The mayor of Bluewater says he was very encouraged by the reception he got from the minister of tourism, culture and sport at this week's ROMA conference in Toronto.
Mayor Tyler Hessel has been promoting a regional approach to the delivery of recreational services at the lower-tier level, and was looking for funding to help with a study to determine what each municipality provides now and what its residents are looking for.
Hessel says the fact that he was joined by eight of the nine lower-tier municipalities in the county definitely helped, and he was assured there was funding available.
The first time he spoke with the minister he only had two other municipalities interested in the project.
Hessel points out they're still very early in the process, but many of the other lower-tier municipalities share his belief that while recreation is not a mandated service for them, it is something residents expect. He says he wants to see if can be delivered more efficiently on a region-wide basis.
One of Hessel's concerns is that while recreation is not a service lower-tier municipalities are mandated to provide, infrastructure is, so by the time they provide the things that are necessities there isn't much money left for the things that aren't.