Friends of Mississippi Mills
There has been a noted increase in tension in our friendly little town these days. I believe the root cause is that of communication. More specifically, poor communication. With the vast amount of information being generated on the internet, it’s hard to figure out what information is valid. Some information only describes one side of the story, other information is misleading or outright incorrect. Misleading information can cause people to form an opinion that is vastly different to the opinion they would have formed knowing the full story.
Although I am heavily involved in social media, I made it my mission this year to get out and communicate directly with my fellow citizens. The results were incredible, I have made new friends with a bunch of people that have vastly different interests than mine. I am a better person because of them. If the internet went down for good, I wonder if we would all get along better. We would have to talk to each other face to face, good and bad. It would be a lot harder calling someone names to their face.
Over the past year, many people have expressed to me their sadness over all the anger and hatred that is going on in our community. Again, I believe the root cause of this is due to poor communication. A small group of citizens share this belief and wish to do something positive to improve communication within Mississippi Mills.
Friends of Mississippi Mills wishes to provide a safe, impartial forum for the discussion of municipal affairs amongst Mississippi Mills’ diverse citizen base. The group has 3 main objectives:
- Assist citizens of Mississippi Mills with municipal matters. The group is composed of people well versed in dealing with municipal matters and general regulatory inquiries. If you have questions about how to deal effectively with the town and/or council, we may be able to assist you in your matter.
- Provide a positive form for citizens to discuss municipal matters and provide information updates via email, Millstone and social media. Group members will attend council meetings and will provide general non-biased summaries of each meeting.
- Assist council when and wherever possible. Being on council is a thankless job.
Councillors make little money and are expected to be on call at all times. To be effective, council needs the assistance of the community. This group truly wants to work with council. Meetings will be set up between Friends of Mississippi Mills and each councillor to find out what we can do to help them with their day to day tasks. Who knows, maybe a simple “frequently asked questions” press release may decrease the amount of calls they receive, freeing them up for other matters.
Friends of Mississippi Mills is not your typical citizens’ group. There is no board, no membership, and no cost. If you are interested in receiving frequent updates and wish to discuss municipal matters in a positive environment, you are more than welcome to join our Facebook Group. If you are not a member of Facebook but still wish to participate, please feel free to send us an email at friendsofmississippimills@gmail.com. In your email, please state if you have a question or concern you would like addressed and/or if you wish to be placed on the email list for information updates. The plan is to also post updates on the Millstone as a general service to the community.
As this group is totally free, operating costs must remain low, ok truthfully zero. As such, all group activity will take place via the internet or in person. This is also why the email address is so very long, can’t complain, it’s free!
Thank you all for your time. The group of people that is launching Friends of Mississippi Mills only has one agenda, to help our fellow neighbours and to bring the “friendly” back to Mississippi Mills (OK, that’s 2 agendas)
Best Regards,
Tracy Stimpson on behalf of Friends of Mississippi Mills
