A renowned author and businessman is coming to Estevan to help the Economic Development Committee determine the path forward. In a release, the city announced they were enlisting the expertise of Doug Griffiths of 13 Ways Inc. to help them strategize. 

Griffiths, author of the best-selling book, 13 Ways To Kill Your Community, was also a politician, retiring in 2015 after serving as the Progressive Conservative MLA for Battle River-Wainwright for ten years. He is meeting with not only economic development but with the past council and hopefully the current council as well. The money to bring him in came from a grant from the Western Economic Diversification and the Coal Communities Transition Fund.

"We were allocated some money to do an asset analysis and strategic planning on marketing," said City Manager Jeff Ward. "That's where Doug Griffiths comes in. He's worked with many other cities that have faced similar restrictions on resource allocation and having to diversify their economy."

According to the city, Griffiths will be here on November 17 to help advise on everything from coal transition to strategic planning. This is similar to the sort of work he's done with many other communities in the past, notably in Alberta. 

"Everything the city is doing in regards to economic development," said Ward, "to beautification, to downtown revitalization, Doug and his team really assess all of that and piece it together to create an action plan for the community moving forward based on his experience with other areas." 

Originally, Ward said the plan was to have Griffiths in town from November 17 until November 21. Some new airline restrictions have limited the trip, so now his window to work in the city is shorter, but he won't just be making the one trip here. 

"We've lined him up to have interviews with the Economic Development Board," he said, "the past council, and we're hoping to line up the new councilors as well. It's really come down to an initial assessment of the area and what they can (do) in that time, but this is going to be a continuous process over the next six months."

Ward added that eventually, they'd like to have Griffiths do more public forums where citizens can ask questions, though COVID-19 restrictions don't allow for it at the moment. He also said he's personally read 13 Ways To Kill Your Community, and he highly recommends it to anyone who might want to learn more about economic development.