Business View - December 2014 145
ure
ructure progress
something less than unlimited – especially when com-
pared with far larger municipal neighbours like London
and Brantford.
“We’re probably better than some, but not as good as
the bigger cities because we don’t have the economies
of scale as the larger urbans or the same tax base to
draw upon,” she said. “We have a substantial backlog
in building facilities; not so much in roadways. Bridges
are another thing we have a backlog on. It seems, in
our asset management plan, some of the things we’re
looking at the most currently, are bridges and our fa-
cilities.”
Lawson, who’s been town engineer since March 2013,
oversees an operation that has seven people in engi-
neering, 12 more in public works and another two in
building. An extra staff member was added to focus on
asset management last year, but it doesn’t change the
reality, she said, that as long as the town’s boundar-
ies stays near where it’s been for the last decade, her
challenges will persist.
Ingersoll’s population as of the last federal census was
12,146 and its town center sits roughly 40 kilometers
to the east of London, whose population in 2011 was
more than 30 times larger at 366,151.
Any significant land expansions are limited by pro-
vincial Highway 401 on the south, and by municipal
borders with the townships of Zorra (on the north and
west) and South-West Oxford (on the east and south).
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Town of Ingersoll
WHAT:
Oxford County municipality, now home to
12,146 residents, that was initially incorporated
as a village in 1852 and became a town in 1861
WHERE:
Along the Thames River in southwest-
ern Ontario – about 20 kilometers southwest of
Woodstock and 40 kilometers east of London
WEBSITE
:
PUBLIC SECTOR
