Sustainable Symposium a Success!

This past weekend marked the annual MNL Symposium and this year the vast majority of sessions were related to the issue of sustainability. While there was considerable discussion around the real definition of sustainability everyone seemed to grasp the idea of long term survival of our rural municipalities.

The sessions on Waste Management and issues relating to ICSP development and the Gas Tax agreement were well attended. Questions to the panelists spurred great discussion on how municipalities can adapt to these new approaches. During the Waste Management session the audience was very adamant that enforcement must be a large part of the approach to prevent illegal dumping when the regional waste sites begin operation. The issue of site cleanup and transportation costs were also discussed as municipalities expressed concerns over rising costs and shrinking revenues.

The CCRC was involved in two sessions, the first of which was a report on the 2007 municipal census conducted by the CCRC and now available. It will be soon posted to the CCRC website and copies will be distributed to all municipalities in the province. The second session was dedicated to the launch of the Municipal Sustainability Self-Assessment Toll Kit (SSAK). This project has been in development for nearly 2 years and is tied very closely to the ICSP process as it provides a baseline for all municipalities to build upon in the planning process. The SSAK is now ready to roll out and the CCRC office will be putting a team in place to facilitate the tool kit over the coming 4-5 months. The CCRC office will be in touch with every municipality to make arrangements for these sessions that are expected to take 3-4 hours for each municipality. Once the process is complete each town will receive a short report outlining the results and a short list of recommendations in preparation for the ICSP process.

The CCRC is also working on a similar initiative to roll out next year for the completion of ICSPs for each municipality, or groups of municipalities in NL. Remember, the ICSP are a requirement of the Gas Tax agreement and a great opportunity to take advantage of additional planning capacity and expertise that may not exist in every municipality.

As Thomas Edison once said "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work"

Lets do the work and take advantage of the opportunity.