When it comes to economic development in this township, Dave Rushton probably has one of the most delicate and difficult jobs of all the township’s department heads.
That is partly because some on council have seen economic development reports in the past, and are tired of having people give them the same old lines. Elora did several studies in the past 15 years, and so did Fergus. Many of those reports sounded exactly the same as others before them – what one former councillor once termed “boilerplate.”
Rushton said in an interview that when it comes to economic development, he has gone through those old reports, and, “There is some direction there – and then you develop it as you go.”
A report several years ago, for example, suggested hiring an Economic Development Officer, a role he now fills.
But, he agreed, much in those studies is “same old, same old…”
The township is going through a strategic planning exercise whereby each of its departments has to determine where it should be going over the next ten years. The plans are designed to be checked every five years to determine if the township is on track or if circumstances have changed.
The Wellington Advertiser is doing interviews with each department head so citizens can see the type of planning going on in each department.
Rushton said one thing he did at the beginning of the exercise was to do an internet search on North American and some European economic development sites for rural economies. That, he said, allows him to at least eliminate things that have no bearing on the township.
The next step is to identify “where the needs are the greatest and where people are willing to participate.”
A couple of years ago, the focus was on business retention. That, however, seems redundant today. “You tend to do those programs when you have vacant stores,” he said, noting that, “Here, we’re fortunate to have a good economy. We have a growing number of industries in the community.”
For example, Rushton noted, “As fast as we’re developing industrial land, we’re selling it just as quickly. That’s a problem many municipalities have [selling industrial land] that we don’t.”
But, he noted, the community had not been working together on a number of areas. “Things were getting done, but not as a community. We’ve done a lot of ‘whose roles are what?’ We did seven or eight meetings last winter.”
He noted former Chamber of Commerce manager Deb Dalziel is now the Tourism and Destination Coordinator. He said splitting that function off from the chamber has allowed her to focus on a key area of economic development in Centre Wellington.
“Now, our communication is better,” Rushton said. “She’s got a 100% focus on tourism.”
Rushton said the chamber served a valuable function in the community doing promotion for the first seven or eight years Centre Wellington existed, but, “We’re now in the position where we’re talking tourism services. It’s a time when the sector has a lot of challenges.”
Rushton said the primary market for tourists is in the summer, but the community needs to develop the market from September to June, a traditionally slow time. “We need to create more reasons to see and do in the community in that time.”
He said some attractions, like Fair in the Square, Sensational Elora, and even the one-time Fergus 175 celebrations can help attract people – and maybe bring them back
He noted Monster Month in October is getting very popular in Elora.
But, he said, if people drive an hour to an event or attraction, they need to be entertained for at least four hours to make their trip worth their effort. So, if they come from Toronto, that means up to six hours of entertainment or activities.
To that end, the economic development committee is working with the local Business Improvement Areas, the chamber, the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (in the rural affairs section), the Community Futures group, and the Guelph-Wellington Business Enterprise Centre, to develop a community improvement plan.
He said Fergus did one several years ago, but it was never implemented. It was to focus on Main Street development. Two years ago, there was a study for Elora and Salem, but it, too, has largely sat until now.
“We’re trying to bring it in without re-inventing the wheel,” he said of that work. “We’d like to use committee volunteers to avoid consultants’ costs.”
Eco Park proposal
One thing he is working on is to develop a block of land that offers a place for businesses that offer higher paying jobs. He called it an Eco Park, designed for knowledge-based jobs such as engineering, software, and health services. He said the township should consider a block of land to be developed to the highest environmental standards, with trail access and a community setup where people can walk or bike to work.
He said that would help to attract companies that pay higher wages. There is a good reason for creating high-end jobs in Centre Wellington.
“The cost of housing in Centre Wellington is such that a person working at $15 per hour can’t afford to live in our community. Knowledge-based jobs tend to pay more.”
Rushton noted cities like Waterloo have just about reached the limit of their land base, and, “We need to be in position to take advantage of that. A lot working in those cities are already [living] here.”
He said such things as the broadband work being studied by Wellington County could ensure such things as high speed internet.
Thus, “For somebody locating here, there’s no downside. This gives their employees a place to live in better surroundings, better environs. The setup would be more like a college campus than a concrete jungle.”
And, Rushton said, that would lead to high staff morale and productive employees.
“We don’t have low-cost housing, so we have to create high-end jobs. We export 3,000 people a day out of our community,” he noted.
He said it is difficult to tell just who is leaving the township for work, but he strongly suspects it is people in high-end jobs. Traditional information sources can tell what sector people work in, but not what their skill set is. For example, the census can show that someone works in the financial sector, but that could be anyone from a bank manager to the janitor at the bank.
And, he noted, there are lots of people who work at the University of Guelph who live in Centre Wellington.
“If we do life science or biology [jobs], there are people here who would like to work in they same community they live in.”
Rushton said first they can “reduce their carbon footprint,” but acknowledged that the high cost of gasoline may also soon be a factor in such decisions.
Welcome training
Rushton said businesses in the community need to be better able to greet customers and visitors, and there are training courses available. It can reduce costs “if we can train 30 people together.”
He said it starts with teaching supervisors to know what is going on in the community and they will have to train their staff.
“All places need to be able to recommend ‘what to do.’ If they’re asked what’s to do in the community, they need to be able to come up with an answer.”
Rushton said while supervisors are important, it is front -line staff at businesses that must be able to provide that information.
His department is working on a web strategy and hopes to align the site with community events. He said currently there are numerous sites that tout events, but he would like to reduce the duplication, and have Elora Fergus Tourism be the portal site for that.
“We’ll have everything for everybody,” he said. “An enhanced calendar of events.”
He noted that working with such departments as recreation and culture will be a big step in providing a lot of information – a portal that’s got access to everything that is happening.”
Other partners
Centre Wellington does not exist in isolation, and Rushton noted there are many other partners to consider.
Guelph and Wellington County produce a Visitor’s Guide that is going to be turned into a pocket planner. There will be trail maps for hiking, cycling, and paddling, he said.
The township is part of Grand River Country, a tourism promotion group. It takes a different approach. For example, there are a lot of mills along the Grand River, and those are listed by that group for a driving or canoeing tour.
There are a large number of driving tours being developed, and locally, there are five walking tours each for Fergus and Elora. One, for example, is the A.J. Casson walking tour in Elora. Casson painted numerous works in Elora. The guide provides pictures of the paintings, and steers people around the town to see those buildings.
“I’ve seen walking tours, but nothing like what we’ve put together,” he said, noting there are over 240 sites on the ten walking tours.
Rushton said, “Cultural planning and mapping is what makes our community what it is.” And, he noted, Elora has always attracted the artistic. “When you see someone wandering around Elora, chances are they’re an artist,” he said.
He would like to see more interpretive signs and guides developed so people feel at home in the community as they stroll about.
Attractive community
Residents have told numerous people who study the community that they like the “heritage feel” of Fergus and Elora.
But, he said, “Some buildings just don’t seem to fit.”
He said the provincial government has changed the development rules and given council a greater say in design guidelines, and that will eventually allow councillors to approve such things as building materials that fit the area, and facades that match others in the neighbourhood.
Council has approved implementing such guidelines and incorporating them in the official plan, so they would have some force at, say, an Ontario Municipal Board hearing.
As for selling industrial land, one of the main reasons council hired an economic development officer, Rushton said the 18 acres in Fergus are gone, either sold or “on hold for somebody.”
