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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-06-15, Page 3Wednesday, June 15, 2016 • Huron Expositor 3 OMAFRA steps into help Huron East in their recreational concerns Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor As many communities across Canada are currently experiencing, the municipality of Huron East faces a constant lack of funds when it comes to recreational facilities. To alleviate the current situation a provincial ministry will step in with the hope of finding a solution to jump-start these amenities back to a more lucrative bottom line. After previously being contacted by Huron East's CAO, Brad Knight under the direction of council, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) surfaced on the council's agenda for a delegation last Tuesday. From a suggestion made by Brus- sels Ward Councillor David Blainey at an earlier meeting, OMAFRA's Vicki Lass' name came up in a brainstorm. According to council, something needed to be done. The horseshoe shaped table craved to figure out a way to create some life (money) for these dwindling organ- izations that have close to $600,000 in total net losses for 2016. Through the recommendation of the municipality, Lass, who is OMAFRA's agriculture and rural development economic advisor for Huron -Perth is set to take the lead for the task of attempting to invig- orate the recreational facilities at a "grass root" level. An arrangement she refers to as a "strategic plan:' Lass told the political ruling body June 7 that she encourages the community members, service groups, ratepayers, staff and any person interested to participate in the envisioning of the future for these three establishments. "How can we up the user ship, how can we serve the community and meet its needs by making full use of these facilities?" inquired Lass in the council chambers regarding Brussels, Morris and Gray Community Centre, Seaforth & District Community Centre and the Vanastra Recreation Centre. "The idea would be to gain as many community members as possible, so that their voices are heard with regards to their recreation facility:' In addition, another tactic of attracting the neighborhood and keeping the mission at hand on a less personal level, Lass proposed to not only having meetings at Sea- forth's Historic Town Hall, but to host the gatherings at the initiative at hand- the facilities themselves. In the last year and a half of land- ing the new position as the advisor for OMAFRA, Lass has spear- headed a successful project known as Train -the -Trainer, which involved 50 individuals from Huron County being taught how to facilitate strategic planning. These specific individuals would be of assistance and like the service if How can we up the user ship, how can we serve the community and meet its needs by making full use of these facilities?" inquired Vicki Lass Lass, from OMAFRA in the council chambers regarding Brussels, Morris and Gray Community Centre, Seaforth & District Community Centre and the Vanastra Recreation Centre. OMAFRA provides, it would not cost anything. Lass would be the "mentor" in this process. "What that does, is down the road it gives a fuller ability to strategic(ally) plan within your com- munity and not have you go external for paid consultants, she said. Mayor of Huron East, Bernie MacLellan applauded the recent work Lass has done in previous projects. However, there were cer- tain things he was hesitant about, specifically how many times this strategic plan would be brought forth for discussion. "I've seen you pull groups together and get them involved in things they never thought them- selves. I guess part of the concern here is I agree with the fact that maybe it should be more than one meeting," stated MacLellan. "I know what council is hoping, council is hoping that the public is going to come up with suggestions to justify the facilities. It's not that we are looking to close anything, but the numbers are getting hard to deal with, is what it comes down to:' "The first meeting might get the people involved but it might take a second meeting before they come back with some ideas and sugges- tion for things to do." Responding to the mayor, Lass said all three communities will have a slightly different approach, resulting from a collection of different needs. For most of the projects in the past, she has conducted about four pre - meetings, all before announcing, "let alone before I start the facilitation." "If you haven't had those pre - meetings and got to know your local audience and you haven't started to assess their needs you cannot really set out a fulsome schedule;" Lass said. Lass concluded with suggesting that the recreational facilities com- mittees' pre -meetings should start as early as next month. The overall strategic plan is expected to take about two to three months not including the pre - meetings and the official municipal meetings that are scheduled to take place this fall. I like that approach because council will be busy starting this process throughout the summer, we don't have everyone there that's going to be there for the Town Hall meetings, we just have to have con- tact with the individual groups, so they can build their own interest," the mayor said. Lass added that this usually takes a fair amount of time to align situa- tions such as the recreational pro- ject, but she did indicate that she has helped a group create a strategic plan in two full day meetings and they were expected to do additional work afterwards and in between, depending on the scheduling. These specific conventions, "make sure that the people who are concerned and are using it and don't want to lose it, show up," con- cluded Lass. ea ort uronexsositor.co 0 N Shaun Gregory At the Huron East council meeting OMAFRA's, Vicki Lass, who is more than experienced in rural small-town situations such as the recent recreational anxiety surrounding the municipality has offered her services to aid these facilities. The idea would be to gain as many community members as possible, so that their voices are heard with regards to their recreation facility." THE BLUFFS AT HURON A Parkbridge Community Lakeside community living at its best. 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