| Vision 20/20 head quits |
| Marg Scheben-Edey resigns in frustration
from committee |
| By Morgan Ian Adams |
| Enterprise-Bulletin (Fri, February 16, 2000) |
| COLLINGWOOD - The woman who headed up the Vision 20/20
process through two years of research and public consultation has
quit. |
| Three of the four other committee members have also
submitted letters of resignation in the wake of Marg Scheben-Edey's
resignation. |
| Though the committee's mandate was concluded at the end of
December, at least two of the resignations are symbolic, nonetheless, of
the committee's frustrations. |
| "I've just lost confidence in the process and I'm
frustrated by the delay in implementing the plan," Scheben-Edey
told the E-B, acknowledging the decision has been emotionally hard on her. |
| Vision 20/20 was instituted in January, 1999 in response to
Intrawest's 50 per cent purchase of Blue Mountain Resorts, and its plans
to build a $500 million commercial and residential 'village' at the base
of the ski hills. |
| The five-member committee was an initiative of the mayor's
office. |
| However, through research of similar developments - such as
the impact on the Quebec town of St. Jovite by the neighbouring
Intrawest-owned Mont Tremblant - the committee came to realize its
investigations had less to do with Intrawest and more to do about how
Collingwood would react to and prepare for the challenges of growth. |
| Last year, the committee issued a wide-ranging survey, to
which more than 1,600 people responded, presenting nearly 20,000 ideas. |
| In October, the committee presented its report to
council: 240 recommendations based on those ideas, covering areas
such as transportation, housing, the environment, finance, regionalism,
the downtown and attractions. It also presented eight 'core values'
it wanted council to take into account in its decision-making process. |
| Other recommendations included: |
| establishing a permanent Vision 20/20 committee; |
| hiring a community development expert to direct the
implementation of the recommendations; |
| establishing priorities, time frames, cost, areas of
responsibility and monitoring benchmarks for the recommendations; |
| integrating the recommendations into the town's official
plan; |
| implement the recommendations (which would be an ongoing
process); and, |
| carry out an annual, community-based monitoring program to
measure change. |
| The budget of the project was $90,000 shared between the
municipality and the federal government through a federal government
grant. |
| "We made our presentation in October, and it's now
February," Scheben-Edey said. "We have a sense of
urgency because we know the time is critical, and it's vital to start
working on the recommendations." |
| And, to begin working on those recommendations, the town
would have needed to hire a community development officer. |
| "We can't more toward implementation without staff
resources," she said. "It might look costly (to hire a
staff person), but we know it's an investment in the future of the
community. |
| "There are tasks that have to be done that are beyond
the scope of volunteers." |
| However, Mayor Terry Geddes indicated he had not accepted
Scheben-Edey's resignation and was scheduled to meet with her later
today. He added her letter of resignation didn't imply the
frustration expressed to the newspaper. |
| Geddes said the concern the Vision 20/20 report was 'bogged
down,' couldn't be "farther from the truth." |
| "We're going through the process as we are with any of
the other committees," Geddes said, noting he opened and closed his
recent 'state of the town' address with Vision 20/20. He added
council is to the 'potential of hiring a CDO" |
| Scheben-Edey's resignation was followed closely by that of
Chamber of Commerce representative Anita Hunter. Hunter is resigned
for 'personal and business' reasons, though she acknowledges
Scheben-Edey's frustration. |
| "I do agree with Marg regarding the implementation of
the core values and the hiring of a CDO," Hunter said. "I
do understand her frustration, and it's crucial to keep up the momentum -
it's important that we move ahead quickly." |
| Hunter has sat on the committee for 10 months, replacing
former chamber president Victor Zamin. |
| "If she (Scheben-Edey) was staying on the committee,
it would be tempting to stay, because I do admire the work that she's down,"
Hunter said. 'It would be fulfilling to stay on the committee with
her." |
| Committee co-chair and Downtown Collingwood representative
Bob Cook also drafted his resignation on Thursday. |
| "I totally understand (Scheben Edey's)
frustration," Cook said. "This is a committee that has put
heart and soul into this, and it was a totally apolitical process.
Now it seems to be bogged down in politics, and that's frustrating." |
| The other Downtown Collingwood rep, Peter Mantrop, has not
made a decision on his future with the committee, but he did echo the
frustration of the other three members. The fifth member of the
committee, Bob McMaster, also stated he would be sending in a letter
indicating he would be stepping aside for business reasons. He would
not comment further. |
| Councillor Sonny Foley, who also was assigned to the Vision
20/20 committee, and has been with the committee since its beginnings,
also indicated he was "very, very disappointed. |
| "It's an absolutely tremendous loss to carrying on the
suggestions in the Vision 20/20 report," Foley said.
"Council has to move on this and council needs to work with Marg to
suggest if there are some people to help with this project - it will take
some special people." |
| Scheben-Edey said resigning was "an emotional issue
for me," and she felt a great deal of pride - not only for what the
committee accomplished, but also what the community accomplished. |
| "My leaving (the committee) has taken nothing away
from that," she said. "The community has to take the
responsibility to ask their government to move forward - to make
government honour their commitment." |
|
Please see previous
article on VISION 20/20 |
