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.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Budget Quickie
With the Provincial Budget released on Tuesday at the end of the section on infrastructure there are a couple of relevant notes for CCRC.
First is the investment of $1 million to "...help to eliminate barriers to merging..." in other words debt relief in cases of amalgamation. Even though amalgamation is still seen as a dirty word in this province it is being discussed in some areas and debt issues are often the main stumbling block so any funding to address this is good news.
Second is an undisclosed amount to finance a 5 year pilot project in regional governance! Obviously this is of great interest and relevance to the work that the CCRC does so we'll be keeping our ears open to learn more about this initiative.
First is the investment of $1 million to "...help to eliminate barriers to merging..." in other words debt relief in cases of amalgamation. Even though amalgamation is still seen as a dirty word in this province it is being discussed in some areas and debt issues are often the main stumbling block so any funding to address this is good news.
Second is an undisclosed amount to finance a 5 year pilot project in regional governance! Obviously this is of great interest and relevance to the work that the CCRC does so we'll be keeping our ears open to learn more about this initiative.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Attack of the alphabet
Recent work in the CCRC seems to have unleashed an onslaught of acronyms. NLAMA, FIGI, BNJC and of course CCRC!
First is NLAMA the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Municipal administrators. They held their annual convention April 17th to 19th in Gander and the CCRC was glad to be on the presenters agenda to speak to the "doers" about regional cooperation and the Sustainability Self-Assessments that are coming soon to a council office near you.
Next on the list is FICI which stands for the Fogo Island Cooperation Initiative. This is a working group of sorts comprised of members from all the municipal councils on Fogo Island that are working with the CCRC to explore more enhance cooperation and potential merger for the councils on the island. They are currently awaiting an official response with regard to a resource request from the Department of Municipal Affairs. With the budget due to come down today a response should be forthcoming.
Finally on the acronym attack in the BNJC. These letters stand for the name of the newest Joint Council in the province: the Bonavista North Joint Council. Joint Councils are becoming more important as a means to provide a regional voice to municipalities around the province. The BNJC currently represents the towns of Musgrave Harbour, Lumsden, Greenspond, Indian bay, New-Wes-Valley and Centreville-Wareham-Trinity. The group is pleased to have a new way to communicate and lobby as a region. Cheers to them!
If you have any questions about setting up a joint council why not contact the CCRC (another acronym) at ccrc@nlfm.ca
Up next the provincial budget!
First is NLAMA the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Municipal administrators. They held their annual convention April 17th to 19th in Gander and the CCRC was glad to be on the presenters agenda to speak to the "doers" about regional cooperation and the Sustainability Self-Assessments that are coming soon to a council office near you.
Next on the list is FICI which stands for the Fogo Island Cooperation Initiative. This is a working group of sorts comprised of members from all the municipal councils on Fogo Island that are working with the CCRC to explore more enhance cooperation and potential merger for the councils on the island. They are currently awaiting an official response with regard to a resource request from the Department of Municipal Affairs. With the budget due to come down today a response should be forthcoming.
Finally on the acronym attack in the BNJC. These letters stand for the name of the newest Joint Council in the province: the Bonavista North Joint Council. Joint Councils are becoming more important as a means to provide a regional voice to municipalities around the province. The BNJC currently represents the towns of Musgrave Harbour, Lumsden, Greenspond, Indian bay, New-Wes-Valley and Centreville-Wareham-Trinity. The group is pleased to have a new way to communicate and lobby as a region. Cheers to them!
If you have any questions about setting up a joint council why not contact the CCRC (another acronym) at ccrc@nlfm.ca
Up next the provincial budget!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Rural Newfoundland and Labrador: An Underdog Story
For all the talk about the death of "Rural" Newfoundland and Labrador there are many leaders fighting for the survival of their communities.
The CCRC is involved with a research project that will examine what a functional region is, in terms of where people go for work, school, healthcare and shopping and what forms of governance organizations work well and which forms don't work well. The project is looking at three pilot regions in the province including the Irish Loop, the Labrador Straights, and the Twillingate - New World Island areas. The researchers are examining the pilot areas and mapping the functional regions with regard to labour flows.
This week the CCRC traveled to Newville to play our part as the liaison between the researchers and the communities. Expectations were simply that the researchers would present some of the findings thus far and the CCRC would help facilitate the discussion so that the communities involved helped determine the outputs. The presentation of research happened to be timed so that it coincided with the AGM of the local Rural Development Association. The province once had about 59 of these organizations funded by the Provincial Government and they directed the economic and social activities within their areas. As time passed they began to be overshadowed by the creation of the Regional Economic Development Boards and then the Rural Secretariat. Eventually government core funding disappeared and so did many of the RDAs. Currently there are somewhere around 25 to 30 remaining at varying levels of activity.
I was personally delighted to attend the AGM of a very active and successful organization obviously dedicated to the development of their region. Their annual report included a list of activities like Employment Assistance Services, a Community Partner Site, Visitor Information Centre, regional Unity Games and a Strategic Planning Committee. This organization is of interest to the CCRC because of its regional nature and the issues of rural sustainability that it continues to address. For continuing to fight for the survival of our rural communities I would like to say a heartfelt congratulations to the Twillingate - New World Island Development Association. Keep up the fight!
The CCRC is involved with a research project that will examine what a functional region is, in terms of where people go for work, school, healthcare and shopping and what forms of governance organizations work well and which forms don't work well. The project is looking at three pilot regions in the province including the Irish Loop, the Labrador Straights, and the Twillingate - New World Island areas. The researchers are examining the pilot areas and mapping the functional regions with regard to labour flows.
