Region of Queens administration building. Photo Ed Halverson

By Rick Conrad

The Queens Place Emera Centre canteen contract and electronic voting are among the topics on the Region of Queens council agenda on Tuesday.

Staff are recommending that the Kiwanis Club of Liverpool be awarded a one-year contract to operate concessions at Queens Place. Councillors had previously agreed that the Kiwanis Club would be a good fit to operate the canteen, rent free, for one year. 

Under the proposal, the club would be responsible for ensuring food safety and insurance compliance. Volunteers from the club, Queens County Blades and the Queens County Minor Hockey Association would operate it.

The three organizations would share proceeds from concessions sales. The groups have joined together to operate the canteen at some previous events. 

The Kiwanis Club also told council that it would step aside if another operator came forward during their one-year term.

When Queens Place opened in December 2011, the region operated the canteen. Since 2016, however, either private businesses or community groups have run it.

Electronic voting may not be possible for the 2024 municipal elections, according to a report from Cody Joudry, Region of Queens chief administrative officer.

Twenty of Nova Scotia’s 49 municipalities offered online voting in the 2020 elections by contracting with a private company, he says. If the region wants to follow suit, it is probably too late to join with those other municipalities. It would have to issue a tender on its own and find a service provider, he said.

The possibility of e-voting in Queens came up at a previous council meeting. And Joudry is recommending that council ask for a staff report on the feasibility and cost to implement it in time for the October 2024 election.

Staff is recommending that council approve two requests to name private roads. Terry Whynot of Kent Fields Estates and the Quarterdeck Resort made both applications.

The first is to name a private road off Cobbs Ridge Road in Liverpool Lingley Lane. The other application is to call a new road off Willow Lane in Summerville Centre Audrelyn Lane.

Councillors will hear a presentation on Pemsik Conservation Mosaic. It is a proposed conservation area that would connect the Tobeatic Wilderness Area to the lands and waters around Port Mouton, Port Joli and Port l’Hebert, as well as Broad and Sable rivers.

The Pemsik project partners want to protect the cultural and natural values critical to the livelihoods of Mi’kmaq and rural communities throughout southwest Nova Scotia.

The council meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the council chamber at 249 White Point Rd., Liverpool. 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Region of Queens administration building. Photo Ed Halverson

Region of Queens council will once again delay a decision on the location of a new library.

Municipal staff had recommended building at the Liverpool business development centre but after a flood of e-mail correspondence and public comments at the last meeting councillors decided to discuss the matter further. They have requested staff look into the feasibility of temporarily relocating the library at the business centre until a new permanent home can be found.

In the recommendations portion of the meeting council determined three properties were considered dangerous and unsightly and directed staff to take action.

Councillors also approved a staff request to apply for over $10 million from the provincial municipal capital growth program. The program supports municipalities’ efforts to address infrastructure needs.

Region of Queens would like to use the funding to support the Mount Pleasant service extension project which has three distinct components: transmission main upgrades, water lift station upgrades, and extending services to the growth area around Mount Pleasant. The current estimated costs of the project are in the neighborhood of $21.5 million.

Council then approved spending $750 as their contribution to co-host the New Year’s Day levee alongside Mersey branch 38 of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Council then moved into discussions, the first two items involved road names, the first being Lingley Lane and the second Audrelyn Lane. No other streets in the region currently have those names so they will be assigned to those streets at an upcoming meeting.

A discussion whether to support Mill Village fire department’s request to purchase a new truck for $620,000 will come back to council once the chiefs of the Regions’ five fire departments have an opportunity to discuss long term planning for replacement of their engines. The municipality contributes 25 percent of the cost to the fire service whenever a new truck is purchased.

Next municipal staff asked council to clarify the intent of the travel expense policy. Staff are looking to clarify the language and will bring the policy back for Council’s consideration at a future meeting.

The last item on the agenda was a request from the Kiwanis Club of Liverpool to take over operation of the concession stand at Queens Place.

