GUYSBOROUGH – “At the outset, it was a little confusing whether or not the MODG could offer their incentive at the same time as that offered from Nova Scotia Health,” Barry Carroll, the Municipality of the District of Guysborough’s CAO, told council when he gave his report at the monthly committee of the whole meeting on July 6.
Communication with the province has cleared up that uncertainty and Carroll said that the understanding is, if a doctor from outside of Nova Scotia is signed with Nova Scotia Health (NSH), which is the only way that MODG’s incentive could come into play, “Ours could be offered in tandem. You couldn’t offer them [the incentive] for the same return of service period… so, if the province offered $125,000 for five years then we could give $100,000 for that doctor to continue [in the MODG] after the five years.
“Or if we were recruiting within the province, then they are not offering an incentive so our $100,000 incentive could still apply. For example, if someone from Halifax wanted to come to Canso or Guysborough to work as a doctor … that $100,000 would be there. So, I am not recommending any changes to our doctor incentive program. I think we should leave it in place. I think the priority right now is on Canso, Eastern Memorial,” said Carroll.
He went on to say that there had been some conflicting information regarding locums versus fulltime doctors. "Bottom line, if there were two fulltime doctors coming to Canso, it seems like you would want that.”
Continuing with the healthcare theme, Deputy Warden Janet Peitzsche made a motion, which passed unanimously, to contact NSH to ask them to do a better job, “of communicating when Eastern Memorial [Hospital] is closed or any changes to the staffing at Eastern Memorial [in Canso].”
The motion was the result of a recent failure to communicate closure of the Eastern Memorial Hospital’s emergency department to Canso and area residents.
Water rates
Last winter, the MODG commissioned a report on the Canso Hazel Hill Water Utility, the only such utility in the municipality, in keeping with provincial legislation to review water rates. Council accepted the report last February, which advised the rate should be increased by $0.14.
The report was sent to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (UARB), which has final say in the matter of such utility rates.
The UARB held a virtual public hearing on the rate study on July 6. MODG’s Director of Finance Danita Imlay attended the meeting and gave a report to council at the committee of the whole Wednesday afternoon. She said one person, Ginny Boudreau, representing the Eastern Guysborough County Rate Payers Association, spoke against an increase in fees, making the case that rates should stay the same because people are having a hard time affording the necessities.
Imlay said Boudreau made a lot of good points but, “The bottom line for us is that it’s been six-plus years without any increase at all and costs have gone up and usage has gone way down. When you’re not generating revenue and you’re increasing cost, even though you’re running a surplus…we are eating into that surplus every year with that deficit.”
In recent years, Imlay said, the water utility has lost 43 customers, and those that remain are using less water while the cost of running the utility keeps rising.
The final decision on the Canso Hazel Hill Water Utility water rate is in the hands of the UARB and Imlay said a decision would likely be handed down in a month – an estimate based on previous experience.
Land sale
Council also discussed the sale of a parcel of land in the community of Guysborough to Caper Developments as was reported in this newspaper last month. The assessment for the parcel on Church Street is $45,000.
Peitzsche voiced confusion over the role the MODG was playing in the proposed development and asked if the MODG had helped Caper Developments more than she knew, as it seemed to suggest in a recent media report she’d read.
The article, Peitzsche said, suggested MODG and Caper Developments were partners, beyond the agreement to sell the land and, “I just wanted clarification on that because I was really confused when I read it…I just wanted to make sure that that’s our only role we’re playing with a private developer is selling the land.”
CAO Carroll replied, “Correct, I think what it is…I think our staff has been very responsive to try and help them to move it along, again with the appraisal, we were right on that, to get the appraisal done and so there’s no lag in time. I think that’s what the reference was to. We played no other role, just to help shepherd it along as quickly as we could.”
Business Partnership activity
In other business, former MODG Municipal Clerk Ashley Cunningham Avery, in her new position as executive director of the Guysborough District Business Partnership, gave a report to council.
She said the organization had moved into their permanent office on Main St. and had several potential projects underway or on the drawing board including a business survey to determine what small businesses are missing in the municipality and what is stopping them from either hiring more people or expanding.
Discussions are also underway to look at an event such as a beer festival, “where we do have a top-notch brewery in our community,” Cunningham Avery told council.
There was also discussion about the recent tender that went out to construct two kiosks to be located on the Guysborough Waterfront.
In an email, following the meeting, Cunningham Avery told The Journal, “The tender closes next Wednesday (July 13) so it will depend on the contractor. We would hope for usage later this summer, but it will depend on how quickly they could get started.
“The intent is to have them at the waterfront for rotating use by vendors. The details of how we determine usage haven’t been decided yet, but we would ask the community for ideas as to what they would like to see them used for,” Cunningham Avery wrote.
Requests
Council also heard two requests during the committee of the whole meeting. One was for sponsorship by Mulgrave’s Market by the Sea; council agreed to provide $250 as per MODG policy. And the other was from the Canso Area Childcare Association, asking that council consider moving the fitness centre in Fanning Education Centre/Canso Academy to the Canso Arena to make daycare space available at the school. Council agreed they needed more information before they could make any decision regarding this request.