This week the CCRC traveled to Newville to play our part as the liaison between the researchers and the communities. Expectations were simply that the researchers would present some of the findings thus far and the CCRC would help facilitate the discussion so that the communities involved helped determine the outputs. The presentation of research happened to be timed so that it coincided with the AGM of the local Rural Development Association. The province once had about 59 of these organizations funded by the Provincial Government and they directed the economic and social activities within their areas. As time passed they began to be overshadowed by the creation of the Regional Economic Development Boards and then the Rural Secretariat. Eventually government core funding disappeared and so did many of the RDAs. Currently there are somewhere around 25 to 30 remaining at varying levels of activity.
I was personally delighted to attend the AGM of a very active and successful organization obviously dedicated to the development of their region. Their annual report included a list of activities like Employment Assistance Services, a Community Partner Site, Visitor Information Centre, regional Unity Games and a Strategic Planning Committee. This organization is of interest to the CCRC because of its regional nature and the issues of rural sustainability that it continues to address. For continuing to fight for the survival of our rural communities I would like to say a heartfelt congratulations to the Twillingate - New World Island Development Association. Keep up the fight!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
A "how to" for clean air
In the March edition of Municipal World there is an article on a new online tool to help municipalities adopt clean air policies and practices. The Clean Air Kit was developed as a collaborative project among BC Transit, BC Ministry of the Environment, and Environment Canada. Essentially it is a step-by-step guide to assist local governments to start a clean air program and though it was developed in British Columbia it can be easily adapted to any municipality.
The kit contains sections on the issues around government jurisdictions, available funding, and transit-friendly planning. There is quite a large section on ways to reduce engine emissions including a great guide to creating a anti-idling campaign. There's even a section on how to 'green' your events and meeting through more environmental practices. It's a great package and well worth a look.
While municipalities in NL deal with long term viability issues it does not mean that we can ignore the responsibility to develop policies and practices that are environmentally friendly. We can be thankful that on some issues others who have the capacity have taken some of the first steps. It is our obligation to follow their lead and take advantage of every opportunity to ensure that the Newfoundland and Labrador of our grandchildren's generation is just a beautiful and pristine as it is in our generation. One way to work toward that goal is to check out The Clean Air Kit and implement clean air policies.
The kit contains sections on the issues around government jurisdictions, available funding, and transit-friendly planning. There is quite a large section on ways to reduce engine emissions including a great guide to creating a anti-idling campaign. There's even a section on how to 'green' your events and meeting through more environmental practices. It's a great package and well worth a look.
While municipalities in NL deal with long term viability issues it does not mean that we can ignore the responsibility to develop policies and practices that are environmentally friendly. We can be thankful that on some issues others who have the capacity have taken some of the first steps. It is our obligation to follow their lead and take advantage of every opportunity to ensure that the Newfoundland and Labrador of our grandchildren's generation is just a beautiful and pristine as it is in our generation. One way to work toward that goal is to check out The Clean Air Kit and implement clean air policies.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Great Success
The recent meeting of the Combined Councils of Labrador was so successful that it deserves a second posting! The LADR portion of the weekend was very well received even though there were issues with a lack of speakers due to the weather. Attendees were actively involved in discussions around building the economic development capacity of municipalities and how long term sustainability is the goal for all small towns. The initial plan for MNL staff was to head back to St. John's after the workshop was completed but as usual mother nature had different plans and some of us were destined to attend the entire CCL AGM. This was indeed a good news story for those of us who would have otherwise missed a great AGM.
Seeing first hand how a regionally focused Joint Council deals with truly regional issues was worth the trip. It is certainly an eye opener to hear some of the more remote communities talk about issues around transportation, fuel costs, mail delivery and the cost of everyday products. These on the ground issues are of vital importance for the people on the North Coast of Labrador. The CCL provides a common voice for all of Labrador and despite the fact that weather prevented both provincial and federal ministers from attending it was a great event. It is also worth noting that money was raised over the three days to help multiple causes in the Port Hope Simpson area.
Keep up the good work CCL!
Seeing first hand how a regionally focused Joint Council deals with truly regional issues was worth the trip. It is certainly an eye opener to hear some of the more remote communities talk about issues around transportation, fuel costs, mail delivery and the cost of everyday products. These on the ground issues are of vital importance for the people on the North Coast of Labrador. The CCL provides a common voice for all of Labrador and despite the fact that weather prevented both provincial and federal ministers from attending it was a great event. It is also worth noting that money was raised over the three days to help multiple causes in the Port Hope Simpson area.
Keep up the good work CCL!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
CCL, LADR and CCRC
This weekend marks an interesting event: the annual Combined Councils of Labrador meeting. This year the event is being held in Port Hope Simpson and MNL is tagging on a LADR workshop for the attendees. As is becoming usual for these events the CCRC is hosting a panel on cooperation and economic development as one of the sessions.
Each LADR workshop is designed to address specific concerns of the region it is based in and the South coast of Labrador is no exception. There will be a session on small towns and gas tax funding, general economic development and cooperation options.
It is quite appropriate that the CCRC be presenting since the CCL is one of the oldest and geographically largest cooperative effort in the province. No doubt the LADR workshop and the CCL AGM will continue the development of communities throughout Labrador.
Each LADR workshop is designed to address specific concerns of the region it is based in and the South coast of Labrador is no exception. There will be a session on small towns and gas tax funding, general economic development and cooperation options.
It is quite appropriate that the CCRC be presenting since the CCL is one of the oldest and geographically largest cooperative effort in the province. No doubt the LADR workshop and the CCL AGM will continue the development of communities throughout Labrador.
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