimentary of the experience her family had throughout the festival.

She says family spent about six hours at Gillies Lake on the Friday and had a great time.

Rinaldo noted that while there was many people inside the park enjoying the music and fireworks, the outskirts of the festival grounds was packed with people—from Hollinger Park to the ONR overpass.

It also had a great economic impact to nearby businesses, Rinaldo continued.

The nearby iPhone repair shop “tripled their business” in the week, not including any phones that were dropped accidentally in porta-potties.

Councillor Veronica Farrell provided a bit of reason to finish things off.

She says in the end, this was the city’s first time doing this and there is a learning curve to keep in mind.

“Maybe things we may have done wrong this time, we know we will do it better next time,” she added.

CLICK HERE for the full discussion, under Item 7 and 8.

As Rogers Media noted back on July 6th, the numbers are being crunched to account for things like overtime pay, vendors and the city’s payroll.

Black did feel comfortable then that the final number will fall “far below” the projected worst-case scenario of a $1 million dollar shortfall.

The next council meeting is slated for August 22nd.

Filed under: Local News, stars and thunder