A group of local representatives will not be going to the Dutch Cycling Embassy this summer in the Netherlands but are hoping to organize a work-study trip in the near future.
Last year, the nuSarnia Foundation offered to take members of Sarnia City council and staff to Europe to learn how the best cycling cities operate.
Ultimately, city council voted to heed the advice of the integrity commissioner to not accept funding from the organization in order to attend.
Executive Director of nuSarnia Foundation Tristan Bassett said despite the vote, they received positive feedback from many councillors and staff, especially from Councillor George Vandenberg.
"We're very happy that this will happen in the future and we just need to figure out the financing logistics of it," said Bassett. She also mentioned there are several grants the organization can apply for.
Although Bassett would like a local delegation to go overseas, ideally next summer, there's no deadline or specific timeframe in order to go to the Dutch Cycling Embassy.
"They just run this as a machine. So they're operating these work-study tours two to three times [per] week for various different cities, towns, and municipalities across the world," she said. "So they just schedule us in when we are ready to press go."
Bassett said the tours are also curated for each delegation. For example, if a local group included elected officials, then their European counterparts would be on hand to offer peer-to-peer mentorship.
"It's very, very personalized to the group that we bring. So it's something that we would work in tandem with them to help plan," Bassett said.
Bassett said ideally, they would take a group of 10 to 15 people to get the most from this opportunity.
The nuSarnia Foundation was officially established in the fall of 2022 and has since been involved in several local initiatives to promote a healthy and active community.