From left, Luke Charbonneau, Mayor of Saugeen Shores; Steve Hammel, Mayor of Arran-Elderslie; Robert Buckle, Mayor of South Bruce; Anne Eadie, Mayor of Kincardine; Mitch Twolan, Warden of Bruce County and Mayor of Huron-Kinloss and Dan Gieruszak, Deputy Mayor of Brockton. Photo submitted
In an attempt to meet a host of common challenges, seven municipalities, in partnership with the Nuclear Innovation Institute (NII), have joined forces to find new ways of meeting the needs of people in their communities with the launch of the Municipal Innovation Council (MIC).
In a joint media release from the Town of Saugeen Shores and the Nuclear Innovation Institute, participating in the three-year pilot project are is the Town of Saugeen Shores, Arran-Elderslie, Brockton, Bruce County, Huron-Kinloss, Kincardine and South Bruce.
The new body was formally unveiled at an Innovation Breakfast in Port Elgin on January 16 that was sponsored by the NII, which will provide the MIC with advice, space, technology resources and other support for its activities.
More than 100 participants were present for the MIC’s inauguration. The formal launch was followed by a working session with MIC partners to start the process of identifying key issues and areas of focus that could benefit from new approaches.
The workshop was led by Lindsay Farlow, Head of Corporate Innovation at Communitech in Kitchener-Waterloo, who had earlier addressed the gathering on how to kickstart a culture of experimentation and improvement in rural government.
“Innovation is about finding the right ideas and solutions to a problem and then implementing them,” said Bruce Wallace, NII’s President and CEO. “But we know that change isn’t always easy. So NII has pledged to support our municipalities in their drive to transform how they act on key issues that matter to people.”
The MIC is the culmination of an agreement signed last year between the Town of Saugeen Shores and NII, which gave Saugeen Shores a leadership role in developing the concept and establishing partnerships for the MIC to become a collaborative partnership across the region.
“Now the MIC belongs to seven local municipalities," said Saugeen Shores Mayor Luke Charbonneau. "This speaks to the appetite for innovation and collaboration in our region.”