HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-12-08, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016.
Strategic planning sessions positive: Lowe
Planning for the future
Vicki Lass, left, of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has been
conducting joint strategic planning sessions for the three recreation committees of Huron East
and John Lowe, a Brussels representative, says the sessions are going extremely well. The
process will soon be opened up to the public and user groups to find solutions as to how to
increase usership and revenue at local community centres. (Photo submitted)
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
The process of strategic planning
for Huron East's three community
centres is ongoing and those
involved are enthusiastic about the
possibilities going forward.
John Lowe, Brussels
representative on Huron East
Council as well as a member of the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Recreation Committee, says the
process has been greatly positive and
it's revealed that many of the
challenges facing the Brussels,
Morris and Grey Community Centre
are municipality -wide.
The process began several months
ago when councillors felt some
strategic planning for the
municipality's three recreation
centres — Brussels, Seaforth and
Vanastra — would benefit from
strategic planning sessions. Facing
several challenges such as ever -
rising hydro costs and declining
usage, councillors wanted to help
revitalize the centres and make them
more viable without looking at
closing one of the centres as a
solution.
It was Brussels Councillor David
Blaney who first suggested the
strategic planning process and his
fellow councillors immediately liked
the idea. Chief Administrative
Officer Brad Knight then brought on
Vicki Lass, agriculture and rural
economic development advisor for
the Ministry of Agriculture, Food
and Rural Affairs to help facilitate
the sessions.
Lass began the process by meeting
with each recreation committee
separately in an attempt to learn
more about each centre individually
and hear about the challenges being
faced.
The meetings were held
throughout the late summer and then
the first joint strategic planning
session was held amongst the
three committees in October.
In an interview with The Citizen,
Lowe said that while the first
meeting in October was very basic
and necessary for the process, the
second meeting, held last week, was
when Lass and the members of the
committees really began to get down
to business.
Lowe said that no one involved in
the process from the very beginning
approached it in a negative way. He
said that those who were there are
positive and committed to finding a
solution to improve area community
centres, increase usage and keep
them viable as challenges mount.
While each committee has
multiple civilian representatives,
many of those involved in the
process are from local councils. For
the Brussels, Morris and Grey
Recreation Committee, for example,
Huron East Councillors Lowe and
Dianne Diehl are representatives, as
well as Morris-Turnberry Councillor
Dorothy Kelly. Representing the
Seaforth committee are Huron East
Councillors Nathan Marshall and
Larry McGrath, as well as a
councillor from West Perth, while
Years of service
The Grey station of the Huron East Fire Department honoured three of its firefighters recently
for their years of service. The three firefighters were honoured for a combined 80 years of
service to the department. From left: Jim Stephenson, 45 years; Don Cochrane, 25 years and
Steve Boyer, 10 years. (Photo submitted)
Huron East Councillor Ray
Chartrand is representing the
Vanastra committee.
Once the committees joined
forces, Lowe said it was crucial that
they developed a mission statement.
The mandate, he said, was
instrumental in illustrating where the
community centre is and where
those involved in it want it to go in
the future.
Once each committee came up
with a mission statement, the three
committees found they were all
facing similar issues, mainly the
need for programming to bring
people to the centre to generate
revenue and offset rising hydro
costs.
During the first meeting of the
three committees, Lowe said there
was "a lot of head-nodding" as Lass
went around the room asking about
challenges and hopes for the future.
It was clear very early in the process,
Lowe said, that the three community
centres are facing the same
challenges and looking to
accomplish the same things going
forward.
The groups then moved on to
developing a terms of reference for
the process, all while Lass
encouraged the group to think big,
but not to reach too far.
Lowe said that Lass told the
groups to keep the goals attainable
and simple.
After the first meeting, the group
began to focus on actually
implementing those goals and how
they could realistically achieve
them. Lowe said it was a very
practical form of strategic planning,
rather than a "blue sky" session
where lofty goals are projected 10,
20 or 25 years into the future.
The sessions conducted by Lass
for the Huron East community
centres, he said, are focused on
addressing actual problems facing
the centres and on finding real
solutions to those problems that are
achievable in the near future by
those in place at the centres.
These solutions, Lowe said, fall
along the lines of adapting to
changing times and developing
specialized programming that will
increase usage at the centres across
all age groups. And while the centres
are often viewed as "arenas" Lowe
said the key will be returning the
community centres to being
community hubs that the community
thinks of first when it comes to
community gatherings or events.
He also feels as though the
committees will be thinking outside
the box and bringing in
programming like yoga or karate to
help diversify the centres and what
they can do for the communities.
Soon, Lowe says the process will
open to members of the public. After
three or four meetings of all three
committees, Lass hopes to begin
meeting with user groups such as the
minor hockey associations and
service groups like local Lions or
Optimists.
Essentially, Lowe said, the goal is
to find out from those using the
community centres what they need
and what they want to see the centres
become going forward, while
involving members of the public as
much as possible.
The goal, however, is to remain
positive and view viable options for
the community centres going
forward. Lowe insists that at no time
are the committees considering
closing any of the community
centres and this will remain part of
the mandate throughout the
remainder of the process.
Strategic planning for the centres
will soon open up to the general
public with gatherings in the new
year.
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