More than 70 people turned out for the Astor Theatre Society’s annual general meeting on Monday evening in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

After years of discussing the need for it, the board of the Astor Theatre says that 2024 will be the year that they get serious about securing funding for a modern HVAC system.

The 122-year-old building has only ceiling fans in its performance space, making it pretty steamy in the middle of the summer.

The Astor Theatre Society board announced at their annual general meeting on Monday night that it plans to go after federal and provincial funding this year to make the whole building more energy-efficient and to install a state-of-the-art heat pump system.

That system would keep the Astor cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They also plan to replace windows, reinsulate the roof and change all lighting to energy-efficient LEDs.

Board member Lynn Cochrane told about 70 people gathered for the AGM that the board will work with the Region of Queens, which owns the building, to ensure they maintain the structural integrity and acoustics of the Astor.

She said it’s part of a major capital campaign that the Astor will launch this year.

They also plan to create an endowment fund, supported by corporate and individual donations, to ensure the Astor’s financial security.

“It is our Astor,” Cochrane said. “So this endowment will protect it for many years, and hopefully save us from having to go hand to mouth with our finances every year.”

The Astor also got a $100,000 donation from the Greenfield-based sawmill Harry Freeman and Son Limited. 

Board chairman John Simmonds told members that the Astor is in good financial shape, even though it reported a $40,393 deficit for the nine months ending Dec. 31.

The theatre’s total audience last year from April 1 to Dec. 31 was about 12,000, with 60 per cent of that coming from Queens County and 40 per cent from outside the region.

“So we’ve had a lot of people through these doors,” Simmonds said.

The first four months of 2024, however, were stronger, with 18 events bringing almost 3,750 people to the theatre, and a net gain of $27,900.

The Astor hosted many popular concerts and events from January to April, including the late February/early March production of Follies, its first adult musical production since 2018.

“The last few months have been very important to the Astor, we’ve been so successful, we’ve had so much going on,” Simmonds said.

He said the board plans to sign a 10-year lease with the region, which will help the Astor in its fundraising goals. 

“It also gives us an opportunity to go after grants that require a 10-year lease so that we can establish to the grantors that we are going to stay around for a long time. So that could bring in some fairly big numbers to allow us to do some of the things we want to do.”

The Astor’s net assets as of Monday’s AGM are $232,000, according to treasurer Loris Azzano.

The Astor Theatre Society’s members also voted to add three new people to the board of directors, bringing the total to 11.

They are Melanie Atkinson, who also volunteers at QCCR, Terri Faber and Cynthia Walker.

They join Simmonds, Azzano, Cochrane, Anne Espenant, Willo Treschow, Dan Williams, Heather White Brittain and Colleen Wolfe.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Thomas H. Raddall Library. Photo credit Ed Halverson

Municipal staff have suggested building the new library close to the Region of Queens administrative office.

In a release issued, Thursday Nov 16, staff say the Liverpool Business Development Center, on Harley Umphrey Drive, “offers an ideal space, including ample parking, access to green spaces, and more room for programming.”

Another benefit of the proposed relocation is that the Liverpool Business Development Center is owned by the Region of Queens.

The library’s lease in their current location at the Rossignol Centre in Liverpool is set to expire at the end of 2024.

Municipalities are responsible for providing space to locate regional libraries in Nova Scotia. Finding a new site to relocate the library has proved contentious for Region of Queens Council.

In the 2022/23 budget, Council voted to use part of a $3 million surplus from the federal and provincial governments to build a new library. A committee was struck shortly after to recommend a site. Their unanimous choice was that it should be located at Queens Place.

Council initially rejected that option in June of 2022 and asked the committee to come back with another recommendation.  Councillors raised concerns at the time that the location would be too remote for people coming from the Liverpool area.

In January 2023, the committee again determined the Queens Place site was best and this time Council approved their recommendation and agreed to build the new library on the Queens Place location.

However, in March, Council rescinded that approval in a recorded 5-3 vote after learning the estimated cost of extending the driveway to the proposed site would be $950,000.

If Council agrees to move the library to the Liverpool Business Development Center, it will join existing tenants Belliveau Veinotte Accountants and Global Empire Call Centre.

