Friday, March 29, 2024

Council notes
MODG hears pitch for Hadleyville Community Centre

  • November 23 2022
  • By Lois Ann Dort, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter    

GUYSBOROUGH – At the committee of the whole meeting of the Municipality of the District of Guysborough held on Nov. 16, council heard from a delegation for the proposed Hadleyville Community Centre.

Doug Halfpenny, on behalf of the centre’s building committee, outlined the needs of the community, the infrastructure already on site – which would reduce the cost of the project – and the estimated cost of construction: between $350,000 to $400,000.

Council voted to send the proposal to staff to review during the next strategic planning session.

In other business, council congratulated Deputy Warden Janet Peitzsche on her 25-year service award, which she recently received at a Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities meeting in Halifax earlier this month.

Looking back on her time on council, Peitzsche said jokingly, “My only goal for my first term was not to quit.”

Director of Finance Danita Imlay reported to council that tax sales were down this year from last, at three versus 20. And collection of taxes in the MODG was up several percentage points from the previous year.

Director of Public Works Glen Avery explained the Christmas/New Year’s garbage collection schedule to council in his monthly report. Because Monday, Dec. 26 and Monday, Jan. 2 will both be holidays for staff, residents with garbage collection regularly scheduled for those days will now have a collection date of Friday, Dec. 30 to provide coverage for the last week of December and the first week of January.

Director of Recreation Angie Tavares reported that the annual Christmas tree lighting will take place at the Chedabucto Lifestyle Complex (CLC) on Thursday, Dec. 1.

Councillor Neil DeCoff brought the question of an outdoor skating rink in St. Francis Harbour to the directors of recreation and public works.

Tavares said the liner for the rink was now available and Avery said a public works staff member could bring it to the area with the understanding that residents were responsible for the set up and maintenance of the rink.

MODG CAO Barry Carroll pointed out that outdoor rinks in small communities are less and less feasible as climate change impacts the amount of time any such rink can be used.

“To put ice in and keep it in for any amount of time is hard,” Carroll said, noting that the CLC, which has the ability to make ice when the outside temperature is +10 Celsius, struggles with the new climate reality.