Humboldt takes top prize at Communities in Bloom national conference
It was a shock at the Communities in Bloom National & International Awards Ceremonies on Oct. 29 in Regina.
Humboldt would take home the first prize for the 4,501-9,000 population category and, especially for the Communities in Bloom Humboldt committee members, Janice Ruedig, and Roger and Sheila Nordick who were in attendance along with Mildred Punk, Darrell Lessmeister and some of his staff, they could not believe it.
“We were sitting in the front row,” says Sheila, “and all the sudden they said, ‘we’re going to have Dean Possberg present this from Home Hardware in Humboldt’...they arranged special for him to come down because of that.”
It took a second for it to register why Possberg was there, says Roger. Everyone agreed that it was very fitting for Possberg to be the presenter of their award because of all his donations to Humboldt green space, says Sheila.
Ruedig says she was blown away by the theme of the conference; Healthy Communities – Harvesting the Benefits because of the benefits of green space in urban areas.
“For me, that really was the ah-ha moment on what we are trying to do. We’re trying to build a healthy community.”
Part of the program also included exchanging flags with an international community. Humboldt exchanged flags with Sveti Martin na Muri in Croatia.
“You have the opportunity now that we know (them), we can exchange ideas on Communities in Bloom, because they’re still with the same six principles and they may have different ideas that would work out here, and vise versa,” says Roger.
In the 4,501-9,000 category, Humboldt was up against the Town of Bay Roberts, N.L., the Town of Drayton Valley, Alta. and the Town of Stonewall, Man.
Communities are judged on six categories/principles; Tidiness, Environmental Action, Heritage Conservation, Urban Forestry, Landscape, and Floral Displays.
Many people were involved in ensuring the Humboldt beautification stretched across all the categories, says Ruedig, including those who participated in Tidy Community Week, and composting workshops, and businesses and residents that beautified the front of their buildings.
The city has done a lot of work as well, including redesigning the area around the gazebo in Civic Park, more recently to include Canada 150 tulips in time for Canada’s 150th anniversary, and the work with planting native grasses at Original Humboldt, which Humboldt got special recognition for from the Communities in Bloom judges.
All of this was taken into account for Humboldt’s five bloom bronze rating.
“They really take the whole city into account. What the other organizations are doing, what council is doing, what Leisure Services is doing...you pretty much have to showcase everything you’ve done, not just what the (Communities in Bloom) committee has done.”
With all the work that has been done, both by the city and the residents, Roger says, they have taken these six principles to heart.
As both a councillor and a committee member, Roger sees the impacts of the committee at the council level and how they embrace the core ideas of Communities in Bloom.
“Those six principles are held near and dear to most municipalities for sure because that’s what helps makes their community attractive.”
Humboldt has been participating in the Communities in Bloom program since 1995 and has been competing at the National level since 2006.
Now that they have won the National award for their category, the committee has to discuss where to go from here.
“Once we catch our breathe we’ll have to decide,” says Ruedig.
The three committee members would like to thank the community for all the work that went into Humboldt’s beautification.
All volunteers with any organization in the group needs to be thanked, says Ruedig, since they have all played a part in this.
City of Humboldt brings home well deserved second place
It was a second place finish for the City of Humboldt Our Humboldt Strategic Framework from the Saskatchewan Municipal Awards.
For City Manager, Roy Hardy, it was a very happy second place with Prince Albert’s Oil Spill and Water Crisis Response after the Husky Energy oil spill into the North Saskatchewan River taking a solid first place win.
“I’m sure in terms of how that put the city to the test, it’s a fair tribute for the response that they had to come up with on short notice,” says Hardy.
The Our Humboldt Strategic Plan is a “collaborative planning and engagement initiative that has created a community-designed strategic plan that will inform decisions about the City over the next several years,” says the city on their website.
Decisions made by the city are based on seven core values that is wanted for the city; welcoming, active, connected, creative, green, prosperous, and sustainable.
“It includes a vision, strategies, directions, and action areas that will help decision makers prioritize the things that need to be done and decide what strategic investments will deliver value to all residents,” says the report.
A lot of work and effort went in, not only in the creation of the plan, but also what Hardy calls the anchoring of the plan; making sure staff and the community understands what the city is trying to achieve with the plan, he says.
“This is a real tribute to the city is terms of how they’ve taken to heart this project and make sure it continues to live forward.”
The city engaging with the plan is what really stood out for judges of the awards.
Jeff Mulligan, managing partner of AHHA Moments Inc. and former mayor of Lloydminster, sat on the selection committee.
Before they were even up for an award, Mulligan used Humboldt as a teaching tool for course on Municipal and Financial Planning.
“I was already using Humboldt as a best practice in my course...it was that innovative and it was that note-worthy.”
On the rating grid for all aspects of the scoring system, Humboldt scored extremely high, says Mulligan, while the level of engagement and value based planning was really different compared to other plans.
“Engagement and consultations are over used words today but they actually did it. They’re actually doing it more than talking about it.”
Without a doubt, says Mulligan, Humboldt is a leader within the Municipal sector. They are taking strategic planning, something that is rather dry, and making it more “engaging and alive,” says Mulligan.
Moving forward with the new council, Hardy says it has gotten to the point that the staff are using the plan more, next is making sure that council knows and understands the benefits of using the plan and taking that out to the community.
Hardy says he would be very please if he was able to look ahead four years and see the council and community using the plan more and more.
“I’d be really pleased if people were able to get access to and to look at some of the tools and information we have. It’s all about having better information to make better decisions.”
The key elements of the plan is engaging with the community and making sure they are involved in the decision making process, says Hardy.
The awards will be presented to Humboldt and 9 other award winning municipalities at the SUMA conference in February.
