Outgoing Executive Director says City Council not showing enough support for MHV

The outgoing Executive Director for Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach says he thinks the city should do more to show its support towards the museum. Gary Dyck, whose last day was Friday, is referring to the financial support coming to the museum.

"I do feel that the City of Steinbach should be doing much more than they have been," says Dyck.

According to Mayor Earl Funk, the City of Steinbach provides an annual grant worth approximately $50,000 to the museum. He explains that the city has a policy where at the beginning of each term, council will re-examine how much to dish out each year in grants. Council then locks in those totals for four years. 

Funk explains that there are eight organizations that are provided a grant each year. And, he says MHV is one of the original core four of those eight. Funk says by the City informing MHV how much money it will be receiving each year, that allows the museum to prepare its budget and know exactly how much funding is coming its way. 

"Then there's no guesswork, there's not coming and asking for more," says Funk. "It's nice and clean and easy to administer."

Dyck says last fall he approached the city about upping its grant. In fact, Dyck says he made that request a few times since taking over as Executive Director back in 2019. Dyck says the museum did not get the answer it was hoping for. 

"I got the letter and it said, 'Sorry, we'll reject your request, but keep up the good work,'" recalls Dyck.

Dyck says it is disappointing to see the city spending millions and millions of dollars on a new event centre. In return, Dyck says the city is forgetting about its anchor institutions. 

"I know other non-profits too, we are wanting to see more support from our City Council," says Dyck. "We're not seeing that and that is definitely a disappointment."

But Funk has a different opinion. Funk says he has always thought that the City of Steinbach is providing good support. Not only is the city providing this annual grant, but Funk says City Council attends events there and rents space for their study session.

"I thought we were supporting them as best we could," he adds. 

Funk says the city has been providing a grant to the museum for decades. And, he says even during tough economic times in recent years, the city has not lowered its funding amount to the museum. Funk says that alone is showing Council's support to the museum.

Finally, Funk says Mennonite Heritage Village is a priority for City Council. 

"We do appreciate the museum so much because of what they hold," he adds.

Funk says MHV holds our history and is a place where parents can take their children or grandchildren to show them what life was like in 1874 when the first families arrived. Funk notes it was the hard work of the early settlers that brought about the work ethic of our city today. 

"That is why this city has become so incredibly prosperous and is growing at such a fast rate," adds Funk. "I do believe we need to thank our grandfathers, grandmothers, parents for the city that we have today."