Community Engagement.

As your Mayor, I have always believed in the power of community engagement, and in an approachable leadership we multiple communication channels. Citizens can reach me through social media, text, phone, in person, or at events. Since I became mayor in 2016, changes were made to improved community engagement.

Live Streaming Council Meetings.

To boost community engagement, I advocated for and implemented live-streamed Council meetings. These first began utilizing Facebook Live, and today, we’ve invested in streaming technology to be able to give the community full access to all Public Meetings, Committee-of-the-Whole Meetings and Special Public Meetings and Hearings. Prior to 2016, if community members wanted to observe council meetings they needed to attend in person.

Public Question Period.

Prior to 2016, there were no opportunities for community members to ask any questions or seek clarity about any agenda items at our Public Council Meetings. We implemented a 10 minute questions period at our Public Meetings, that allows community members in attendance (and participating online) to ask any questions about any of the agenda items at the meeting.

Social Media.

Our social media presence was grown tremendously in the past 8 years. All of our meetings of council are shared in advance - including the agenda; as well, all of our live-streams of meetings are shared as well. Social Media is an important medium to share information and also to connect with community members about their ideas, concerns, and to ask questions.

Website.

Our Town of Port Hawkesbury website has been revamped and is much more user friendly, and provides information and contacts for the Town. Also community members can access all the business of council, including my Mayor’s reports that can be found under the Committee-of-the-Whole meetings (under “Municipal Meeting Minutes).

Committee-of-the-Whole Format.

We changed the format of our Public Meetings to include Reports from Committee of Whole, and any action or decision must be voted on separately, openly and transparently in the Public Meeting following Committee of the Whole. (In the past, all actions of Committee of the Whole were ratified by simply approving a motion to accept the minutes).

Public Inclusion on Municipal Advisory Committees.

In 2016, we revamped our municipal committees and launched a community engagement campaign and also an open house to discuss the committees, and the work of each committee. Some of the committees were continued from pre-2016, like Audit, Planning, Bylaws & Policy, Beautification, and Waterfront Committees. Some of the new committees that have been created to work on priorities are Emergency Management, Accessibility, Housing, Economic Development, and Parks, Recreation and Active Transportation. Our Town was so pleased so see such a high level of interest in having community members volunteer their leadership to grow the Town.

Community Engagement: Sessions, Surveys, and More.

It is also important to provide multiple opportunities to get community feedback and to answer questions. We held multiple community engagement sessions, surveys, and other modes of feedback as a Town over the past 8 years. Here are some of the community engagement topics we have hosted both ourselves, and in partnership:

Pitt and Napean Street Reconstruction (multiple sessions and open-houses)

Destination Reeves Street Project (multiple sessions and open-houses)

Reeves Street Road Diet (multiple sessions and open-houses)

Granville Street Traffic Study (one session, with a follow-up on what we heard)

Waterfront Development (multiple sessions and feedback opportunities)

Strait Richmond Housing Coalition (multiple sessions, including two think-tanks and two people’s schools to learn about housing issues, needs, and opportunities)

Port Hawkesbury Housing (Multiple sessions held - hosted by New Dawn - to get input on housing needs and opportunities; also a survey was done on housing with the assistance of the Cape Breton Partnership)

Accessibility (surveys and individual interviews)

Community Engagement also takes the form of Events.

From Strait Area Chamber of Commerce Dinners and Food Bank Drives, to celebrating our Inductees to the Sports Hall of Fame and getting together with amazing citizens; I have to say that I have loved being your Mayor and being super involved.

It is so very important for our Town to have a leader who is engaged with the community. Over the past four years I have volunteered with you, celebrated with you, advocated with you, and worked directly with you to make our community a wonderful place to live - a community where we can all feel welcome and where we all belong, no matter our age.