The recent cut to the Communities in Bloom program in Chatham-Kent has left a long-time volunteer in Dresden disappointed.
Chatham-Kent administration included the Communities in Bloom competition, conference, coordinator and marketing position on a list of recommended service cuts when they presented their draft budget last month.
Despite a couple of attempts during the deliberations to put the item back in the budget, the motions failed… leaving the program in the dust, and $76,891 in annual savings back in the municipal coffers.
“I am very disappointed,” said Lynda Weese, the coordinator of the Dresden Horticultural Society and a long-time community liaison with the with the Communities in Bloom program.
“I know budget time is a tough time to work with and Communities in Bloom probably does seem like a priority but there is a lot more to it than what people believe. That’s the unfortunate thing is that we haven’t been able to get that word across of how important it is to the community.”
Weese said taking part in the annual competition made all the communities sit back and look at their communities to figure out what could look better.
“We are just more conscious of what we have and what we would like to do with what we have and I don’t think it will be the same,” she said. “We had the motivation of course from our coordinator. She was the one that made us go back to our communities and say ‘what can we do with them.'”
Weese said the coordinator was always the link between the grassroots level and the Municipality.
The impact will now be felt more in the larger centres, Weese said.
“It’s not going to affect the small towns. We are still going to do what we can do with our own towns but you are not going to have that motivation to say ‘okay, what can we do that’s a little bit more’. We will probably have the same old, same old for longer than we have,” Weese said.
“It’s going to have have a bigger effect on the larger centres. I think Chatham is going to have a big effect because they don’t have a hands on Hort. Society like a lot of us. They do have one that just started but I don’t think they are really heavily involved in planting the things in the town. Wallaceburg, they haven’t contributed to Communities in Bloom… we haven’t even had a representative for five or six years from Wallaceburg.”
Weese said she will miss the interaction amongst the other communities.
“We did a lot of sharing and if they thought something in their community worked well, lets try this in Dresden too,” she said. “We are not going to have that because I really don’t think, as much as they say there will still be a committee, I don’t think the committee can stay together when there is nothing to do.”
Weese said she doesn’t believe Chatham-Kent will be able to compete in the Communities in Bloom competition, as it will be too much extra work for a municipal employee to take on.
“I don’t think they have any idea how much is involved in getting a tour lined up to keep judges entertained for two and a half days and two of those days are 12 hour days,” she said.
Weese said she feels hurt that the program has been cut.
“I am not surprised when we lost our coordinator, this was kind of an easy out for them,” she said. “I am glad Joe Faas and a couple of other councillors did see the value of it and I guess that’s maybe what hurts the most. We put a lot of hours into it and somehow you feel it’s not worth it.”
North Kent Coun. Joe Faas was unsuccessful in bringing the Communities in Bloom position back into the budget on the last night of deliberations.
“Communities in Bloom has been one of the greatest vehicles we’ve had in bringing all the communities in Chatham-Kent together under one purpose,” he said. “The amount of volunteers it involves, the collaboration between each Municipality and making sure Chatham-Kent looks pristine, not just during the judging period but pretty much year round.
Faas said Communities in Bloom will still go on, but it was the coordinator’s position that brought everyone together.
“I think the volunteers will still be engaged… but the unity (amongst the different communities) will not be there,” he said.
Chatham-Kent had awarded a 5 Bloom rating for the past three years and this past year was recognized with Canada’s Most Pollinator-Friendly Community Award during the International Communities in Bloom competition,
