October 20, 2002
Elgin County, known for its unique geographical profile, is approximately 65 miles long and 35 miles wide and its entire southern border is Lake Erie. The area’s characteristics range from agricultural, rural hamlets, international harbour ports, with the separated City of St. Thomas located at the centre of Elgin County. Elgin naturally divides itself into 3 regions - East, Central and West. Along with the geographical differences demographics influence the community development. East Elgin is over 55% Mexican Mennonite culture and agriculture is dominated with tobacco. Central Elgin has the highest income families with double income earners commuting to London, and features large U.S. automotive branch plants. West Elgin is the most sparsely populated with small towns, economics is largely agriculture, tourism, and small business, and the town of West Lorne is 48% Portuguese who are involved in construction.
Our governing power is allocated into 7 lower tier municipalities, the upper tier County of Elgin, and the separated City of St. Thomas. Along with that, there are 4 conservation authorities, 2 telephone companies, 2 cable companies, no county planner or county economic development office. This amount of diversification and decentralization makes Elgin County a very challenging place to incite any major initiatives, and as a result, the county has been severely lacking in the area of technological advancement and training, with each sector dealing with communications technology separately and differently.
The Elgin CFDC has taken the leadership with strategic community planning and development within the County and the City in regards to Information Communication Technology (ICT). The first project was successful in attaining more than $245,000.00 through the Community Access Program (CAP) for a 3-year program of public access to computers and the Internet. The CAP sites were set up in 10 agencies ranging from seniors’ centres to alternative schools. The Elgin CFDC operates a CAP site for the public to access information, write resumes, and prepare business plans.
The second initiative was managing the Elgin-Middlesex Information Technology (eMIT) study. This participatory research was to find information regarding the IT infrastructure present in our counties and to gauge the community’s use and response to the knowledge-based economy in order to appropriately plan for our communities adapting to operate within this global economy. Therefore, it was important that we be inclusive of all sectors across our City and county. Forums were held in small communities, surveys were done and workshops about connectivity were held. Connect Ontario was unveiled during the eMIT study and the Notice of Intent was developed and submitted for the June deadline. At that time The City of St. Thomas and The County of Elgin along with other stakeholders asked the Elgin CDC to act as the lead agency.
Due to the relatively small population base in this largely rural area, we are low on the list of priorities for the large telecommunication investment. With the current pace of technology, that leaves the local businesses and population disadvantaged again. The community survey data along with the infrastructure survey results of businesses not only addressed the need for infrastructure but also recognized that training was a major barrier and in order to adapt to the new economy it was necessary to learn the new skills. In the community surveys, a full 81 % answered “yes” to the question of the requirement for training or assistance in using the Internet. Other barriers cited by communities were: municipal restructuring; Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs restructuring; global competition; and decreasing employment and revenue in rural areas.
The ECFDC submitted a notice of intent to participate in the Connect Ontario program. Our NOI was accepted without change and we were invited to submit a proposal for business plan development, which included matching funding. We called interested agencies, community organizations and governments together to determine their level of interest, and within three weeks were able to submit our proposal with $6500.00 seed money from ECFDC to leverage $33500.00 from the community and $40,000.00 matching funds from the provincial government. We are now nearing the end stage of our business plan development to submit the next phase of implementation for a potential matching fund of up to $1.5 million.
Our partnerships have expanded to include public and private, City and County - all our municipal governments, the hospital, Fanshawe College, the public health unit, local energy and telecommunications companies, non-profit associations, agricultural organizations, small businesses, police and emergency services, conservation authorities, etc. Our cooperative common visions and planning are influencing other community initiatives and is attracting attention from telecommunication suppliers and vendors to also act in a cooperative manner in order to supply the necessary infrastructure.
The priorities identified include:
- A countywide directory to include businesses, social services, and community organizations, something that does not exist within each of these areas or is fragmented and difficult to obtain
- A common calendar of events to leverage success by accommodating planning, avoiding duplication and increasing the ability to cluster
- A mapping locator system to accommodate the ease of travel which will be a boon to the tourism industry to identify location of events, accommodations, and reservations and as well as a system for business and industry to locate in the area by showing the services available, etc.
- E-government services to aid ease of information to the public; increase communication between levels of governments and in the future to allow for transactions online
- A GIS enabled database of specific information for use by the municipalities. The OPP and emergency systems, building, and agricultural nutrient management plans. The conservation authorities, the municipalities, industry, the telephone companies, the OPP, the agricultural community are asking for this information
All of these issues would be dealt with on a community portal and more: online government services, such as paying traffic tickets, getting forms, getting your garbage and recycling schedule, etc.; community services, such as registration for sports, activities, newsletters, etc.; local bylaws, searchable job postings, and anything else that the community would want to know, right down to school bus cancellations and theatre listings. If there is a need or demand from the community for there to be a certain thing on the portal, all people would need to do is ask and it would be added within a few weeks.
On the more technological end, elginconnects is also working to improve service; they are working to bring all organizations with telecommunications hardware into a single business entity, so that they can cooperate with one another and allow others to use what they already have. Combined buying power will also come out of this arrangement, so that all organizations could specify their needs, and they could find a common solution for many different groups, so there is a more equalized purchase cost across the board. This initiative would allow all businesses, big or small, to take advantage of web-based services and applications.
All of these aspects combined, when completed as outlined, will put Elgin and St. Thomas into a more competitive position for economic development and attraction for personal businesses. The project puts community first, to create a linked environment where any information that anyone could want is available and accessible from one common web portal; and also, provide training so that the technology can be used properly and efficiently.
Regardless of the amount of money we are going to be able to bring to this region for community and economic development, the ECFDC has been able to accomplish a number of objectives to complement its mandate within the community. We have expanded awareness of the Elgin Community Futures Development Corporation countywide. Businesses, local governments and residents alike now recognize the name as an enabler, respecting our community's input and increasing our community's capacity for planning and growth and development.
We elginconnects, as an example of partnerships, as well as the recognition of community challenges and assets to find acceptable solutions in order that the lives of the citizens of Elgin County will be improved as a result of it.