Public Commons

Part of Cash handling at Ward 18 Parks and Rinks

Proposal for Cash Handling Procedure at Dufferin Grove Park Contents:

• Overview Recreation staff and food
• Recreation staff and cash handling in food and skate programs across the city
• Payment practices
• Daily records
• Bookkeeping
• Required actions
• Appendix

Overview

This document presents the proposed cash handling procedures for the partnership programs jointly run by City of Toronto Recreation staff and the Centre for Local Research into Public Space (CELOS). Since the first programs began, about 15 years ago, the community partners have been responsible for collecting and accounting for the money received, as well as for paying for all materials and additional support for the programs. The programs are run by an integrated team of Recreation and CELOS staff.

Over the years, the need for more sophisticated accounting has arisen, as both the number of program participants and the total cost of materials has grown. Programs such as pizza days, Friday Night Suppers, seasonal snack programs, and bread baking were created as experiments in ways to engage the community through providing food in public space. The skate rental program started when the NHL Players´ Association donated 50 pairs of skates and other hockey equipment to the rink. As soon as a basic rental system was set up to lend out the equipment, the program was bustling. Both the food and skate rental programs have been successful at bringing more people into the park to enjoy their neighbourhood public space and get to know their neighbours. Through the donations raised from the programs, CELOS has been able to pay for all costs associated with the programs not covered by Parks, Forestry and Recreation. The objective of this document is to ensure that all criteria with regards to clarity and safety around cash handling are met. The proposed procedure draws on both existing practices and City of Toronto cash handling policies.