Region of Queens Council. Photo Region of Queens

The creation of a new police oversight board and rezoning for affordable housing topped the items at the recent Region of Queens Council meeting.

Council was on the road this Tuesday, June 27 at the Greenfield Fire Hall with a relatively light agenda.

Three recommendations came forward.

The first was a $5260 grant to the Privateer Days Commission from the Community Investment Fund. The money will help the Commission offset the $42,080 operational costs for this year’s event.

Next council put forth three names to be considered for the Provincial Volunteer Awards. Each year the Region selects two people for recognition.

In recent years the Region would select names from the Ripple Effect program, a municipal program for the public to recognize the volunteer efforts of others. Despite many requests, no nominations were received this year, so council had to submit names.

Beach Meadows resident Amy MacGowan will receive the award for her work to independently raise money for several community organizations. Notably, in the past year she has raised $35,000. Of that, $27,000 went to assist two local families dealing with cancer diagnoses and another $6,000 was raised to assist those impacted by the recent wildfires in Shelburne County.

The second recipient is Sylvia Hurley from Liverpool. Hurley is active in numerous groups throughout Liverpool including the Victorian Order of Nurses, the K-ettes, Ladies Auxiliary Milton Baptist Church, Hank Snow Tribute, and the Queens County PC Association.

Both women will be recognized at a provincial ceremony planned for September 25.

The final recommendation was to rezone a parcel of land in Liverpool from Lower Density Residential to Multiple Unit Residential. The rezoning is needed to allow the construction of the two proposed buildings along Lawrence Street.

In November 2022, Council sold four parcels of land for a dollar to the Queens Neighbourhood Cooperative Housing Ltd to build 26 units of affordable housing.

The Planning Advisory Committee approved the rezoning at their June 19 meeting.

Now that council has given their blessing, residents will have their say at a public meeting ahead of the August 8 Region of Queens Council meeting. Provided there are no objections, the rezoning will go into effect Aug 31.

Three items were up for discussion.

The first was a Council Implementation report from staff to indicate how several council initiatives are proceeding.

The second was a request to waive tipping fees for a family who recently lost their home in a fire and don’t have the means to pay for disposal of the burnt materials.

Interim CAO Dan McDougall said other municipalities have a compassionate fund to assist people in this situation and suggested Queens could do the same. After discussing the matter, council requested staff come back with a report on how the compassionate fund could work in Queens.

The final item up for discussion was the creation of a Police Advisory Board.

By law, each municipality must have Police Advisory Board.

According to the staff presentation, “…Council has been the governance body acting as the Police Advisory Board with the understanding that this approach had received approval from the Minister of Justice at the time when this practice started. However, written approval from the Minister of Justice (pursuant to section 57(8) of the Police Act) for this governance model has not been located.”

One of the recommendations that came out of the Mass Casualty Commission Report in March was that “Municipalities and the Province of Nova Scotia should ensure that police boards and police advisory boards are fully staffed and performing their governance function.”

The Region of Queens was notified by the Department of Justice in May that they will need to establish a stand-alone Police Advisory Board. Staff are now working to get a board in place by September.

The next Region of Queens Council meeting will be held July 11, beginning at 9:00am in council chambers.

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Donations overflow a trailer headed to support people displaced by the Shelburne County wildfires. Photo Amy MacGowan

Queens County is rallying to help fire-stricken Shelburne communities.

Brooklyn resident Amy MacGowan decided to collect donations of food and clothing to drive to the Shelburne Fire Hall on Tuesday.

Just three hours after making a post on Facebook the community stuffed her Chevy Equinox full of supplies and she was on her way.

MacGowan says the scene at the Shelburne Fire Hall was something to behold.

“I went down, I dropped all that stuff off. It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time.”

Volunteers from the community and aid agencies were standing together to provide comfort to residents who have evacuated and don’t know if they have a home to go back to. MacGowan says a free store was set up in back of the hall, Red Cross workers were helping people register for relief aid and a semi-trailer was filled with water and sport drinks to keep firefighters hydrated on the fire line.

MacGowan decided she would make another supply run on Thursday.

With more notice people volunteered to drive and donations filled 12 vehicles and two trailers creating a Queens Cares Convoy. In addition to the supplies, $5,245 was donated in cash and gift cards.

MacGowan says the pantries in Shelburne are well stocked now and she began looking around to see what else was needed. She learned many of the firefighters are looking for supplies to help them stay on the line.

“They need band aids and foot cream and things like that because their feet are killing them. Their muscles are sore. So, at the end of the day, they just want to wrap up, put some stuff on their feet and go to sleep, get up and go do it again the next day,” said MacGowan. “And Vitamin water they said, was another thing that was on their list. Chocolate milk was another thing that was on their list because they’ve got tons of Gatorade and tons of water and they wanted something else to drink.”

MacGowan says some other items that are in demand include propane, flashlights, batteries, towels and toiletries. She plans to make another run down to Shelburne with more supplies next week.

Until then, donations can be dropped off at the Liverpool Fire Hall, Chamber of Commerce office (in the Work Evolved building), Ingrams Construction or Five Girls Bakery.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.