SBP passes on municipal innovation council | Owen Sound Sun Times

South Bruce Peninsula has decided not to join the fledgling local Municipal Innovation Council, part of the recently created Nuclear Innovation Institute in Port Elgin.

Huron-Kinloss, Kincardine, South Bruce, Brockton, Arran-Elderslie and the host community of Saugeen Shores all joined. Northern Bruce Peninsula hasn’t decided yet, Bruce County acting chief administrative officer Bettyanne Cobean said.

South Bruce Peninsula Mayor Janice Jackson said Thursday that council found the three-year, $90,000 total commitment too steep for what she considers to be a “gamble.” She said her municipality would have joined if a one-year option were available.

“We can jump in later. There’s no guarantee that they’re going to come out of this with anything productive.”

Instead, South Bruce Peninsula is using the roughly $30,000 one-time provincial funding provided to produce municipal efficiencies to implement the “LEAN” management program model already adopted by Bruce County and other municipalities, Jackson said.

“It is council’s obligation to put the ‘efficiencies’ grant money to the best possible use. We felt the LEAN management program was a better choice considering we have so many critical projects on the go, including the Wiarton Big Dig,” she wrote in a follow-up email.

Cobean, at the county, said many municipalities were drawing on their own one-time efficiency grants to cover their share of their innovation council membership. Bruce County, a partner in the Nuclear Innovation Institute, has committed $50,000 toward the MIC in its upcoming budget.

The Municipal Innovation Council will “leverage learning, explore public-private partnerships, and change the way municipalities are doing business,” information about it on the NII website says.

There are four areas of focus: construction and infrastructure, employment engagement, information technology and digital services, and accessibility and inclusivity, Saugeen Shores Mayor Luke Charboneau says in the MIC’s description.

The Nuclear Innovation Institute, located near private nuclear operator Bruce Power, describes itself as Canada’s leading-edge nuclear applied research facility and centre of excellence for talent development and business innovation.

The NII will “identify opportunities to advance new technologies and applications in the nuclear industry, related industries and the municipal sector,” the website says.