PORT HAWKESBURY: Officials with the town are very happy with the amount of work that was accomplished this summer.
“A lot of work done by staff this summer, very proud of the accomplishments from all departments,” CAO Terry Doyle told the regular monthly meeting of Port Hawkesbury Town Council on Sept. 20.
Doyle said ice was installed in the Civic Centre Arena in mid-August, and has been in use since Aug. 30. He said the town is expecting a new Zamboni in mid-November.
The recreation department hosted successful day camps, hosted in partnership with the Strait Area Chapter of Autism Nova Scotia, which “added extra value to that program.” He said registration for the fall program started Sept. 13.
“Very successful summer with students, and very happy with the students that chose to work with us,” he told council. “There was a lot of work accomplished with that group of young women and men.”
The CAO told last night’s meeting of Port Hawkesbury Town Council that the Strait Area Pool is scheduled to open September 20.
Doyle said renovations to the Port Hawkesbury Food Bank, awarded to Blackstone Construction, started last week.
“There’s a number of projects that are happening with the facilities, with the department, in conjunction with sports facilities,” he noted.
With the electrical conduit and concrete pad in place, Doyle said they are awaiting the arrival of electric vehicle charging stations.
Noting the success of this year’s Granville Green Concert series, Doyle said this was also “an extremely busy summer” for the public works department, including the completion of their active transportation project on MacQuarrie Drive Extension, “connecting one of our prime facilities in Port Hawkesbury, our park area.” Along with Weeks Construction, he said public works also took on extra concrete and landscaping work.
To advance their active transportation project into the waterfront, Doyle said that work is expected to start at the end of the month.
“That tender was closed Aug. 11 and awarded to Ocean Paving,” he said.
The CAO noted that 10 areas of the town were milled, repaved, and repaired by public works.
“Huge improvement throughout town with that work that we conducted with Ocean Paving,” the CAO noted. “There’s still some reinstatement work that’s happening, temporary placement with affected driveways but that will be completed.”
With over 500 metres of sidewalk improvements to complete, the CAO said they have done upgrades to more than 350 metres.
“We’re still working on sidewalks right now, again very successful,” he added. “I think next month we’ll revisit the stuff, give you a little more of an explanation of what we’ve done, what we’ve accomplished, and bring you up to date.”
Town Councillors Mark MacIver and Hughie MacDougall congratulated staff and residents on a productive summer.
Given the amount of town staff, Deputy Mayor Jason Aucoin said the work completed was “outstanding.”
“I would like to congratulate the staff on all the fun activities that made this summer such a success, it was great to see large crowds in the town all summer,” Aucoin said. “A great job on the planning and organizing of the events. Also, congratulations to the Festival of the Strait committee for its successful festival after a pause through COVID.
“Congratulations to the trails committee for all the wonderful work they have done this summer, and that continues into the fall.”