City to hold second rural summit

Ottawa’s first rural summit was held in the fall of 2005, after results from the 2004 Citizen Satisfaction Survey illustrated that the city’s rural residents were considerably less happy with municipal services than urban dwellers. Participant recommendations from the city-hosted event – which boasted over 400 attendees – ranged from creating a rural section on the city’s website to allocating a greater portion of the city budget for road maintenance in rural areas.

Derrick Moody, rural affairs officer for the city, explains that next month’s event is being framed as a follow-up to the original summit, as well as the continuation of an ongoing initiative. “Following the first summit, there was a general consensus and direction given to hold a similar type of event once per term of council,” he says.

Rural Summit II will be an opportunity to gauge what progress has been made, and to offer “preventative maintenance” on any continuing or new concerns for residents, Moody adds.

There is a list of initiatives – on both governance and service levels – that have been accomplished since the summit’s inception, he continues. Accessible broadband for 100 per cent of Ottawa’s population and the reinstatement of the rural issues advisory committee are just a few examples of advancements made since 2005, Moody says.

The summit also provides a chance to “continue the relationship” with the city’s rural population, he explains, adding that one of the major benefits of the first summit was the creation of a more open dialogue with that group of residents.

The set-up of next month’s event will be similar to the second day of the original summit, Moody continues, with general discussion in the morning and examination of possible alternatives for current issues – formulated by city working groups – later in the day. “It’s a chance for the wider rural population to assess potential solutions … and to have their say,” he says.

Four broad categories of topics will be broached throughout the day, Moody adds, including infrastructure, rural services, governance and one section covering bylaws, permits and processes. “We’re getting into the fine details now,” he continues. “Issues this time are less difficult, for the most part.”

There’s not as much “hype” surrounding this summit, agrees Cumberland Coun. Rob Jellett, with fewer concerns and problems plaguing rural residents. “There was a lot of rural dissatisfaction following amalgamation,” he explains, attributing that in large part to a drop in service levels throughout the rural area.

Issues like poor communications and a lack of citywide toll-free calling had the rural population in an uproar, Jellett adds.

Three years later, he continues, the biggest concerns still facing the east end’s outlying inhabitants are rural influence in city politics and the future makeup of the community with an Official Plan review on the way.

Smaller day-to-day issues like snow clearing and roadwork also continue to appear in rural discussion, but the larger concern is what the rural east end will look like once changes are potentially made to the Official Plan, Jellett says.

With such major amendments possibly on the horizon, he encourages all rural east-enders – or any resident concerned about rural issues – to come out and have their say next month. “We need more than e-mails and phone calls (from residents),” Jellett adds. The deadline to register for the Rural Summit II is Monday, March 31. For more information, please visit www.ottawa.ca/residents/rural_connections