No 'huge promises' made during ROMA conference
Local municipal members walked away from a three-day conference in Toronto with understanding but no firm funding commitments from the provincial government.
The Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference was held from January 22 through to January 24.
Lambton County Warden Kevin Marriott attended the conference as part of the Western Wardens' Caucus. He said at least 30 people from the county, with members from each municipality, except the City of Sarnia and Plympton-Wyoming.
The last time Marriott attended the ROMA conference was three years ago. He said although the overall atmosphere was "subdued" because of the topics discussed, people seemed to be happy to be back to in-person meetings.
"The atmosphere was more subdued because of just what we talked about... inflation and the cost of stuff, and the municipalities trying to keep up what they've been doing without having a huge tax increase," he said. "Nobody got any huge promises this time."
Some main issues discussed among the western wardens included affordable and attainable housing, workforce development, mental health and addictions, and cell gap coverage.
"There are only three warden organizations in the province so it does seem to command more attention than if we request a delegation for just Lambton County alone. My involvement with western wardens this year, I believe will benefit us as well."
On a local level, two of the more pressing issues were long-term care and homelessness.
Marriott said the county requested additional infrastructure funding for long-term care facilities to complete repairs and upgrades. Some projects can be covered under the budget, which is yet to be tabled, while others require more government funding.
Additional funding was also requested to address the county's homeless issue.
"It isn't isolated to just Lambton, they know that the homeless situation is worse, they're hearing it from all over the province really," he said. "They didn't make any promises but they acknowledged it."
The number of homeless people in the area drastically increased during the pandemic. County identified 270 people in need of assistance this winter.
https://blackburnnews.com/sarnia/sarnia-news/2022/12/30/homeless-population-quite-large-winter-lambton-county/
Marriott said provincial members advised the county to look at grant programs from the federal government as well, which is something municipal staff has been "constantly" looking at.