Denise Corry & Michael Duben: Municipal innovators to gather in Muskoka
Michael Duben know a lot of people don’t tend to think of municipal government as being particularly innovative – really, government in general for that matter – but that simply isn’t the case. In fact, the next year will go a long way to changing that perception, at least in the Muskoka area.
Duben, the District of Muskoka CAO, along with Town of Huntsville CAO Denise Corry, sat down with Municipal World CEO Susan Gardner in Quebec City. The three talked about some of the exciting things happening in the Muskoka area over the coming year.
Municipal Innovators Coming to Muskoka Area
One of those exciting things will see the 2019 Municipal Innovators Community (MIC) conference take place at Deerhurst Resort, just outside of Huntsville, at the end of September.
“We’re very excited to be hosting such a great conference. Innovation is a key buzzword that we are hearing at all venues, whether provincial or municipal government,” Corry said. “It couldn’t be more timely … specifically since we’ve heard lots of mandates from our provincial government that speak to the need for innovative ideas to help continue to provide services at a lower cost. We’re really excited to be hosting.”
Necessity Driving Local Innovation
While communities such as Burlington and Calgary (hosts for MIC conferences) are put into that category, Duben said people tend to think of Muskoka as beautiful cottage country. It is, he added, but there is also a lot of innovation happening – almost by necessity.
“We don’t have the resources that other places have,” he said. “A lot of seasonal population, different challenges in terms of topography and size, and so there are things we need to do differently to provide the services that other municipalities provide. It is a great opportunity to showcase what we do.”
The Muskokas will also be on display in 2020 when the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators annual conference comes to the area. MW
✯ Municipal World Insider and Executive Members: You might also be interested in the article: Local innovation inspires app for Grey Highlands. Note that you can now access the complete collection of past articles (and more) from your membership dashboard.
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