Shelly Panczyk is the chairwoman of the Queens County Food Bank in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

The Queens County Food Bank won’t have to worry about its rent for the next four years as Region of Queens councillors voted this week to give the group a rent subsidy.

As part of its budget talks, councillors agreed to the food bank’s request for an annual grant of $15,500 to cover the rent at its Main Street location in Liverpool. 

Shelly Panczyk, chair of the Queens County Food Bank, told QCCR on Thursday that “it’s a wonderful thing.”

“That helps us out because it will give us more working capital to purchase food,” she said.

“We’ve been back and forth with the last council. This is probably our fourth time trying to get something and this council has done it. And I’ve got to give them a good clap around, because they’ve done a good thing. And I think people will step up and be aware that this council is a workable council.”

Before the food bank was forced out of a derelict municipal property in 2019 and began leasing space on Main Street, it paid no rent. Demand for their services has grown, as food costs have risen and donations have plummeted by about 50 per cent.

About 240 families a month use the Liverpool group’s services.

Food bank representatives appealed to councillors at their March 25 meeting for rent relief after the organization was hit with a $10,000 bill to fix its freezer. It’s also committed to begin food pantries for elementary and high school students throughout Queens County.

Mayor Scott Christian said councillors are trying to make more room in the region’s budget to help residents on low or fixed incomes. Council is also considering expanding the region’s low-income property tax exemption program.

“It’s really hard when you’re an organization like Queens County Food Bank when you don’t have certainty of available resources, like you’re constantly competing for available grants,” he said.

“
Their board members did a good job of articulating the financial need that that group has and those are the type of investments I think this council likes to make, so I’m pleased to see if we spend $20 to $25,000 on the low-income tax exemptions and another $15,500 on the food bank, again, it’s challenging, and we need to make sure that the province pays their fair share as it relates to community wellness, but from my perspective, that’s money well spent from the municipality.” 

Council has another budget meeting scheduled for Tues., May 6 at 6 p.m.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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The South Shore Flying Club maintains the South Shore Regional Airport in Greenfield as part of a lease agreement with the Region of Queens. (South Shore Flying Club Facbook page)

The South Shore Flying Club is looking for a break on its rent at the South Shore Regional Airport.

Peter Gow, president of the non-profit, says his group’s 35 to 40 members maintain the runway, hangars and grounds at the small airport in Greenfield.

“Between the insurance and the annual fee that we pay to the region, it kind of makes it pretty tight to keep operating,” he said in an interview Monday. “We’re just kind of run pretty thin.”

The flying club has asked the Region of Queens, which owns the airport, to waive the annual $4,000 rental fee.

Last October, Gow wrote to the newly elected council to ask for a break on the rent. District 6 Coun. Stewart Jenkins brought up the issue at last week’s council meeting. He asked councillors to support his motion for the rent waiver.

“They also provide a substantial service because they do keep an eye on the aiport, they clean it, they maintain it so that it can be used,” Jenkins told council last Tuesday.

“The problem is their limited revenue stream. Unlike other users of the airport, they don’t have 500 or 1,000 people coming to watch an event that pay money. It’s a small club with limited revenues.”

Two years ago, the region was on the verge of selling the airport. But after public backlash, municipal councillors decided to hold onto it. 

In spring 2023, the flying club and the Nova Scotia Drag Racers Association agreed to 20-year leases with the region.

Under the flying club’s lease, it has access to the large hangar, but it also agreed to maintain the property for the region. The drag racers have use of the small hangar.

“It was either we more or less agree to that or we don’t have an airport,” Gow says. “So we begrudgingly agreed to the lease with that stipulation that we would run it.”

Gow says the club has a few fundraising events each year, but it can’t sustain itself if it has to pay the rent on top of its annual $6,500 insurance bill.

“We try to do what we can here and there but everything is so expensive as everybody knows. It’s just kind of a bit of struggle. It just seems a bit odd that we pay a fee to operate the region’s facility.”

Gow said the small airport could help attract new residents to Queens County.

“We feel it’s very important. You take what’s going on around the world now, south of the border. Some of our American neighbours may consider moving to the area and that might be one of the things they look for — is there a viable airport there for someone who might have a small plane. It could make the difference between somebody moving to the South Shore and not.”

Last week, councillors said they were supportive of Jenkins’s motion, but voted to defer it to their next meeting on March 25 so they could get a look at the club’s financial statements.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Global Empire call centre cubicles. Photo Ed Halverson

By Rick Conrad

The Global Empire call centre wants a break on its lease in the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road.

Mayor Darlene Norman says it’s because the company is using 18,000 of the 25,000 square feet it originally signed up for.

“So they wanted the lease amended to indicate that they’ll only be renting the space they are using. And that frees that space up for the Region of Queens to do with as it wishes.”

Council approved the amendments in principle. Norman said that when the new agreement is signed, it will be available to the public.