Under the proposal, the club will be responsible for ensuring compliance with food safety certificates and insurance as well as obtaining a food operating permit, while operations will be handled by volunteers from the Queens County Blades and Queens County minor hockey association. Councillors were supportive of the idea as it would provide an opportunity for all three local organizations to raise money.

Regional staff will work out details with the Kiwanis organization and bring the item back before council at a future meeting.

Council only meets one time in December due to the holidays. The next council meeting will be January 9^th at 9:00am in council chambers.

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E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Brooklyn Marina. Photo Loris Azzano

Some in the community are upset with the board of the Queens Recreational Boating Association for giving notice to canteen operator Sharon Westlake they would not be leasing the Brooklyn Marina kitchen to her next year.

Westlake had been serving hot food out of the marina kitchen for the past several years but was informed she would not be offered the space to continue next summer.

A photo of the letter was shared on social media sparking an outcry of support for Westlake.

Association president Loris Azzano says the decision is no reflection on Westlake, her staff or the food, the marina simply needed the kitchen back to be able to provide more events for their members.

“Once you lease out that space you shut that door and inside that door is her space. Some of the comments were saying, you could use it when she’s not around and work around her hours. Well, that’s not how it works,” said Azzano. “We gave up the space. She’s got her own equipment, her own food in the fridge. You can’t go in and say okay, for Saturday I’m going to have a function and I’m going to start using your kitchen.”

Azzano says the 63 boating slips at the Brooklyn Marina have been booked solid for the past  two years and they have a waiting list.

He understands some people may complain about losing access to the canteen but at $450 a year, the slip fees are very inexpensive, and for $20 per year, anyone can have a social membership to the marina, they don’t need to own a boat.

Azzano says the Queens Recreational Boating Association board have made several upgrades to the Marina including new docks, installing a roof over the veranda and fresh paint.

He says now that they’ve taken care over the physical needs, they need to make long-term plans for the club, and they can’t do that without have full control over their own building.

“I’m disappointed that it went this far. And yet, on the one level, how do you let people know that we weren’t doing anything to discredit what Sharon has done and we weren’t doing anything against the community at large,” said Azzano. “It’s just from an operating marina facility, we really do need to control our own space. We need to be able to at least control it and then decide what we can offer, within the limitations of what we have as a facility.”

Azzano says the board will take the winter to determine how many volunteers and staff they will have next year before making plans for how the canteen will operate and what they can offer.

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The roll up window at Queens Place is now open. Photo Ed Halverson

Visitors to Queens Place no longer need to leave the facility to grab a snack.

The Region of Queens has come to terms on a lease with the owner of the Greenfield General Store, Stew Jenkins to operate the canteen.

It officially official opened Thursday November 18.

Jenkins says the canteen will keep regular hours and be open for special events.

“It will be a good place for people to come and have a meal or just a cup of coffee when they’re watching a game or hot chocolate or whatever.”

Jenkins had previously run the canteen and sees this as an opportunity to work together with the Region to serve visitors to the arena.

“There’s room for growth,” said Jenkins. “The last time we were sort of guessing at what we could do but now we’re working together to grow it.”

Jenkins says Joan Murphy will manage the operation, providing a menu of homemade soups and stews as well as hot dogs, hot drinks and snacks.

The municipality has been looking for someone to operate the canteen for months.

Jenkins says after a discussion with Mayor Darlene Norman, things moved quickly.

“This was a whirlwind,” said Jenkins. “We signed the papers Friday and Joan went in on Monday and started cleaning. The food order arrived later that day and [she]started stocking and then Tuesday she did a little bit of trial runs on things.”

Jenkins says Murphy will be hiring a couple of more staff to run the canteen.

He says the advantage of having a business outside of the canteen is he can pull more staff from the Greenfield General Store to help out when busy events are taking place.

“It’s a benefit it gives our staff out here, a couple of them, extra hours where they might be cut back to three or four days a week. Now they can get some part-time work in there as well,” said Jenkins.

Canteen hours and the new menu are available on the Queens Place Emera Centre Facebook page.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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