As a business owner and resident of Georgetown I am angry and disheartened by the current direction the Three Rivers has taken with respect to our website, parade floats and broken town signage.
While it may be convenient to call us “The Town of Three Rivers”, it takes more than a name to create a town. The Town of Three Rivers is in effect a regional municipality. It should be strengthening the identities and preserving the history and culture of the individual communities. Trying to rebrand 300-year-old communities will not benefit the residents or the businesses in those communities. You should be creating a new governance model for the existing communities, not trying to undo or eradicate their storied histories and individual strengths. Trying to create a town out of a region is a mistake that could have a huge negative economic impact for this region.
My biggest concern today is the removal of the Georgetown (and other community) websites — removing the websites that contain tourist and other information, that link to other provincial sites and advertising is a mistake. Having individual town websites linked to the new Three Rivers Site creates a larger and more searchable web presence. Very few people outside, or for that matter even our neighbours, recognize the Town of Three Rivers and they certainly aren’t going to search it. We are not formerly Georgetown, we are Georgetown — now and always!
I would urge that the mayor, council and staff seek expertise at the provincial level if they are unclear or uncertain of the direction that this ill-conceived amalgamation should take. If the Three Rivers wants an inclusive and healthy relationship with its individual community partners, it has to do a lot better.
Stacy Toms,
Georgetown