June 2018

206 207 here and making this their home, even if their pri- mary job is somewhere else, because we do have a one gigabit fiber service that runs throughout the town, and I think one of the dreams of people in this area is that they may have a job in Toronto, but they’d really like to do most of the work from their cottage. And, with the fiber service, and the technological upgrades that we’ve seen in the community, this is allowing them to do that. So, more and more people of all ages are coming here, and we’re certainly excited about that. “On the public front, we just opened a new fire hall, which is a significant upgrade over the previ- ous facility that we had. It allows our department to function much more efficiently and effectively. It also functions as a training space for them as they constantly upgrade their skills. And that was combined with an ambulance/EMS facility.We put those two facilities together, working with the district government, because they look after ambulance and we look after fire. It was a project that was able to re-use some land that had been vacant for about two decades in the heart of the community, formerly owned by Hydro One, and repurpose it into a great community facility that we’ve received nothing but compliments about. “Those are things we’ve done, but on the horizon, there’s certainly more.We’re looking at building a significant community hub through a recreation/library, which would feature a new, single pad ice arena, that would be expandable in the future to a twin pad; a field house; and a BRACEBRIDGE, ONTARIO full library complex, relocating our current library service to the new site. That will be a facility unlike any other in the region and one that will draw people to the community for a variety of reasons.” BVM: Randy, you’re the Man- ager of Economic Development. Can you talk about any recent projects or programs under your department’s purview? Mattice: “We’re seeing an influx of new investment in the community.We’re about a two- hour drive from Toronto, and we’re seeing some interest from Millennials and young entrepre- neurs who want to get out of the metropolitan lifestyle and the increasing costs of living in Toronto, and are looking at smaller communities in which to establish themselves. So we’re seeing a lot of new investment, particularly in our downtown core. They’re young investors, and instead of just sitting on a prop- erty and letting it accumulate in value, they want to make these buildings into working buildings. So, they’re spending the mon- ey to renovate the buildings to bring them up to standards, and to make them into desirable