At this time of year we see a lot of “a year in review” reflections, but I’m even more of a fan of thinking about the year ahead. First of all, because we humans tend to be terrible at thinking about the future, and it takes practice; and secondly, because it’s an opportunity to reflect on our priorities. This post will combine some of what we already know will happen with some thoughts about what I hope to do.
What Will Be
We did the difficult and important work of creating a Strategic Plan in 2023, which outlines our priorities for 2024-2026. So while we don’t know exactly what order things will happen in, because life rarely happens according to plan, we know that the Strategic Plan has been “operationalized” in the sense that the CAO has determined how it is to be implemented and in what order. Our staff have the next few years mapped out, and we can be confident that they’re working toward our priorities. Here are some key items I’m looking forward to from the Strategic Plan:
- Council will be presented with a report regarding the need (or not) for a Social Development Strategy. Social Development refers to the ways that we can enhance our quality of life, and certainly includes big issues like housing availability, access to services (like healthcare), and social inclusion and participation. We’re already doing many of these things: we have a Housing and Homelessness Task Force, a Health Services Committee, and a Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, for example. But all of these issues are interrelated, and we don’t have a department on our staff that approaches them systematically. A Social Development Strategy can be a way to make all of our efforts in this category more effective, and I’m looking forward to seeing this report.
- Our Parks and Recreation department is developing a implementation strategy for the Parks & Rec Master Plan we adopted in 2023; and will be bringing out an Arts and Culture Plan in the summer of 2024. The ways that we play and create together are integral to our social development as a community, directly impacting our quality of life. We have a new Manager in the department, and I look forward to seeing her take the reins now that Jim Millar has retired. All the best, Jim!
- We’re looking to review consolidated services in 2024. There are many services that don’t make a lot of sense to manage at the lower tier municipal level, as it’s often cheaper to run a larger department whose costs are shared with other municipalities or with the County. We already share some IT services, waste collection, and a few others; and the County has started a study to determine if it’s financially favourable to have a Northumberland police force. There are many other positions or departments that we’d like to have, but have difficulty funding without larger tax increases, such as an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion position or a Sustainability Officer; some have proposed that we team up with another municipality to make it happen. Maybe 2024 will be the year we move forward, one way or the other, on these important issues.
- By September 2024 we’re supposed to see an Asset Mapping project that includes Social and Natural Assets. Each municipality is required to keep an inventory of assets, as well as a plan for managing them; that typically looks like a list of streets, roads, pipes, and other physical infrastructure, and a plan for how much money we must set aside each year in order to pay for their eventual replacement. Including Natural Assets means identifying the value of our natural spaces, such as wetlands and woodlots and creeks and coastline; this is critical for understanding the true cost of developments that undermine or destroy those natural assets, as well as for recognizing the value of conserving and rehabilitating natural spaces in our community. Including social assets means recognizing the value of things that are often intangible, such as community spirit and volunteerism; or things that have more social value than economic value, such as “third places”. And “asset mapping” is not just an inventory: by providing a map of our different types of assets, we can see how interrelated they are, which can help us prioritize our planning. This may sound boring, but it’s actually incredibly exciting! It will help us to see more clearly what is possible for our future, and I’m overjoyed it’s part of our Strategic Plan.
- Our Economic Development department has been championing a Community Improvement Plan for years now, and we’re expecting the rubber to meet the road on it in March 2024. This CIP will make it easier to develop “brownfields” – lots that had previously been developed but are currently unoccupied, usually because they require environmental remediation. Some of the most prominent lots in Brighton are not being used; maybe this will be the year we see that change!
- The Transportation Master Plan is expected to be delivered in October 2024. This is going to be huge, as most of the issues that councillors most commonly hear about are to do with traffic, all of which will be addressed in this long-awaited study:
- How to calm traffic
- Improved safety through crosswalks, signage, etc
- Rail safety
- Bike lanes and sidewalk extensions
- The potential for an overpass at John Street
- The potential to divert the Emergency Detour Route so it doesn’t pass through our downtown
- Housing is a critical issue right now, and we’re in the thick of some big changes to the Official Plan. Council will be considering the OP sometime this spring (depending on when the County passes theirs, which has to come first), and expect to set policies that will increase the density of development (a key to making our community more livable and affordable while keeping taxes low), and the introduction of our Secondary Plan that will prioritize the type of development that will be allowed in the remaining “greenfield” (undeveloped) land within the Brighton urban area. These processes are what I’m most looking forward to in 2024!
- Okay, I lied: THIS is what I’m most looking forward to. Our CAO has taken our strategic priority of having a Climate Action Plan and set a deadline of September 2024! I don’t yet know what the process of building that will look like, but ensuring that all of our plans and priorities have climate goals integrated into them moving forward is the top goal of my entire political career. My hope is that the Plan process will be collaborative, bringing together every department of our staff as well as council and residents, AND collaborative with the County (which is developing a Climate Action Plan of their own), Lower Trent Conservation Authority (though they’re limited in what they’re even allowed to do) and other Northumberland municipalities. The more input and alignment we get, the better! This could be the start of new conservation projects, the development of clean energy generation and/or storage in Brighton, and new standards for development of any kind. A truly pivotal Plan!
- One of the first things Council will do in 2024 is hire a new CAO, as Bob Casselman is retiring. This means we can expect to spend quite a bit of time with our new CAO as they get to know our staff, community, and priorities.
Hope, For and To
I mentioned above that humans aren’t very good at thinking about the future. One of the ways we tend to do so is by hoping: “I hope ______ will happen.” There’s nothing wrong with hoping for things; it’s really important to be able to look beyond our own abilities or capacities and want good things that we can’t yet determine. The problem with hoping for is that it is passive; it implies that making something happen isn’t something that we do, that the verb in the sentence is someone else’s. We’re hoping someone else will do something that is favourable to us, that something good will happen to us, and that all we have control over is hope. And much of the time, that’s not true.
Instead of just hoping for something in 2024, I’m trying to hope to. I hope to:
- Try new things
- Form new partnerships
- Champion good ideas, no matter where they come from
- Have the courage to make tough choices
- All of the usual New Years resolutions, like taking better care of myself and reading more books (I’ve just deactivated my Facebook account, so my chances of achieving these things have already improved!)
I hope to implement and fund a robust Climate Action Plan in 2024. If I were just hoping for a robust CAP, I would be setting myself up to sit and wait for it to happen, and hope that other councillors would see its value and advocate for it in the budget. Instead, I’m being intentional about having an active role in the process, championing the issue and using my knowledge and skills and network to further it. In 2023, I hoped to spark some change with regard to housing and homelessness, and it resulted in forming an Inter-Municipal Task Force on Housing and Homelessness, something that’s never been done in Northumberland before. I hope to bring the same initiative and out of the box thinking to climate action this coming year.
So what about you? What do you hope for in 2024, and what do you hope to? Is there something on this list that you want to engage in this coming year? Is there something you are hoping for that isn’t on the list and should be? Leave me a comment, or send me an email!