Bay Bulls councillors juggling schedules

By Mark Squibb/March 10, 2022

Folks who tune into the monthly Bay Bulls council meetings may have to adjust their calendars in the coming months, as council is debating changing its meeting day from Monday to another weeknight.

Mayor Neil O’Brien brought the issue forward during the February 16 council meeting, saying that staff requested the meeting day be changed to Wednesdays. Council was agreeable to the change, and briefly discussed whether to change the meeting date to Tuesday or Wednesday.

Currently, council meets on the second Monday of each month.

O’Brien noted that Monday was actually the preferred day for him, but he would make either day work. He said he typically travels home from out of province work on Wednesdays, so that day may be difficult for him. O’Brien landed on Tuesday as the preferred day for him, barring Monday. Tuesday night, however, did not work for councillors Shannon or Keith O’Driscoll.

Town CAO Jennifer Aspell clarified that staff hadn’t requested the change per se, but said that if the meeting date was pushed to Wednesday, if would give council members more time to discuss the agenda and scheduled privilege meetings before the public meeting. Currently, council receives their agendas on Friday.

She noted that changing the meeting day is simple enough, but that if council were to request that they receive their agenda earlier in the week prior to a meeting, the town would also have to move the deadline for submissions.

“It was easier to change the day of the week for the public schedule,” she summarized.

Council agreed to defer the motion until the next meeting — which, coincidentally, will be held on Wednesday, March 16, as the Monday of that week is a holiday.

The discussion was actually the second time this current council has put forward a motion to change the public meeting schedule.

Just prior to the Christmas break, council voted unanimously to move the meeting time from 8 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Irish Loop received over a million dollars in COVID stimulus in 2021

By Mark Squibb/March 10, 2022

Communities along the Southern Shore completed a number of recreation and community projects last years aided by about $1.097 million in provincial COVID-19 stimulus funding.

The COVID-19 Stimulus Program (CSP) provided communities with monies to repair and upgrade municipal buildings, fire halls, recreation centers and community properties.

Approved projects were cost shared on a 90/10 ratio, with project approval limits of $150,000.

Petty Harbour—Maddox Cove received $68,640 for the Cribbies Park Community Garden drainage and town office upgrades.

Witless Bay received $121,350 for enhancements to municipal buildings, while nearby Bay Bulls received $129,800 for upgrades to the trail route along Long Pond. Bauline received $135,000 for upgrades to the multipurpose recreation park. Cape Broyle received $125,710 for recreation and community centre upgrades, while Ferryland received $135,000 for the Heritage Museum restoration project. Mobile, meanwhile, received $91,580 for replacement of playground equipment and a playground extension, and a Railway Track Bridge restoration. Further down the shore, Trepassey received $135,000 for repairs to the Trepassey Social Centre.

Coming up along the other side of the shore, St. Shott's received $17,270 for cleaning and maintenance on ditches/shoulders and culverts, while St. Vincent's-St. Stephen's-Peter's River received $47,870 for municipal building renovations.

Along the Salmonier Line, St. Mary's received $90,150 to reconstruct and repair the boat launch and dock.

Through the CSP, the provincial government allocated $23.5 million for over 250 community projects across the province.

Seating, signage and celebrations in the works for Irish Loop

By Mark Squibb/March 3, 2022

A number of towns along the Southern Shore hope to party it up this summer— with a little help from the provincial government.

Some 181 communities across the province are recipients of the Municipal Come Home Year Celebration Grant. Applicants could apply for $2,000 to put towards community projects such as promotional materials, beautification projects, Come Home Year celebrations, and minor community upgrades.

Ferryland has been approved for a new ‘Welcome to Ferryland’ sign. Gaskiers-Point La Haye has also been approved for new welcome signs and flowers. St. Mary’s has been approved for new signage for First Falls and the ballfield, where events will be taking place, and St. Shott’s has been approved to construct an outdoor platform for musical events. Folks in Cape Broyle, meanwhile, will put the money toward the construction of a new gazebo, while Aquaforte will use the money to build a number of benches throughout the community. Petty’s Harbour-Maddox Cove has been approved to install painting areas around town.

Admiral’s Beach, Bauline, and Witless Bay have all been approved to use the money toward celebration events.

For many communities, the Come Home Year celebrations may be the first big community events to be held since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

“It’s definitely exciting,” said Witless Bay Mayor Trevor Croft. “The entire council is definitely looking forward to the opportunity to get out and meet people. With the COVID regulations, hopefully everything is open for that. But it feels really great to finally be able to get

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Bay Bulls council carries on work with Long Pond trail improvements

by Mark Squibb/March 3, 2022

Members of Bay Bulls council approved two motions in last week’s meeting that they hope will improve the future of the Long Pond walking trail

The first was to ratify an e-mail vote to buy materials for benches and garbage boxes at a cost of $976 plus HST, which was approved unanimously. The Town has partnered with Her Majesty’s Penitentiary to have the items built through its carpentry program.

Later in the meeting, council approved a change order to the walking trail project.

“The initial design was two dead end sections of trail,” said councilor Jason Sullivan. “But we’re working with everyone to make a loop around the pond. So, for anyone that’s listening, we’re trying our best to fix it up so you can walk right around the pond.”

Technically, the initial design did include a full loop around the pond.

Construction of the Long Pond trail was expected to finish in the summer of 2021, but the bids received were substantially higher than expected, and so the project had to be retendered. The initial trail design changed when the project was retendered.

It was not mentioned whether there will be any cost associated with the new change order.

Work on the design began in 2020. The trail will be a combination of compacted granular and boardwalk with a focus on accessibility.

Phase I of the project was cost shared by the federal, provincial, and municipal governments under a Municipal Capital Works program, with each government paying a third of the cost, which works out to $143,702 each for a total of $475,444 (less HST). Phase II is valued at $144,229, and of that cost, the Town has to contribute $14,422, which is 10 per cent. The rest of the cost was covered by provincial COVID Stimulus Funding.

Messy Bay Bulls resident slow to collect his stuff

By Mark Squibb/March 3, 2022

Bay Bulls council is giving a resident another month to arrange collection of his personal property from the town garage.

The town removed a number of items from a property on Track Road Extension in September following complaints about the messy property. Requests to clean up the property went unheeded.

The items have been held in storage by the Town since then, despite numerous attempts to contact the owner.

Last month, council voted to have the town lawyer draft a letter formally requesting the property owner to pick up his belongings.

At last week’s meeting, Mayor Neil O’Brien confirmed the letter had been sent by registered mail and had been picked up by the tenant.

Councilor Jason Sullivan made a motion to defer the motion, as he claimed the resident had contacted him that day.

“We’ll give him another month, just to see what’s going on,” said Sullivan.

Councilor Keith O’Driscoll seconded the motion, and then inquired as to why council would move the date ahead by a month.

Sullivan said the resident had been planning on sending a formal reply to the Town regarding the issue.

Council voted unanimously to give him another month to collect his stuff.