In July of this year, Council awarded a $2,031,273 tender to Sea Coast HVAC for the installation of a new HVAC system at the Liverpool Business Development Center.

A draft design concept for the new library will be presented to Council for its consideration. If they agree to move the library to the Liverpool Business Development Center more design work will be required before renovations begin.

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E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Region of Queens administration building. Photo Ed Halverson

Discussions around changing the sidewalks on the Liverpool Town Bridge and updating the municipal phone answering service were a couple of items on the most recent Region of Queens Council meeting agenda.

The meeting started with a pair of presentations. The first was an update from Roswall, the company behind the Mersey River Wind Farm project.

The company has received several governmental approvals and held community information meetings. They are working towards completing development stage items and signing a lease for the Crown Land.

The second item was a joint presentation from the Queens County ATV Association and the Queens Rails to Trails Association. The two groups are looking for municipal support that would allow ATVs to travel along short sections of municipal roads as permitted by the recently announced Road Trails Act.

Council will discuss the request at a future meeting and will likely be bringing the idea forward to the public for feedback.

In the recommendations section council agreed to waive tipping fees for up to 10 metric tonnes or roughly $700 worth for a family who lost their home in a fire.

Council also agreed to spend $16,850 to install a new telephone answering service for the municipality. The Region has been unable to receive telephone messages for the past several weeks as the old system is no longer supported.

The parameters for a new seven-member police advisory board were also established. Councillors Brown and Hawkes along with Deputy Mayor Fancy will represent council. Community members will include Acadia First Nation Band Council member Andrew Francis and two others chosen from the public. The seventh member will be appointed by the province. Region of Queens is working towards having the new Police Advisory Board in place early in the fall.

Tenders for a new heating and ventilation system for the Liverpool Business Development Centre has come in $130,000 over budget. Council had approved spending $1.9 million in the 2023/24 budget. The only tender received came from Sea Coast HVAC at a total cost of $2.03 million. As it was the only bid, council approved spending the additional money to begin the work.

They also approved $446,200 to buy a new street sweeper from Saunders Equipment Ltd, of Fredericton NB.

A homeowner in Brooklyn requested municipal wastewater systems be extended to their property. Staff informed council it is not feasible at this time because of permitting issues from the province and the large number of projects they are already working on within the municipality.

Council also explored options for improving pedestrian and bicycle traffic on the Liverpool Town bridge. With four options ranging from $325,000 to refresh the existing layout to $4.4 million to move the lanes to the outside of the bridge, council opted to maintain what is in place now and keep an eye out for federal funding options in the future.

Finally, council went in-camera to discuss Nova Scotia Power’s request to install an EV charging station on municipal property in Liverpool, but no site was confirmed.

The next Region of Queens Council meeting will be held August 8 beginning at 9:00am in council chambers.

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A lighter than usual agenda was dominated by the proposed new library during the Region of Queens last council meeting.

As previously reported here, council voted to rescind their approval to build a new library at a site in Queens Crossing.

They’ve asked for studies to determine the cost to instead build either directly beside or attached to Queens Place Emera Centre.

The March 14 meeting began with a presentation from Queens Care Building Society updating their progress on the new long-term care home to be built at Queens Crossing.

The group is currently awaiting design approval before they can formally buy the land from Region of Queens.

Next council gave second reading to a Tax Exemption bylaw to support some non-profit organizations by allowing them to forgo paying their municipal property taxes.

Council passed the motion to give up $241,000 in revenue for the Region of Queens.

They also approved the naming of a new road off Shore Road in Western Head as Serenity Now Lane.

Council then rescinded library approval before awarding a community grant of $2,800 to this station, QCCR to update some broadcasting equipment.

Approval was granted to conduct an HVAC investigation at the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre.

Council agreed to provide $10,975 to DUMAC Energy to complete a comprehensive heating, ventilation, and air conditioning assessment to determine the needs and find solutions to the heating and cooling systems in the building which houses the Astor Theatre.

During the discussion portion of the meeting council talked about creating a tiered support system for low-income property tax relief.

Anyone with an annual household income up to $20,000 will receive $400 in relief, from there up to $25,000 will get $350 and between $25,000 and $30,000 will enjoy $300 in property tax relief.

