MINTO – Town council has endorsed the scope and process proposed by municipal staff to create a recreation master plan in-house.
An outline of the project’s scope was presented by acting CAO Chris Harrow at the Aug. 6 council meeting.
The intent of the exercise is to create a guiding document for the town that:
– develops a clear plan on recreational needs for the community’;
– identifies a direction for current and future recreational facilities;
– formulates key strategies for cultural, programming and all other facets of recreation; and
– provides an accountability mechanism to ensure the plan is followed appropriately when recreation-related decisions need to be made.
Harrow’s report notes the project scope was presented to the parks and recreation advisory committee (PRAC) in June and again in July.
“PRAC fully endorsed the plan and agree completing a bulk of the research and planning in house is the most effective way to complete the project,” Harrow states.
A task force consisting of community members from various age groups and backgrounds will be selected from local residents who will be asked to submit their name and a description of why they want to be a part of the process.
Harrow pointed out there will be one member of PRAC and no council members on the committee.
“It’s a separate task force that involves key people that are involved in different areas of recreation, culture and other areas that are on this task force,” Harrow told council.
“That task force would answer to PRAC and (PRAC) would answer to you, so there’s checks and balances all the way along.”
The task force will focus on one or two topics per four- to six-week period, gathering
information utilizing various methods, including the Engage Minto online platform, written surveys, public meetings and other methods.
“Staff are going to be relied upon to do much of the behind-the-scenes work, as well as completing various tasks for the Task Force,” notes Harrow in the report.
However, he pointed out staff will “most likely need to use some outside facilitation assistance” when running some of the public meetings.
While some consultation may be needed, Harrow said the information gathering expertise needed for the project is available locally.
“We’re the content experts in the community and we want to gather the information from the community in lots of different areas,” he explained.
Councillor Ron Elliott said he likes the idea of a committee made up of local residents, as, “It’ll be the community telling us what they want to see.”
Mayor George Bridge said, “I think by having as many people as possible … contributing to the process we’ll just add value to what comes out of it.”
A draft timeline anticipates the plan will be completed by next spring, presented to the parks and recreation advisory committee in May and presented to council by June, 2020.
