Pool Fee Dispute Between Port Hawkesbury and Richmond Heats Up

PORT HAWKESBURY - Officials here will examine the possibility of raising fees for a town-run pool for those who travel from outside the town limits to take a dip. 

As the result of a unanimous vote on a motion by Port Hawkesbury Town Councillor Jason Aucoin, town staff will gather information on potential fee increases for the Strait Area Pool over the next two weeks. Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Terry Doyle has pledged to offer proposals in this regard to council's next Committee of the Whole meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 19. 

Aucoin made the motion as the result of a comment from Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette at the county's regular council meeting on February 25. When asked if Aucoin's request for the pool's funding formula could reach the agenda for a joint public council meeting involving the two municipalities, Mombourquette dismissed this concept as unlikely. She added that the county does not view the pool as a "shared" resource with the town, and therefore feels a separate discussion on this issue is required. 

Also on this week's edition of TELILE 24/7: 

* 10:42 - Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton and Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette are both concerned with the recent provincial government decision to scrap its Coastal Protection Act. 

* 15:30 - As the next round of upgrades for the Destination Reeves Street project take shape for the spring and summer, Port Hawkesbury CAO Terry Doyle has asked two senior officials with Nova Scotia's Department of Public Works to provide a full update on the initiative at a future council meeting. 

* 24:59 - A former federal Conservative candidate for the riding of Cape Breton-Canso, Strait Area lawyer Adam Rodgers, explains his reasons for seeking the nomination for the reconfigured riding of Cape Breton-Antigonish. 

* 46:48 - Port Hawkesbury officials are continuing to investigate whether to proceed with a hybrid model of voting - including paper ballots and electronic voting - for this fall's municipal election, as they did in the previous vote in 2020. 

* 50:07 - Richmond County councillors have voted to provide Richmond District RCMP with data collected from two mobile speed-radar signs that the municipality has placed in two high-traffic areas over the past four years. 

* 53:57 - Port Hawkesbury officials are hoping to secure an in-person meeting at the Halifax office of Nova Scotia Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister John Lohr. This meeting is designed to gain more details of the recent provincial announcement of a new public housing unit in Port Hawkesbury. The town also hopes to get provincial approval to have low-income housing permitted for a new Commercial Development District that council hopes to set up on Reeves Street. 

* 57:32 - "The Fast Five," a regular light-hearted feature on TELILE 24/7, features former Conservative candidate and current party hopeful Adam Rodgers.