Council urged to join in exchange

Town council is being encouraged to get involved in a community exchange program through which it can learn how outsiders see Fort Frances.
Jane Gillon, with the local Ministry of Northern Development and Mines office, will be on hand for tonight’s regular council meeting to outline the “First Impressions Community Exchange”—a program the province is now promoting to Northern Ontario municipalities.
“It’s an exchange program where communities can learn about their own communities through the eyes of strangers, like first-time visitors,” Gillon noted Friday afternoon.
“You identify a community similar to yours far enough away that they aren’t here on a regular basis or you’re not there on a regular basis,” she explained.
“The province helps to facilitate identifying the other community,” Gillon continued. “A team from our community would go to their community, and a team from that community would come here and assess the town.
“The downtown appearance, amenities and services, housing supply, quality tourism facilities, infrastructure, those kinds of things.”
This information then is put into a report for the respective communities to use.
“By itself, it’s not really information that would really help, but it feeds into your business retention and expansion plans, your community development plans,” said Gillon.
“It’s extra information to help strengthen those action planning processes,” she stressed.
Gillon said “First Impressions” pilot programs have run for a while elsewhere in the province, but only now are being promoted in the north. But the community exchange idea originally was implemented in Wisconsin.
Council later will vote on a recommendation from the local Economic Development Advisory Committee to fully support the “First Impressions Community Exchange.”
Other business at tonight’s council meeting will include:
•applications for tax adjustments at 1005 Crowe Ave. and 48M368 Lot 16;
•a break-open ticket licence application from the Rainycrest auxiliary for June 1-Nov. 30, 2006 at the 364 Store;
•a request from the Atikokan Crisis Centre regarding billboard privileges;
•a request from the local Police Services Board for support of its resolution regarding the installation of a surveillance camera at the Memorial Sports Centre for monitoring activities at the skate park;
•a request from World Harmony Run organizers to proclaim May 12 as “World Harmony Run Day” in the Town of Fort Frances, and greet torch bearers when they arrive here at 3:30 p.m. that day;
•a request from the Canadian Hearing Society to proclaim May as “Hearing Awareness Month” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•a joint request from the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) Committee to proclaim May 12 at “Registered Practical Nurses Day” in the Town of Fort Frances;
•a bylaw to amend the town’s official plan regarding 201 and 209 Victoria Ave., and a bylaw to amend Zoning Bylaw 08/98 regarding 209 Victoria Ave. (these amendments are to permit the building of an addition to St. Mary’s Catholic Church and rezone adjacent lands from “open space” to “institutional”);
•a bylaw to provide for the use of alternative voting methods and optical scan vote tabulating equipment in the 2006 municipal election;
•a bylaw to approve an agreement with DataFix for Municipal VoterView web hosting services and vote-by-mail services for purposes of the 2006 municipal election;
•a bylaw to approve an agreement with Dominion Voting Systems Corp. for the rental of optical scan vote tabulating equipment for purposes of the 2006 municipal election;
•a bylaw to approve R.J. Burnside and Associates for engineering services;
•a bylaw to approve an agreement with Brian Avis for project management services regarding the Heritage Tourism Project; and
•a bylaw to approve an employment agreement with Gerald Armstrong and his appointment as interim fire chief, emergency management co-ordinator, and district fire co-ordinator for the Town of Fort Frances.
Tonight’s meeting is scheduled to get underway at 6:35 p.m. at the Civic Centre. The committee of the whole will meet first starting at 5:30 p.m.