FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Council Members Bring Local Issues to Province at ROMA Conference
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THAMES CENTRE – This week the Municipality of Thames Centre sent a delegation to Toronto to attend the Annual Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) Conference.
Delegates included Mayor Sharron McMillan, Deputy Mayor Michell Smibert, Councillor Tom Heeman, and CAO David Barrick.
“The ROMA Conference is a tremendous opportunity to bring community concerns to the provincial government,” said Mayor McMillan. “We were able to meet directly with the MPPs and provincial officials who are involved in the issues we discussed.”
At one meeting local representatives met with officials from Hydro One to discuss power outages in the Thorndale area. Hydro One officials agreed to investigate the situation.
Thorndale residents who experience outages can call Hydro One at 1-888-664-9376.
At other meetings, Thames Centre delegates met with Parliamentary Assistants Anthony Leardi (Health), Ric Bresee (Transportation), and staff from the Solicitor General’s office.
Delegates discussed increasing local health care options for residents, increasing municipal input on issues that affect municipal budgets, and ways to increase road safety, especially for children on school buses.
“Having open communications with the provincial government benefits our community,” noted CAO David Barrick. “With better planning and communications we’ve seen increased provincial investments in local projects, and greater attention being paid to provincial issues that affect our residents, like the province’s decision to rebuild the Highway 401 ramps at Dorchester Road and to replace the Dorchester Road Bridge.”
More information about the ROMA Conference can be found at: https://www.roma.on.ca/roma-conference.
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Contact: Michael Ramnanan
Communications Manager
mramnanan@thamescentre.on.ca
519.268-7334 ext. 258