Municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador recognize May 10th as Municipal Awareness Day
Every May municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador bring awareness to the services our municipal councils and staff provide to the residents of this province.
“In Newfoundland and Labrador more than seventeen hundred municipal councillors and hundreds of dedicated staff work hard to make our municipalities more sustainable, prosperous, and beautiful places to live,” says MNL President Karen Oldford.
In observance of Municipal Awareness Day, many municipalities will reach out in innovative ways to engage with residents on municipal services and issues. Oldford believes that young people have to be engaged in a way that makes them excited, interested, and invested in the plans and processes that will shape how the community looks in the future. In an effort to reach those individuals, MNL worked with ryakuga.ca a non-profit grassroots communications company that promotes community development through local communications to broadcast last week’s Municipal Symposium live on 104.7 FM radio and internet radio webcast. “Our goal was to give residents a peek inside the world of local government, bring our event to those who could not attend the Municipal Symposium, as well as show our members another alternative communications tool they can easily use within their own communities to promote local development,” said Oldford.
With the upcoming municipal elections in September, Oldford believes now is the time to engage new people and begin cultivating the next generation community leaders. “The sector needs an infusion of new energy and ideas from the generation succeeding us. Every opportunity must be taken to reach out and inform youth in our communities who would potentially become elected members of council, municipal administrators or taxpayers.”
Around the province, Municipal Awareness Day festivities include municipal expos, school visits, open houses and fire truck rides. Many mayors and council members will also visit schools and host simulated council meetings with students.
MNL is proud to partner with the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment and Professional Municipal Administrators (PMA) to celebrate Municipal Awareness Day.
During the Municipal Symposium in Gander last week Honourable Eddie Joyce, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment, Mayor Karen Oldford, President of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador and Brian Peckford, President of Professional Municipal Administrators proclaimed May 10th as Municipal Awareness Day in Newfoundland and Labrador.
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About MNL
Municipalities Newfoundland & Labrador (MNL) was formed in 1951 as an umbrella organization mandated to represent and support local government in Newfoundland and Labrador. MNL represents the 276 incorporated municipalities in the province that service 89 per cent of the population and their more than 2,000 leaders.
Copyright © 2017 MNL, All rights reserved.
Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador
Gail Woodfine – Communications and Public Relations
Email: gwoodfine@municipalnl.ca / Tel: 709-753-6820 / Fax: 709-738-0071 l Toll Free: 1-800-440-653