Employees at Queens Place Emera Centre work on Tuesday to get the ice ready for skaters. (Rick Conrad photo)
By RICK CONRAD
The arena at Queens Place Emera Centre is set to reopen on Friday.
The Region of Queens made the announcement late Tuesday evening.
The region announced on Dec. 29 that it had to cancel all on-ice activities immediately, until a new condenser could be installed.
The municipality had already planned to replace the ice-making equipment early in January, but it was forced to close the rink earlier than expected.
“Actually, ahead of the scheduled time when we thought it would be replaced,” Mayor Darlene Norman said Tuesday.
Cimco Refrigeration finished installing the new equipment on Jan. 5. Queens Place staff have been working since then to get the ice surface ready.
The new $255,000 unit is stainless steel. Norman said they expect it to last longer than the original unit, which had been operating since Queens Place opened in December 2011.
“So it should operate for many, many, many more years than the one we had to replace.”
The old condenser unit sits outside Queens Place Emera Centre on Tuesday. (Rick Conrad photo)
The rink’s regular users, such as Queens County Blades and the Queens County Minor Hockey Association, had to search for ice time elsewhere while the arena was shut down.
The region notified groups of the planned shutdown in late November.
While they said they were disappointed they couldn’t use their home rink, they adapted by using ice in other communities.
Melissa Robinson, an executive member with Queens County Blades, said she’s happy that the rink is open again.
“I think it’s great that we’re able to kind of get back in the swing of things, hopefully this Sunday,” she said Wednesday. “Originally, we weren’t supposed to have ice on Sunday, so it’s good that we’re back.”
Darlene Norman, mayor of Region of Queens. Photo Credit: Darlene Norman
By Rick Conrad
Voters in the Region of Queens may be able to cast a ballot online in October’s municipal election.
Mayor Darlene Norman says she’s confident the region will be able to introduce electronic voting as an option this year.
Councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry at their first meeting of 2024 to prepare a report on the feasibility and costs of introducing electronic voting to Queens, while keeping the traditional paper ballot.
“I expect the cost to come back much more than pure paper voting, but it may not,” Norman said in an interview after the meeting.
“But a combination (of voting options) would be good. … Younger people say that it’s the thing that we need, but it would be interesting to do it.”
Twenty of 49 Nova Scotia municipalities offered an electronic voting option in 2020. Elections Nova Scotia used electronic ballots in the July byelection in Preston. And it plans to allow e-voting in the 2025 provincial election.
District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton said it’s time that Queens offers an electronic option in addition to the traditional ballot, to make it easier for people to make their choice.
“I think it’s important for us to move forward with this.”
District 6 Coun. David Brown said it would also help encourage people in more rural areas of the municipality to vote.
“With our widespread rural areas, it’s hard for people to get out to the polling station. Having the electronic option will get more people involved.”
The Kiwanis Club of Liverpool is closer to taking over the canteen at Queens Place Emera Centre.
The region would lease the facility to the club for one year rent-free. The club would be responsible for ensuring food safety and insurance compliance. Kiwanis volunteers would operate it along with members of the Queens County Blades and the Queens County Minor Hockey Association.
The three organizations would share proceeds from concessions sales.
Because of the Christmas holidays, staff couldn’t have a final agreement ready for councillors to review at their Tuesday meeting. They voted to wait until they see the contract before giving their final approval.
David Schofield, president of the Kiwanis Club of Liverpool, said Tuesday that his group is excited about running the canteen.
“I think it’s a good opportunity not just for the Kiwanis Club but also for the figure skating club and Queens County minor hockey who we’ve asked for their support as well, because we don’t have enough volunteers in our organization to do it. … A lot of people have made comments about not having a canteen available (at Queens Place), so I think it’s win-win-win-win.”
Steve Burns, manager of events, promotions and sponsorships, told councillors that it would likely take a couple of weeks after the contract is signed to get all the necessary permits in place for the Kiwanis club to take over.