Council will vote on that proposal in an upcoming meeting.

Added discussion items included how to reduce the amount the Region’s fire services are paying for insurance.

Council decided they will go with a lower cost insurance provider and pay the higher deductible for any of the five departments as there have been very few claims.

The next council meeting will be held Tuesday March 28 in council chambers beginning at 6:00pm.

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

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Astor theatre interior. Photo Ed Halverson

The Astor Theatre is hoping to keep as cool as its programming with the installation of a new air conditioning system.

Executive Director Jean Robinson-Dexter says hotter summers in the past few years make it challenging to even be in the building without air conditioning.

Theatre management are hoping to take advantage of some federal funding to cover most of the cost but because they are tenants at the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre, they needed the Region of Queens permission to apply.

Councillors put the request on the agenda at Tuesday’s council meeting and passed the motion.

Robinson-Dexter is thankful for how quickly and decisively council moved to get behind the project.

“We were really gratified by the support of the council members and talking about the value of the Astor to the community,” said Robinson-Dexter. “One councillor said, you know the Astor has touched every one of us in some way, and I just thought that was very, very telling of how folks think about the Astor, and this building and what we’re able to offer here.”

The Astor board members don’t have a lot of time to put the grant application together as the window to apply closes February 28.

Mayor Darlene Norman was the only member of council to vote against giving permission for the Astor to apply for the federal grant.

She’s concerned by allowing their tenant to pursue a major renovation without oversight of the Region’s engineer something could be missed that could either harm the building or put the Region on the hook to provide more money if the funding runs out.

“My concern is the swiftness of the application. I spoke with Devour fest, Rhea from there. The Devour fest in Wolfville were very successful in those last round of applications and received millions of dollars,” said Norman. “[It] took them months and months to prepare their application. You have to be very careful that when you’re making this application that you’ve included all the costs.”

The federal Green and Inclusive Community Buildings grant program offers funding for small and medium sized projects to retrofit existing community buildings ranging in total eligible cost from $100,000 to $3 million.

Robinson-Dexter says they’re fortunate that people with expertise installing HVAC systems in performance halls have offered to help them gather the technical information they need to complete the grant application.

The Astor Theatre board will determine how much funding to request once they know the scope of the project.

Robinson-Dexter says the Astor Theatre board don’t want to add anymore on to the plates of public works department and plan to deal with all aspects of the renovation themselves.

They also won’t be asking the municipality for any money and will address any funding shortfalls through other grants or by fundraising it themselves.

The board is now working to meet the Feb 28 grant application deadline.

Robinson-Dexter hopes that if they’re successful in their bid patrons will enjoy performances in air-conditioned comfort at the Astor Theatre by summer of 2024.

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The proposed site for the new library at Queens Place lies at the end of the driveway beside the sledding hill. Photo Ed Halverson

Members of the Astor theatre want permission to pursue grants for a new air conditioning system and councillors are concerned about ballooning costs for the new library at Queens place.

The late additions made for an exciting agenda at Tuesday’s Region of Queens council meeting.

The meeting got underway with presentations from the property valuation services corporation or PVSC. The organization explained how they assess properties before providing that information to municipalities to use when collecting property tax.

The next presentation was an update from the recreation and healthy communities department.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, members of the Astor Theatre made their case for why they want permission to install air conditioning. They say climate change has led to uncomfortably high temperatures during the summer months making the space an unsafe work environment. Because the Astor Theatre is a tenant in the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre, they need permission from the municipality to make any changes.

During the recommendation portion of the agenda councillors approved the placement, design, and size of the new outdoor pool which is proposed to be built alongside Queens Place. Council also took the extraordinary step of allowing the pool committee to research and write grants on behalf of the municipality. Grants will still need to be reviewed, approved and submitted by municipal staff.

A study on the feasibility of servicing two new proposed subdivisions in Mount Pleasant will go ahead. Councillors approved spending up to $21,000 for CBCL engineering to undertake a six-week study to determine if there is the capacity to handle water and wastewater flow and demand to the proposed developments. The results of that study are expected to come back to council sometime in April.

Next, councillors debated and ultimately approved the Astor Theatre’s request to apply for grants to install air conditioning. We’ll have more on this story in the coming days.

