Getting Involved

Community engagement is an important part of building a sustainable community, one that will continue to thrive and serve our residents and visitors well for years to come.  We believe that community engagement is an effective way to bring about positive change in our community.  Involvement from our community partners, our residents and our visitors will only enhance our quality of life.  We encourage everyone to get involved in any or all parts of community life! 

Volunteer Opportunities

The Craigleith Heritage Depot welcomes volunteers to support and deliver its services. For volunteer opportunities, contact Suzanne Purdy, Museum Curator at spurdy@thebluemountains.ca.

The Town needs your help with the Centurion Cycling Event, taking place September 19th to 20th in The Blue Mountains.  To volunteer, contact Peter McGee, Youth and Events Coordinator at pmcgee@thebluemountains.ca.

Numerous Volunteers Help Create a Sustainable Community

The Council of The Blue Mountains recognizes the efforts of volunteers in the Town who help create a strong and sustainable community. At the most recent volunteer celebration in 2009,  Town Council honoured five Community Residents for making life in The Blue Mountains extraordinary through their volunteer efforts.

In 2009, the winners of the second ‘Order of The Blue Mountains’ Awards were:

• Bill Abbotts - Category of Arts and Culture
• Rob Potter - Category of Arts and Culture
• Joan Gaudet - Category of Community Service
• Sharon Dinsmore - Category of Sports and Recreation
• Ayla Tymczuk - Category of Youth

Recipients were nominated by members of the Community.  Local Community Judges reviewed all applications and identified winners in four categories through a rigorous judging process.
Approximately 135 volunteers attended and were recognized at the 2009 event.
The Hoffmann family also accepted a posthumous award for the late Steve Hoffmann’s contribution to The Blue Mountains.

The next annual recognition event will take place in the Spring of 2011.  Nominations forms for the 2011 Order of The Blue Mountains will be available in 2011.

Citizen Survey Garners Good Response Rate from Local Citizens

As part of an effort to gather opinions from a wide range of community members, in September 2008 a short citizen survey consisting of six questions was delivered to all ratepayers. The survey was included as part of the tax billing envelope.

The survey included six questions and measured the following dimensions:

• Perceived quality of life in The Blue Mountains
• Satisfaction with quality of services provided by The Blue Mountains
• Perceived effectiveness of Council
• Contact with The Blue Mountains or one of its employees
• Residential status (part-time/seasonal or full-time/permanent)

The survey included pre-paid postage on the reverse side so ratepayers could return the surveys to the Town, by mail, free of charge.
Respondents were asked to complete and return the survey before September 30, 2008.
In total, 976 ratepayers responded to the survey, out of a possible 8,323. Today, satisfaction surveys generally reap a response rate between 10% and 30%.  The Blue Mountains Citizen survey garnered a response rate of 12%. This is within a commonly expected response rate, particularly as this methodology did not include the use of incentives.  Because the entire population of ratepayers in The Blue Mountains was surveyed through a convenience sample, there can be no true margin of error calculated.  We do know however that the profile of the respondents is reflective of the population when it comes to residential status (part-time/ full-time residency).
This survey is part of a multi-pronged approach to increasing citizen participation and involvement.  Considering some of our approaches to increasing broad citizen participation, to date, this method of citizen participation has garnered the largest, single source of citizen involvement, with nearly 1,000 responses.

Results of the survey can be found on the right-hand side of the page.

For more information, please contact Lisa Kidd, Communications and Economic Development Coordinator at lkidd@thebluemountains.ca.