Photo Ed Halverson

The sale of 11 acres of municipal land was the highlight of Tuesday’s Region of Queens council meeting.

The only session in August started with a presentation from the Queens Care Building Society providing an overview of the proposed new long-term care home set to replace Queens Manor and Hillsview Acres.

The four members representing the society highlighted the programs the new facility will provide along with one and two-storey options for construction of the new 112-bed structure.

The society’s request to secure municipal land adjacent to Queens Place and the Best Western hotel was granted during the in-camera portion of the meeting when council agreed to sell 11 acres for roughly $960,000.

Some long-standing items that had previously come before council were also approved.

Region staff will get to work crafting a bylaw to allow Queens to collect road levies on behalf of non-profit associations.

Mayor Darlene Norman says staff has assured council they have the capacity to take on the added responsibility using existing resources.

“It only seems right and proper that we help them where we can,” said Norman. “For example, we do not put streetlights on their roads. We do not have personal garbage collection at their doorsteps. So, if we can, as a council, help them improve their roads, then it is the right thing for us to do.”

Council also agreed to a request from the South Shore Regional Hospital Foundation to provide $100,000 for their Brighter Days Capital Campaign.

The money will be the Region’s one-time contribution towards the $115 million redevelopment at the area’s regional hospital which will expand the size of the emergency room and surgical areas, add new dialysis chairs, MRI suite and CT-scanner among other upgrades.

The vote was not unanimous as some councillors argued with the ongoing doctor shortage and frequent ER closures, council should be supporting Queens General first.

Norman says South Shore Regional is just as much Queens’ hospital as Queens General.

“We could give a million dollars to our hospital, and it is not going to help our ER situation at this point in time. Our foundation, the Queens Hospital Foundation, have encouraged us to provide this money to South Shore Regional,” said Norman.

Council also decided to pay between $50,000 and $60,000 to build an accessible ramp at the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre.

The new ramp will be located between the centre and the neighbouring RBC building to provide access from the parking lot into the Astor Theatre lobby.

Council then heard the Region took in just over $300,000 from the sale of 23 properties at the July 18 tax sale.

Approximately $48,000 will go to paying off outstanding debt with the remaining $250,000 or so, being put in the Tax Sale Surplus Reserve Account where previous owners have up to 20 years to claim the proceeds from the sale.

The first quarter financial review indicated the Region will be paying an additional $150,000 for garbage collection this year to cover the increase in fuel costs.

The original estimate was negotiated based on a cost of 89.64 cents per litre and in the past few months, the price of fuel has routinely been a dollar or more per litre above that.

Council was also made aware of human resource changes to the Region’s employee handbook to make the policies more inclusive and in keeping with 2022 standards.

Some of the policies hadn’t been updated in 20 years.

And the planning and development department is looking to increase the fees for some services to better reflect the cost of providing permitting and development amendments.

Council then moved in camera and approved the sale of the lot for the new long-term care facility as well as a piece of property in Milton for a multi-unit housing development.

Council will not meet again until the second Tuesday in September.

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

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Region of Queens administration building. Photo Ed Halverson

Schools weren’t the only institution getting back to business online in the new year.

Gathering restrictions meant to slow the spread of the omicron virus caused Region of Queens council to meet via zoom January 11.

Mayor Darlene Norman says everyone has learned to be flexible in these times including council.

“It appears to be working,” said Norman. “I wouldn’t want to do this forever; I think there’s something about actually being in the space. But this is just as good, let’s say.”

It was a busy agenda to start the year.

Mayor Norman started the proceedings by discussing Project 1792, an initiative which highlights the anniversary on January 15 of the 1,196 Black Loyalists who boarded 15 ships to return to Africa after the British government broke their promise to provide opportunities in Nova Scotia.

“It’s time to start looking at our past and realizing and learning from it and learning how to be better people going forward,” said Norman.

Council also heard from the North Queens active living committee who are hoping to renew funding for their part time programming coordinator.

That position will be discussed when budget deliberations get underway.

Several properties that were meant to go to tax sale will instead be disposed of via a sealed-bid tender process.

The public has until February 22nd to bid on a dozen properties being sold to recover outstanding property taxes.

The region will be hiring an asset management coordinator to track and assess the millions of dollars’ worth of property and equipment owned by the municipality.

Transfers payments from the federal government are based on an accurate assessment of municipal infrastructure.

“We need to get this done because, your gas tax is based on your infrastructure, and we’re required to have this done,” said Norman. “So, if we want to continue getting gas tax money, we have to get ahead of this.”

Council will also form an ad hoc policy review committee.

Mayor Norman says she, two members of council and municipal staff including the diversity and inclusion coordinator will convene a series of half day meetings to go over the 20-year-old policies.

Norman says the plan is to have policies written in plain language which are easily understood and compliant with current laws and regulations.

“The policies need to all be reviewed; they need to be corrected,” said Norman. “There’s questions such as why was this made, is it still valid in today’s world, is the language diverse and inclusive?”

The committee will bring their recommendations back to council once they’ve completed their work.

The next Region of Queens council meeting will be held live over Zoom January 25.

Anyone wishing to view the proceedings can contact Heather Cook at the municipal office for the sign-in information by e-mail: hcook@regionofqueens.com or telephone: 902-354-3453.

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

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