Tantramar is working on its first strategic plan, and the municipality is asking residents to weigh in on the values and priorities for its next five years.
Three public sessions in the next four days aim to gather ideas and feedback from as many residents across the municipality as possible, and an online survey and ongoing idea portal will help gather input from those who can’t make it in person.
The first session is happening on Saturday from 10am to 1pm at the Marshlands Inn in Sackville, with two more sessions on Monday evening at the Dorchester Veterans Community Centre and Tuesday morning at the Sackville Music Barn. Details are available at tantramarconnect.ca
Craig Pollett is Atlantic vice-president for Strategic Steps Inc., the company hired by Tantramar council in May to run the consultation process and deliver a strategic plan for a cost of just over $42,000.
Pollett says the sessions will have a “casual approach” with local music and refreshments on hand. “We want [residents] to have a little bit of fun while they’re thinking about the future of their community,” he says.
Residents will walk through what Pollett dubs a “path” for participants to engage with a variety of questions and topics. “We’re going to have questions and conversations about municipal infrastructure, sustainability, municipal services, communication… We’re going to talk about topics like transportation and housing. Lots of ways for folks to sort of indicate in each of those areas what’s important to them and maybe what isn’t as important,” says Pollett.
There will also be a chance to contribute ideas. “If somebody out there has a particular project in mind, or a specific new piece, new facility, or a new approach that they really think the municipality needs to adopt, there’s an opportunity here for you to bring that forward,” says Pollett.
Residents will be asked to prioritize some of their wants and needs by ranking, voting or commenting on different options. But the main priorities in the actual strategic plan will be set by council, when they meet in September for a two-day planning workshop.
“It’s the council at the end of the day that has to look at all of the wants and needs of residents, the suggestions from staff, the suggestions from partners outside the municipality, and decide, well, which of these things can we do and which things will have the most impact?” says Pollett. “All of that goes into the planning workshop with council, and that’s where the actual strategic plan gets formulated.”
Though this is Tantramar’s first strategic plan as n amalgamated municipality, the town of Sackville had a strategic plan in place from 2017-2022. The process is a new one for the former village of Dorchester and the former local service districts that now make up Tantramar.
After the departure of Kieran Miller, the previous lead on the strategic plan project, Tantramar’s manager of tourism and economic development Ron Kelly Spurles is helping coordinate the sessions in the coming days. Despite the summer scheduling, Kelly Spurles says town staff are doing their best to get the word out, with social media, mass emails, posters, postcards and the Main Street civic centre sign.
“We’re just trying to reach people wherever they are, and in as many ways as we can,” says Kelly Spurles. Participation in the sessions and the survey is “part of people demonstrating their community spirit,” he says, “to come out and help to make the municipality a better place for everybody.”
“If you live in Tantramar, whether directly or indirectly, you are impacted by what the municipality does,” says Kelly Spurles. “So this is the opportunity to both come out with anything that you think you would like to see improved, but also to provide ideas that might help other citizens or help your neighbours.”
Pollett says that while the strategic plan has a five year scope, longer term ideas and thinking are welcome. “As one of my colleagues says, think about the kind of community you’d like your grandchildren to live in,” says Pollett.
“For this council, they will need to have a certain number of things, items that are achievable within four years,” says Pollett. “Some of those things will be the beginnings of processes that might last for 10 years, or bear fruit in eight or 10 years from now. So we absolutely need people to think farther out.”
Tantramar Connect Events:
Saturday, August 17, 10 AM – 1 PM
Marshlands Inn, 55 Bridge Street
Monday, August 19, 5 PM – 8 PM
Dorchester Veteran’s Community Centre, 4955 Main Street.
Tuesday, August 20, 10 AM – 1 PM
Sackville Music Barn, 18 Station Rd, Upper Sackville
More information and survey link at tantramarconnect.ca