District 6 Coun. David Brown asked staff for recommendations to address the problem.
He said the 40 so-called “grey box” sites on private roads throughout the county consume half of the region’s garbage collection budget.
“These are places that have large tax revenues for us that we don’t provide a lot of services for,” Brown said. “And nobody wants to see a mountain of garbage every time they drive into beautiful, pristine wilderness.”
Mayor Darlene Norman says it is a “huge problem”.
“And people in the Labelle and Molega area, some people are paying $10,000 property tax out there for no services. It is an issue that has to be dealt with.”
Councillors asked staff to prepare an inventory on burnt out streetlights in the region, and press Nova Scotia Power to fix them more quickly.
District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said many residents have complained that several streetlights haven’t been working in some areas for up to three months. He’s concerned about safety for motorists and pedestrians.
There are six streetlights out on Shore Road in Mersey Point alone, council heard. Many are out for longer than the 60-day service guarantee.
Nova Scotia Power is supposed to maintain the lights, but the region pays for them, even when they don’t work, Norman said.
“We are paying for a tremendous amount of street lights which are burnt out.”
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.
Groups who use the arena at Queens Place Emera Centre are juggling their January schedules as the region replaces a vital piece of ice-making equipment.
The Region of Queens, which operates Queens Place, announced on Dec. 29 that it had to cancel all on-ice activities immediately, until a new condenser could be installed.
The municipality had already planned to replace the condenser early in January, but it was forced to close the rink earlier than expected.
At a September council meeting, councillors approved the purchase of a new $255,000 condenser. Staff told councillors that the refrigeration equipment began to malfunction in late summer or early September.
Cimco Refrigeration was hired to repair a minor ammonia leak, but found several more problems. Only the arena is affected by the shutdown, though the indoor walking track is closed until Saturday.
The region hasn’t given a timeline for when the rink will reopen. But it said it will post notices online when the work is completed and the ice is reinstalled.
In a release late Friday afternoon, the region said work began on Jan. 2 and the new equipment has been installed.
“The refrigeration plant has resumed operation and staff are currently working towards reinstating the arena ice which will take several days,” the release said. No one from the municipality was available to comment.
Melissa Robinson is an executive member with the Queens County Blades. The group has almost 40 skaters who have had to look for ice time elsewhere with the closure. The club also holds a Learn to Skate program for youth.
Their members would typically use the Queens Place ice surface twice a week, four hours on Wednesdays and four and a half hours on Sundays.
They’ve been able to use other rinks in Shelburne and Bridgewater, Robinson said. And some of their members have gone as far as St. Margarets Bay.
“We definitely have lost ice time, because as an example the senior skaters would skate for two hours on a Sunday,” Robinson said.
“Typically they only skate an hour and a half at other clubs. … Our higher level skaters are on the ice three to four to five days a week. So they’ll do two days at Queens Place and then they’ll scatter out to the other rinks with the other clubs.”
She said the club had to cancel a scheduled Skate Canada assessment day at Queens Place.
“So there’s been a little bit of disruption, definitely.”
Robinson says the club’s skaters have adapted.
“We’re just moving along accordingly. It’s unfortunate they can’t skate at Queens Place, but they can adapt at another rink and that’s just what we’ll have to do in the meantime and move along.”
Both Robinson and Terrena Parnell, president of the Queens County Minor Hockey Association, said they were notified in advance of the planned closure.
Parnell said by email that while the timing isn’t ideal, “Queens County Minor Hockey understands equipment can fail at any time and needs to be replaced.”
The association has 87 players, in addition to 29 members who are board members, coaches, managers or bench staff.
“The hope is that with weather co-operating and no unforeseen issues with the installation of the new condenser,” Parnell said, “QPEC will be up and running quickly and we will have lost less ice time than was scheduled with the original replacement dates.”
Parnell said that teams are playing away games in the meantime “and preparing for the reopening of QPEC to bring practices and home games back to the arena.”
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 9th at 9:00am in council chambers.
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