Lorri Matthewson is committed to supporting small towns. Over its five-year existence, her Carlyle-based company, Solomon-Matthewson Consulting has provided rural communities with business engagement and support, community engagement strategies, asset management planning and arts and cultural supports - all while assisting leaders from towns, villages and hamlets throughout Saskatchewan and Manitoba access necessary funding they may not have otherwise received.
“Much of the province's revenue comes out of the resources from these little towns - agriculture, oil and potash, to name a few,” says Matthewson. “These communities are provincial assets, but in many cases, they're competing for a small piece of the provincial pie.”
“Something like searching out funding sources and grant- and proposal-writing - which is part of what I do - can provide much-needed funding for a community.”
Matthewson - who will complete her MBA in Community Economic Development at Cape Breton University this fall - says governing and managing small communities has grown in complexity.
“You can't expect councils do do it all,” she says. “For a century, most councils had only four responsibilities they were expected to handle: taxes, water, sewer and roads.”
“Now there are suddenly so many more things expected of small-town governments,” says Matthewson. “And no matter how dedicated the council members are, it's not possible for them to keep up with it all. And that's where I can come in.”
Solomon says that asset management is a common challenge facing small towns in Saskatchewan.
“Every community in the province is currently dealing with some aspect of aging infrastructure,” she says. “Our communities are all close to the same age, so that's a current challenge for local governments of all sizes.”
“But another aspect of asset management that's often overlooked is how many of our communities rely on volunteer boards to run a lot of our amenities - for example, rinks and swimming pools,” explains Matthewson. “Volunteers contribute countless hours of free labour for fundraising and general management. They are passionate about their projects and their commitment allows the rest of the community to enjoy these local facilities.”
“The problem is that often a community becomes so dependent on these volunteers, that in some cases, these town-owned facilities are seldom included in a community's capital plan,” she explains. “Trouble starts when costs to repair these assets become too much for volunteer committees to handle.”
“Ultimately, there can be a clash between the committee who has donated countless hours to the preservation of a community amenity and a town that hasn't planned budget-wise for a major repair.”
“These are the types of concerns my business addresses,” says Matthewson. “Most people I've encountered in the course of my working life are passionate about and proud of their communities. They're also incredibly hardworking, but with an increasingly complex world that's changing fast, it's sometimes hard to pull back and take the long view, when you're already really, really busy.”
Matthewson also works with communities, businesses and arts groups as part of her professional and personal mandate.
“Small-town sustainability isn't a one size fits all issue,” she says. “I'm here to help communities embrace change and it's great if a community comes together. But I've also found that one small change by a small business in a community or an arts group can help to revitalize and inspire positive change and growth within a small town.”
“Forget is a great example of a committed group of people involved in arts and culture reviltalizing a place. And in Carlyle, Ken King's innovative approach to business makes his store (Kings Department Store) a destination for a lot of people.”
“These issues that must be confronted aren't just a small-town Saskatchewan thing,” says Matthewson. “They're a small population thing.”
“I was raised in small-town Saskatchewan and I want to see these communities thrive.”
“But we as communities have got to stop apologizing for being little towns,” says Matthewson. “ We're the backbone of this province and our biggest challenge is being reluctant to embrace change.”
“I don't have hope for every small town, but I have hope for the community that values itself enough to want to do something different from the way it's always been done.”
To learn more, visit: www.happiestmunicipalities.com.
