Civil Municipal Magazine - Nov 2023

110 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 11 Partnerships old and new That being said, both Atkinson and Sobanski would like to see more help forthcoming from the provincial and federal governments. “We have a lot of work to do over the next 20 years,” says Sobanski. “I’m sure we can do it while maintaining only inflationary-type increases to our property taxes. But if we want to attract new businesses and new property owners, there needs to be renewed investment by the province and the federal government. They were key in building municipalities in the middle of the 19th century, but they have stepped back from that to let the municipalities build on their own. So, there isn’t that same partnership.” “They still provide us funding but we don’t have access to those larger initiatives that helped grow Ontario. I understand that the province has limited resources, and so does the federal government, but they need to come together with the municipalities to go back to community building. We can do it on our own if we have to; it will just take more time,” he elaborates. Meanwhile, Plympton-Wyoming does have other partners it works closely with. “The Lambton Economic Partnership is a huge partner,” says Sobanski. “They’ve helped bring broadband internet into the area, as well as helped coordinate finding homes for new businesses and, most recently, trying to help us look for innovative ways to expand our commercial offerings in the Camlachie area. We also work very closely with our other local municipalities, especially the County of Lambton. They provide a lot of the social services to the municipality and they work with us to provide the needed infrastructure on county roadways and bridges. We also keep up partnerships with municipalities outside of Lambton County. We try to help each other out within reason; of course, we’re also competing, but where we can, we do share services to reduce costs.” A place to work and play Regarding the town’s workforce, Atkinson believes that younger workers would be interested in residing in Plympton-Wyoming, Ontario if there were more jobs available. “They grew up here,” he says. “They like the small-town atmosphere, but, sadly, a lot of them are working outside the area. Our goal is to get some commercial or industrial businesses here to keep them here.” Finally, Plympton-Wyoming, Ontario offers a high quality of life for its current and future residents and new business owners. There are parks, fields, pools, sports courts, and golf courses; recreation and community centers;