GUYSBOROUGH: With the first council meeting under their belt after the summer break, the Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) praised the first “real” summer back after the global COVID-19 pandemic as being successful.
Following the municipality’s regular, monthly council meeting on Sept. 23, Warden Vernon Pitts told reporters it’s been a busy summer from a municipality standpoint.
“I actually just got off a two-week vacation. It’s the first vacation I’ve took in 28 years,” Pitts said. “We were working on the landfill sale, and that’s been completed.”
He suggested the municipality is already starting to deposit a bit of money into their accounts from the transaction.
Due to the high number of registrants, the municipality’s summer recreation day camps had to undergo a weekly registration system to make sure they had enough leaders to keep everything as fun as possible.
Mobile day camps for those aged four to 12, were hosted in Canso on Monday and Tuesdays; the Country Harbour Community Centre, Larry’s River Community Hall and Guysborough Intervale Community Hall on Wednesdays; and the Guysborough Chedabucto Lifestyle Complex on Thursdays and Fridays.
Pitts also highlighted the municipality’s Come Home Week and the Canso Regatta as being standout summer events.
As for the feeling of returning to somewhat of a normal tourism season, the warden indicated senior staff feel as though it was a fantastic summer.
“But by returning to a normal tourist season, it shows us our shortfalls, yet again,” Pitts said. “We’re looking forward to Friday; my understanding is we’re going to have an announcement for sidewalks in Guysborough.”
He explained the addition of sidewalk infrastructure will be a major upgrade to the community.
“People do not realize how sidewalks, in what we’re proposing, will change the aesthetics of the overall municipality,” Pitts said. “It’s a good time to be a citizen within the municipality.”
The money the municipality is generating from the landfill sale, he said, will be invested and will be used for future generations.
“We have it setup that we should be comfortable,” Pitts said. “But a future council may decide to spend that, I can’t control that.”