SARAH WILLIAMS

STAFF WRITER

Aidan Grove-White, Vice President, Land Use and Infrastructure at Strategy Corp along with Senior Consultant, recently addressed council regarding the 10-year community plan. Strategy Corp. has been working with the County to refine this plan since 2021.

In this presentation, Glista outlined five important conversations to help inform the plan. These include: strengthening local government’s engagement with the public, diversifying the County’s economy while preserving the historic character, aligning infrastructure investments and fiscal policy priorities, harnessing the benefits of tourism to improve residents’ quality of life, and responding to the climate emergency.

“Throughout engagement, we’ve had passionate and visionary conversations with many community members. This not only helps chart the long-term vision for the County but helps establish the stepping stones we need to take to get there,” said Glista.

Aidan Grove-White.

Glista noted that since the newly elected term of council took office, there have been severely discussions with councillors. As well, this spring, there has been what Glisata described as “great conversations” within the community.

“A community plan tells us where we want to be in next ten years. It’s a chance to highlight things that could be done differently, dream, and create a larger vision for community as a whole,” Glista explained.

He further explained survey results from the community along with the impressive response from residents.

“When we reached out to residents, we had over 500 mail- in responses wherein residents provided detailed feedback along with two in person consultations recently,” he said. “These provided excellent chances for residents to come out and provide detailed information about how they want the county to change.”

Glista informed council that, based on survey results, the majority of residents want greater opportunity for input on municipal issues that affect the community.

“The majority of residents wanted more frequent opportunities to provide input on issues and proposals,” said Glista. “They want more frequent and varied opportunities to give thoughts and they also want more information on how input they provide gets used so they can see for themselves that council is listening.”

Of interest, noted Glista, was what economic opportunities most interest residents.

Alex Glista.

“Given that every municipality has limited funds to chase after different economic opportunities, survey respondents were asked which should be top priority. Agriculture came in second, which is interesting because it’s one of the traditional economic drivers in county. Healthcare was number one, followed by tech, education, and creative industries,” said Glista. “Tourism falls to the middle. It’s neither seen as something to be ignored nor something to be chased after with many resources.”

Bill Roberts questioned how Strategy Corp differentiated between public interests and the greater, communal public interest.

“I wanted to ask about how you wrestled with the distinction between public interests and public interest,” Roberts inquired. “Very often the public’s interests get misinterpreted as interest. These interests are an aggregate. In my way of thinking, the public interest is more singular, the overall wellbeing. How did you wrestle with that?”

Glista noted multiple points of contact proved valuable when trying to understand what is in the best interest of the public.

“It’s important to think that way when engaging with the public. I think that was part of why we used multiple different ways of getting information and noticing where there were gaps,” informed Glista. “I look to you folks as elected reps to make sure you’ve got your finger on the pulse…you know the public. We do our best and I think we were given some good tips by you and your colleagues and county staff.”

Councillor Maynard inquired as to what the median age of respondents might have been.

“I know you made a concerted effort to get high school students, but do you know what the median age of respondents is,” she asked.

Glista responded that based on available survey data, it appears the median age is approximately late 40s to early fifties.

“I personally found we had a mix where I would guess the median age was low fifties or high forties,” Glista confirmed.

The final report will serve as a foundation for a public-facing, plain language document. As per Glista, the 10 year Community Plan process and document will help Council set priorities in its Strategic Plan. There is a Strategic Planning workshop scheduled for May, with more details on that to come soon.