Eight items were on the agenda for the discussion portion of the meeting.

Council received updates on their implementation report and a financial review for the third quarter.

The province of Nova Scotia is conducting an economic study on the ferry service from Maine to Nova Scotia and approached municipalities in southern Nova Scotia for feedback on the evaluation criteria.

Council was informed environmental documents pertaining to the Mersey River wind farm project can be viewed at the regional administration office and the Thomas Raddall library. The project includes plans to install 35 wind turbines on the site.

Council then discussed property tax exemptions and set a date of March 3rd to begin discussing their 2023-24 budget.

The South Queens Chamber of Commerce asked the Region to assume responsibility for the hanging flower baskets on display on posts in Liverpool. Council discussed taking on the project but determined in fairness, it should be expanded to include Caledonia as well. Staff will investigate the specifics of the request and bring a report back to council.

Finally, council discussed the construction of the new library at Queens Place.

Around the table councillors say they’ve been hearing concerns from residents that the Region has not looked for other sources of funding for the project. Some also feel the location at Queens Place was misrepresented as the best option.

Councillors who had opposed siting the new library at Queens Place dropped their opposition when they believed it would be the most cost-effective option. During the discussion it was revealed the construction of the road and other infrastructure leading to the library could add over $900,000 to the cost.

Council will be looking for staff to provide more information and a clearer accounting of all costs when the library is brought back for discussion at the next meeting.

That meeting will take place Tuesday February 28th at 6:00 PM in council chambers.

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Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Global Empire call centre cubicles. Photo Ed Halverson

Region of Queens will spend $1.9 million to fix the ailing cooling system at the Liverpool Business Development Centre.

Better known locally as the call centre building, the municipally owned property on Harley Umphrey Drive is home to Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte Inc accountants.

Mayor Darlene Norman says as the landlord, the Region needs to provide a safe environment for the 100 plus people who go to work in the building every day.

“It’s a lot of money. It’s what happens when you’re a landlord. You know, what’s our other choice? Shut the building down, break our leases, hold our breath and hope that the thing doesn’t break again and then when it breaks again and then when it does, we have no solution for air conditioning?” said Norman. “It’s a lot of money to spend on a building. The building is not even worth that much money. However, it’s a business, it’s a building, it’s employing people, they’re good people in there working.”

A staff report indicates in its 20-year lifespan the HVAC unit has required numerous repairs, over and above what is considered normal maintenance.

The unit is approaching the end of its serviceable life and parts are becoming almost impossible to find.

DUMAC Energy Limited was hired in February to conduct a study of the Centre’s HVAC system which produced two recommendations: install a new single facility system estimated at $1.2 million or a four-quadrant system estimated at $1.5 million before structural upgrades and design work is considered.

Half the cost will come from a special operating reserve while the Region will need to borrow money to cover the other half.

Norman says that borrowing could mean a small increase to resident’s property tax bill in the coming years.

“I believe it could roughly be two to three cents, which is what we dropped the rate down by this year. But, interest rates, who knows what they’ll be at the point in time.”

Norman says staff will begin working to resolve the HVAC issues right away but because of worldwide supply-chain issues she doesn’t expect the new equipment will be in place this summer.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Inside Global Empire Call Centre. Photo Ed Halverson

An aging heating and ventilation system has the Region of Queens looking at selling the Liverpool Development Business Centre.

The centre is home to chartered accountants Belliveau Veinotte Inc. and Global Empire Call Centre.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman says the HVAC system was installed as part of the original 2003 construction and has reached the end of its usefulness.

“It serves the entire building. It’s been band-aided, it’s been fixed. What on Earth are we going to do with it?” asked Norman.

HVAC technicians have examined the building and presented council with two options: replace the existing unit with one large unit to again service the entire building or split the building into zones and install four units.

Norman says both options are pricy.

Installation and renovation costs are projected to range between a million and two million dollars.

Council discussed how long it will take to pay that off based on the rental guarantees in place with the existing tenants.

Norman says before deciding on which way to go council have asked staff to bring back other options.

“Rather than make a decision, staff have been asked to approach one of the tenants who has expressed public interest in purchasing that building.”

Norman says staff will report back at the next council meeting whether the building should be put up for sale.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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