Growing in Adversity
Councillor’s Corner - Wednesday July 28, 2017This past month I have read two really good books that breath life into doing things differently and how to move forward in very difficult financial times. The first book is Gord Hume’s “10 Trends for Smarter Communities” and he highlights different successful strategies that other communities are using to be sustainable and resilient. Quote from the preface of the book says, this book “supports making municipalities better and more sustainable, developing stronger local economies, being able to compete better in the rapidly emerging global marketplace, getting sustainable local financial resources and capacity, developing greener and healthier communities, and striving for creative, smarter cities offering a better quality of life.” This information was really good and some new inventive concepts that were to new to me but is geared at more cities than small communities which in turn lead me to the next book, Wayne Caldwell’s “Rural Community Economic Development”. This second read was more geared to our small community with ideas that are more manageable and measurable for our municipality. From the introduction: “This book presents a template for success. It identifies many “good news” stories. It profiles communities that have made a difference and, most importantly, it discusses the lessons that can be replicated elsewhere. It takes a decidedly rural and small-town perspective-recognizing that the issues, economics, and processes at work in rural Canada often differ from those that are present in mush of urban Canada.”
All of this reading has lead me to believe that there is hope for our small town. If we take informed measurable steps we can grow our community and build off of our assets. Some of those steps have already been taken, the strategic plan completion, working on an application for the Economic Development Officer, having a Standing Waste Management Committee, building the confidence and competencies of our town staff and working with Luc Denault to get an action plan in place for council are just to highlight a few.
Enjoy the rest of July and hopefully I’ll see you at Art in the Park this weekend.
Sincerely,
Cheryl T Fort
Note: These articles are posted after being published in the Jackfish Journal, usually between 5-7 days.