When it comes to voicing their opinions about their hometown, Kevin Hutchison discovered North Bay residents are one passionate bunch.
An innovative and progressive community research project between the City of North Bay and Baylor University entered the final stretch as a North Bay delegation, led by Mayor Al McDonald, headed to the Texas campus in January to confer with students and administrators engaged in the Focus Firm Partnership Project.
If the results of the first half of the eight-month study were eye-opening for the city, Hutchison, a Baylor business grad and the local project lead, promises the final report, due out in April, should be just as riveting.
The findings of an online survey of 4,585 residents released by the Baylor team prior to Christmas revealed that city hall has much work to do to restore the trust and confidence of its citizenry.
Of the 79 per cent of respondents who liked living in North Bay, only 29 per cent trusted the municipal government. Those who disliked the city collectively delivered a single digit approval rating.
“A good number of folks don’t feel the city has a plan,” said Hutchison. “It’s not about let’s show them we have a plan, it’s what leads them to think we don’t have one?”
Many respondents said there needs to be greater promotion of the city and more needs to be done to retain people and business. They also felt the city is not a great communicator and needs to strategize better.
In leafing through some responses, “what really struck me is how emotional and how powerful the words are in those open-ended questions,” Hutchison said.
Many wrote about the role of the community in their lives and a sense of belonging in the northeastern Ontario city of 55,000.
“Probably greater than 80 per cent of respondents poured their heart and soul into their responses. Some almost bring a tear to your eye the way they’re written, so eloquent, so to the point and tough to argue with.”
Some passages are so impactful, a select few will be featured in the final presentation to the community on April 22.
Normally, students in Baylor’s Focus Firm Partnership work on projects with Fortune 500 companies. This is the first time they’ve focused on a community at the suggestion of Hutchison, who works as financial advisor in North Bay.
Beginning last September, Baylor students descended on the city for an intense 48-hour interviewing blitz of some 200 people to get a sense of what the city’s challenges are.
That feedback helped formulate the questions for an online survey questionnaire conducted last fall. Those critical remarks directed at city hall were shared with the community before a packed auditorium at the North Bay Regional Health Centre on Dec. 11.
A sticking point for many respondents centred on the $4-million cost overruns in the renovation of Memorial Gardens, the city’s main arena, in 2013. Many taxpayers felt blindsided.
“What an engaged audience,” remembers Hutchison. “They were on fire. And the students were phenomenal.”
Council’s image wasn’t enhanced when they voted to give themselves a substantial pay raise last December.
“If anyone is critical of those individuals, they’ve done it to themselves with their timing of events,” Hutchison said.
The study’s second half will dive deeper into those responses, said Hutchison.
Rather than ruffle any feathers at city hall, he hopes the final report will be viewed as an “opportunity for improvement.”
Only time will tell if the city choses to adopt and implement the recommendations, but, he said, the community will be impressed with the findings.
“I think the community is going to be receptive and I hope and trust that the powers that be act upon the recommendations, or at least are inspired by them.”
Advance copies of the final report will likely not be sent to council or city staff.
“The public owns it, it’s their data,” said Hutchison. “To respect the integrity of Baylor and the project, we’re not willing to tell their message, we’re willing to tell the community’s message.”
