Thursday, March 3, 2011

How Do You Define Community?

How we define community is changing, in some cases by necessity. 

Years ago many communities stood alone, with little or no interaction between neighboring towns & villages.  Often the level of cooperation was defined by the rivalry of sports teams, and a particularly hard fought playoff battle 40 years ago would result in animosity that passed down to the next generation. 

Well, those days are over, at least for those of us that want to see our towns & villages succeed.  A little rivalry is great – but let’s not get carried away!

Economies of scale dictate that we look at things from a broader perspective.  This results in small communities being able to deliver programs & services they could not do previously, and deliver others much more efficiently. 

Broadening the definition can also serve in small communities beginning to cooperate in many other ways as well as developing an understanding of each other.

Killam is one of 11 municipalities in Flagstaff County, so there are many ways to explore options to work together.  In the last several years this has happened in a big way through organizations like the Flagstaff Inter municipal Partnership Committee, which meets regularly to identify these options and make them a reality.  Municipal services & social program delivery are just a few of the topics up for discussion.

One of my favorite examples of municipalities cooperating is the formation of the Sedgewick Killam Natural Gas System in 1965.  Although it doesn’t seem like a big deal on initial examination, this community owned distribution system has served 2 towns well for many years, taking advantage of economies of scale saving the residents of both communities thousands of dollars.  On top of that, this started in 1965 – when the hockey teams and ball teams were having epic battles!  My congratulations to the municipal leaders of the time for making this project happen.

The Governments of Alberta and Canada have been advocating for municipalities to work together for many years.  Some have had more success than others, and some are just beginning go down this road.

Some may think that cooperation amongst the smaller communities may lead to community identities disappearing.  I don’t believe this is true.  Small communities can always exist within broader communities.  Certainly you should not be concerned that the loss of your municipal corporation through dissolution will mean the loss of your community.  It is up to us to make sure communities continue to exist.

So how do you define community?  Are you the person that won’t shop in your neighboring town because of what happened in the final game at that baseball tournament in the summer of ’69?  Or do you attend regional events and enjoy visiting with your neighbors from 2 or 3 towns over?  Do you get involved in preserving the history and values of your community, however you define it?

Let me know what you think.




Cheers,


Bud James