Town of Bay Bulls puts new fence on hold; playground inspection a go

By Mark Squibb/May 26, 2022

The Town of Bay Bulls has put plans to fence off the town garage on the back burner.

During last week’s meeting, councillor Keith O’Driscoll moved to defer the vote on building the fence for the garage until a later date.

“We have a few other items in the hopper that I think are more beneficial to our residents,” said O’ Driscoll. “So, I think this is something that we should defer until a later date.”

Council voted unanimously to defer the motion, with no further discussion.

Prior to that decision, council voted to ask Murray’s Landscaping to complete a pre-installation inspection of equipment to be used at the new Sheldon Drive playground at a cost of $200 plus HST an hour.

East Coast Trail has been good for Bauline

By Mark Squibb/May 26, 2022

Bauline councillor Chris Palmer says he knows firsthand that the East Coast Trail has been a benefit to his town.

“I live right down in the heart of Bauline, just overlooking the harbour not 20 feet back from the East Coast Trail,” said Palmer, who brought greetings on behalf of his community at a ribbon cutting ceremony at Topsail Beach last week for the opening of a new section of trailway. “In 2000, we opened a small bed and breakfast, and in the years that we were operating, I would say that over 50 per cent of our guests came either because they heard of the East Cost Trail, or came and hiked the trail while they were there.”

Palmer entertained the audience with some recollections of past guests from every corner of the globe.

“We had one small group come from California, who heard about the trail, wanted to visit Newfoundland, and wanted to do as many miles (of the trail) as they could,” said Palmer. “Others of our guests were from central and western Canada, the US, the Eastern seaboard, and the UK, and from as far away as Australia. But our favorite guests were probably the young couple who came from Germany. They had hiked all over the world, had heard about the East Coast Trail, and wanted to come. And they did. Now, they were avid outdoor people, naturalists, and when they first came, we thought, ‘They’re going to want vegetarian meals, high fibre grains, and leaves and the lot. Well, at the end of their stay, they ate more black and white puddings, fried toutons, molasses, and Jiggs Dinner than anybody I’ve ever known.”

Palmer was on council in 1994 when the East Coast Trail, then just a group of volunteers with big dreams of converting historic coastal walking paths into a formalized trail network, brought the concept to Bauline town council.

“And from that beginning came the East Coast Trail, and this wonderful network of hiking trails throughout the region, and Bauline both appreciates it and all the volunteers who make it possible, and congratulations on the opening of this Northern section,” said Palmer.

Witless Bay approves janitorial contract after second tender call

By Mark Squibb/May 19, 2022

After a delay of some weeks, Witless Bay has approved a janitorial contract for the cleaning of town buildings including the Town Hall, fire department, and Puffin Centre.

During last week’s meeting, councillor Alex Troake made a motion that the Town enter a contract with House Cleaning St. Johns NL for a period of one year at a cost of $30 an hour.

The Town received two bidders, and awarded the contract to the lower bidder.

In a previous meeting, Troake had voted against awarding the contract to Trillium Services as it was the only qualified bidder after a second company backed out.

Troake, along with councillor Jacob Hayden, voted against awarding the contract to Trillium, while councilors Gerard Dunne, Ralph Carey, and Mayor Trevor Croft voted in favour of the motion. As Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard and councillor Nancy Burke were absent from the meeting, the vote did not pass, despite three of five members present having voted in favour of it. That led to the second call for tenders.

Bay Bulls going all in for garden celebration

By Mark Squibb/May 19, 2022

You may have head that 2022 is the Year of the Garden.

The Town of Bay Bulls is holding a garden planting event at the community pavilion on June 18, to celebrate National Garden Day as part of the year’s festivities.

Details will be released in the future. Town CAO Jennifer Aspell also noted there will be awards handed out, likely towards the end of summer, for folks who keep gardens.

The awards will fall into different categories.

“We haven’t quite worked out the details yet, but once we have that worked out it will be communicated to the public,” said Aspell.

The Year of the Garden is a joint initiative by Communities in Bloom and the Canadian Garden Council. The initiative also marks the centennial anniversary of the Canadian Horticultural Council.

The Town also officially recognized the thirtieth anniversary of World Ocean’s Day on June 8.

Mobile High shop class picks up an outside job

By Mark Squibb/May 19, 2022

It looks like a win-win situation for both the Town of Witless Bay and Mobile Central High School shop class.

During last week’s public council meeting, council voted to purchase materials for the school’s shop class so that students can do some work around town.

“We spoke with the principal, and he’s agreed that if we provide the materials, they’ll make some barriers that we can use in the winter, and we need more of them,” said councillor Ralph Carey. “This is a great way to help the kids who are in shop learn some new skills and we get some free labour.”

There was some lighthearted chuckling at the ‘free labour’ comment, and council approved the motion unanimously.

Work is nearly completed on shoring up the wall that shoulders Harbour Road in Witless Bay from the water and beach. The bolstering of the wall has been taking place for more than a month.

Witless Bay defers approval of regional fire hall

By Mark Squibb/May 19, 2022

Witless Bay council has temporarily shelved plans for construction of a new regional fire hall to more closely consider the financial implications.

Talk of a new regional fire hall began in earnest back in July of 2020. In Budget 2021, the previous council budgeted close to $1 million over the next 10 years for the building of a new regional fire hall. At the time, the Town had anticipated that its million-dollar commitment would leverage a further $2 million contribution from the provincial government.

Although the exact dollar amount wasn’t disclosed, council has since received approval of provincial government funding for the project.

“We did recently find out that an application (for provincial funding) that was made for the new regional fire hall was successful, and so now what we have to do is meet with the town accountant about the financials and with the fire department,” said Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard, who made the motion to defer approval of the new building. “Once we get that in order, we call a special public meeting to approve it. It’s not that we’re not going to approve it, it’s just that we want to make sure we have all the necessary information because we want to go ahead with this.”

