A pair of ill-at-ease citizens shared their worries to city council at their most recent meeting, asking about the future of Flin Flon and how community services would be affected by a pending Hudbay closure.
Council heard delegations from Greg East and Bruce Reid at the Jan. 21 meeting, each detailing their concerns with how the City may manage, both financially and in terms of service, after the pending closure of Hudbay’s Flin Flon operations.
Reid presented first, using a collection of anecdotes and quotes during his 15-minute address to city council, showing his anxiety with the community’s future.
“I’m very concerned for the future of our community, which I’m sure each and every one of you are. I almost feel guilty preaching to you because the people who should be hearing this are not here. I’m very disappointed in taxpayers and how little interest or concern they take in our day-to-day activities. It’s a little hard to accept,” Reid said.
Later, Reid presented manila envelopes with letters, articles, studies and other documents to councillors and members of the media in attendance. Included in the package was a series of 16 questions addressed to councillors, such as whether council was concerned if Hudbay’s pending shutdown of Flin Flon operations would have a negative impact on services, how increasing costs for services would be passed on to taxpayers, whether bedroom communities and cottage areas should become parts of the municipality and others.
“With a reduction in the workforce, we’re sure as hell going to be looking at much higher taxes,” Reid said.
The package also included reflections by Reid on the City’s recent strategic plan, released last year after a public consultation process, along with discussion on the costs of maintaining recreation facilities and needed infrastructure.
East discussed worries about recreation facility funding and what the City’s budget may look like if or when Hudbay no longer pays grants-in-lieu, the traditional fee paid instead of property taxes by the company for its Flin Flon compound. In last year’s budget, grants-in-lieu from Hudbay made up a substantial amount of the cash coming in for the City.
“Secondary jobs losses will also occur and Hudbay will almost certainly cut their grant in lieu of taxes as it reduces its local footprint,” East said.
East used the metaphor of paddling a canoe in explaining his views to council, saying the future of the community was similar to paddling into treacherous terrain.
“I feel like we’re in it together, entering uncharted rapids. There’s lots of whitewater ahead and to get through, we must pile and bail together and most importantly, chart our course,” he said.
East cited a set of reports in his delegation, including a 2005 document from the Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research (ICURR) detailing how industrial pullouts affect small, rural communities.
“With no jobs, local residents leave the town in search of jobs elsewhere, leading to further strains on the tax base and greater strains on the municipality’s ability to support local infrastructure and services. Newspaper articles and studies on the impacts of economic closure show that transition can be devastating and difficult to manage locally. When these events occur, they often overwhelm the impacted community,” reads one portion of the report.
“It’s pretty dark,” East said, explaining he did not cite the study in an attempt to scare but as an attempt to cite what may be Flin Flon’s worst-case scenario.
“It’s not the dark side, but it’s focusing on what could potentially be the worst scenario and plan for that and hope for a better scenario as time unfolds.”
Following the pair of delegations, Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley spoke to both East and Reid saying their concerns were heard, mentioning councillors would read the information submitted by Reid.
“We definitely appreciate the perspective and we appreciate all the communities’ perspectives as to what we’re doing and what we will be going through in the future,” Huntley said.
“I’m staying. My family’s staying,” East said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Huntley added in response.
“I don’t think the town and this dark projection of what can happen in a community where the industry falls, your Uranium Citys, your Lynn Lakes, I don’t think we’re ever going to be like that. We’ve got a road going in, a road going out and we’ve got a lot of things that tell us that we’re going to be here for a while. I want to be part of the process where we figure out what what we want as a community. If we can keep everything, good. If we can’t, then let’s figure out what we can keep.”
