Updates from ROMA Board October 2024 meeting
2025 ROMA Conference: Rural Routes
Planning travel to #ROMA2025? Be sure to account for the ROMA Zone meet ups, which will be held on Sunday morning. You don’t want to miss this opportunity to meet your ROMA Zone board representative, hear about ROMA priorities and provide input and feedback to the board.
Note that the deadline to book hotels with the preferred conference rate is December 17, 2024.
Register by October 31, 2024, to take advantage of Early Bird rates.
New tools from the Rural Ontario Institute
ROI has been involved in creating two important new tools to help municipalities and other stakeholders make better, more informed decisions. ROMA is hosting a webinar on November 13 from 10am -12pm for members to learn more about these ROI tools. Information coming soon.
The Rural Housing Information System provides current local demographic, economic and workforce data for 366 rural and northern municipalities. It is an important tool to help developers and municipalities plan and build new, affordable housing. The system demonstrates the strength of broad partnership across multiple municipal groups and funding partners at all orders of government.
The Community Wellbeing Dashboard is based on a standardized approach to measuring rural community wellbeing that can be applied across Canada (CSA Standard). Consistent indicators help us take meaningful action to improve our communities and help us measure progress.
ROMA Board talks OPP billing
ROMA Board members were among many rural municipal leaders who were surprised at the sizeable increases on their bills from the Ontario Provincial Police. Communities who rely on the OPP for local policing are billed based on a combination of per capita base funding and usage. AMO’s policy advisors are pursuing more information on the matter and will report back to the ROMA Board in November.
Stay Tuned
The ROMA Board will meet with Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Paul Calandra, at its November meeting. This will be an important opportunity to share rural municipal priorities and foster a collaborative working relationship with the Minister.
Get in the Zone
Check out the ROMA Zone Map to learn more.
- Zone 1 – Jamie McGrail, Councillor, Municipality of Chatham-Kent
- Zone 2 – Steve McCabe, Councillor, Township of Wellington North
- Zone 3 – Dave Beres, Deputy Mayor, Town of Tillsonburg
- Zone 4 – Christina Early, Councillor, Town of Caledon
- Zone 5 – Pam Sayne, Councillor, Township of Minden Hills
- Zone 6 – Jennifer Murphy, Councillor, County of Renfrew
- Zone 7 – Carma Williams, Deputy Mayor, Township of North Glengarry
- Zone 8 – Christa Lowry, Mayor, Municipality of Mississippi Mills* ROMA Chair
- Zone 9 – Mark Wilson, Councillor, City of Temiskaming Shores
- Zone 10 – Janet Hager, Councillor, Municipality of Red Lake
AMO Rural Caucus Members
- Nicole Martin, CAO, Township of Amaranth
- Dane Nielsen, Deputy Mayor, Municipality of Grey Highlands
- Natasha Salonen, Mayor, Township of Wilmot
- Nathan Townend, Deputy Warden, County of Lennox & Addington
- Tanya Vrebosch, Councillor, City of North Bay
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