Nov 29 - Local News, Community Poll & Weekend Events

Plus: Updates on DGR project, Stokes Bay fishing boat, Festival of Northern Lights and more

👋 Welcome to The Owen Sound Current, your source for what’s happening in and around Owen Sound. The first section of our weekday news brief—with community contributions, public notices, and news previews—is free, thanks to our paying subscribers. Full subscribers also get commenting privileges, event listings, and access to our full archive. Special thanks to Sustaining Supporters, who fund contributor stories and ensure fair pay for columnists while keeping their work open to all. Thank you all for supporting independent local journalism!

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It’s Friday, and we have a couple of municipal matters for you before the weekend. First up:

And next:

Yesterday, we asked how you would rate the City of Owen Sound’s efforts in environmental services, including waste management, recycling, and water treatment. If you missed it, you can still respond to that poll here.

We’ll continue to run these polls in the weeks ahead as we gather information for our Council Midterm Report. That’s right—this roster of elected representatives is already halfway through their term!

The Owen Sound Current asked your elected representatives to answer a short, approximately 15-20 minute questionnaire. It was important to us that Councilors have an opportunity to participate in this process, in order to communicate their priorities, accomplishments, and challenges to you directly.

Unfortunately, this has proven a mostly one-sided exercise.

The first deadline and extensions have passed, and exactly one councilor submitted their response.

Two stated that despite being given a week’s notice the questions were coming, a week to complete the survey, and another week’s extension, they did not have time for this.

Two others refused to complete the survey as they disagreed with the word count limits we use to ensure consistency and keep responses pointed and on track. For example:

• What do you see as the single biggest challenge facing our municipality right now, and how are you personally working to address it? (Max 100 words)

• How do you approach transparency in your role? Are there specific steps you’re taking to improve the accessibility and openness of Council business? (Max 300 words)

• What's one thing you wish residents understood about your role on council? (Max two sentences)

Several council members simply ignored our invitation, reminder, and follow-up emails, much in the same way they regularly ignore our inquiries on behalf of you, our readers, when questioning council business.

So what can you expect of The Owen Sound Current’s Midterm Council Report, given that most of your council refuses to participate?

We’re taking the community’s temperature, of course, to gauge your level of satisfaction with your elected representation and the decisions they’ve made. We’re also taking a look back at what each of your representatives promised when they asked for your vote two years ago. And we’re still evaluating what they’ve done since you awarded them their seats and entrusted each to represent your best interests at the municipal level.

It looks like you just won’t be hearing from them yourselves, but then… par for the course and all that.

So today, we want to know:

Public Notices

• The City of Owen Sound is accepting applications for committee members on the River District Board until Thursday, December 12.

• Have Your Say at the 2025 Budget Open House - Township of Georgian Bluffs

• The City of Owen Sound’s December Corporate Services Committee Meeting Has Been Cancelled - City of Owen Sound

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~ Miranda Miller, Editor

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