Councillor Alex Troake added that it’s important that council do its due diligence as the approval of the fire hall could cost council at least $100,000 a year over the next 10 years.

“And that building might outlive all of us, so we don’t want to make the wrong decision,” said Troake.

In a follow up e-mail, Town Manager Shawn Kavanagh explained that “council was waiting on updated projected costs given a lot has happened with prices since the projections were formulated 18 months or so ago.”

Budget 2021 saw also the Town invest over $222,300 in fire department operations, over and above some $370,730 borrowed earlier in the year to purchase a new tanker truck. 2021 marked the year that the Town hired its first paid fire chief. That role, originally held by Maria Churchill, is now held by Jack Gatherall.

The fire department serves Bay Bulls, Tors Cove, Bauline, Mobile, and Burnt Cove-St Michaels-Bauline East.

Rebirth of St. Kevin's charity game raises money and spirits

By Mark Squibb/May 12, 2022

The St. Kevin’s High Mavericks Hockey Alumni Charity Classic continues to be a community success.

The sixth annual game, held on April 29, raised $7,570 for local causes, the highest yearly total to date.

“We set the goal a little high at $7,500, but we were really hoping to get there,” said organizer Jason Snelgrove. “Regardless of how much we raised, any bit of money is good money. But we had a lot of support, and certainly a lot of support this year from local businesses who provided some generous monetary donations as well as a ton of prizes.”

COVID-19 restrictions shuttered the doors last year, and Snelgrove said the crowd may have been a littler smaller than years past due to the continued concerns over COVID-19, as was anticipated by organizers, but those in attendance made up for any lack in numbers.

“To come out on the ice at the start of the game and to see the stands pretty full of fans was pretty exciting for everyone,” said Snelgrove. “It wouldn’t have been the same if we had to do it with an empty rink. And to be honest, I don’t know that we would have went ahead with the event if it had to be an empty rink. Because the fans in the stands and that kind of community support really makes it that much better, that much more special.”

After two years of pandemic restrictions which have seen hockey severely limited or cancelled outright at all levels of play, he said it was good for the guys, young and young at heart, to get back in the locker rooms together to share some laughs and tell some stories.

“Everybody was excited to return to some sort of normalcy,” said Snelgrove. “It certainly was nice to see everybody back together and back in the dressing rooms together, both in the alumni room and the high school room, because they’ve had a lot of ups and downs with their regular hockey over the last number of years. So, it was certainly nice.”

The alumni team, which suffered its first defeat at the hands of the young guns back in 2020, struck back and won 10-4.

“The alumni team were hyped up after their previous loss, but I don’t think anybody was looking forward to losing,” said Snelgrove. “The young team came out and scored the first goal within the first 20 or 30 seconds, a beautiful goal by James Stamp, to start the game, and we kind of got back on our heels, and we said, ‘Oh, don’t tell me we’re in for another tight, close game.’ But the old guys managed to keep it together and keep the game simple and go away with the win. But no matter what the score was throughout the game, there was that friendly banter and lots of smiles and lots of laughs. At the end of the day, everyone plays to win, but I don’t think anyone really cared at the end of the day what the result was. It was just about the reason that we were there, and that was to raise money and give back to the community. So, win or lose, everyone leaves the rink with a sense of pride and a sense of being successful.”

Family members were quick to celebrate their favorite players following the final whistle.

“After the game the kids will run down to the alumni dressing room and want pictures with their dad, or on the other side you have high school players that are graduating Grade 12 and they’re getting pictures with their parents, or brothers on the ice afterwards as kind of a send off to high school, so those kind of connections are really important and will put a smile on anyone’s face,” said Snelgrove.

He added that an event like this could not go ahead without the help and support of players, fans, businesses, and volunteers.

“There’s just so many people to thank,” said Snelgrove, who added that planning for next year’s game is underway.

“It certainly seems like the game isn’t going away any time soon,” said Snelgrove.

After a hiatus due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the St. Kevin’s High Mavericks Alumni Charity Classic was held once again this Spring. In the back row, from left to right, are Devin Kettlewell, Rylan Swain, Luke Pond, Thomas Deir, Riley Hutchings, Josh Clements, Brendan Ryan, Jacob McDonald, Zachary Brennan, Ethan Coady, Liam Morry, Jonas Foley, Andrew Brennan, Colten Ridgley, Sheldon Keough, Matthew Chafe, Jason Snelgrove, Chris O'Neill, Jeff Barrett, Shane Kennedy, Noah Dinn, Robby Boland, Dennis Galway, Darren McDonald, and Ronnie Pomeroy. In the front row, from left, are  Raymond Furlong, James Stamp, Colby Howlett, Ben Winsor, Jake Sullivan, Jonathan Dyke, Brandon Ennis, Jaeden Putt, J.T Tobin, Devin Bungay, Mark Fitzpatrick, Keith Dinn, Shane Forward, Geoff Stack, Derek Stone, Colin Howlett, and Patrick Galway. The young guns are wearing white jerseys, the alumni blue jerseys. Stacey Birmingham photo

Bay Bulls Council approves new subdivision

By Mark Squibb/May 5, 2022

The week before last the Town of Bay Bulls approved a couple of motions that will encourage further development in the town.

Council unanimously approved a motion to approve a subdivision at 15-21 Quay’s Road.

“With this approval in principle they would need to meet all the development regulations identified by our town planner, which are consistent with previous developments that the town has had,” said councillor Keith O’ Driscoll.

The Town also approved a Crown Land application for a proposed access road for the Bristol Landing Phase III Subdivision. That motion was approved unanimously, with no further discussion.