ANTIGONISH, N.S. - It looks like it will be the June public meeting that Antigonish Town Council will pass their 2018-19 budget.
Speaking to reporters after council’s May 28 meeting, Mayor Laurie Boucher said the capital budget has been done.
“[We] concentrated on that to have it out for our public works department so they could get bids out nice and early; secure better rates and secure workers, as well,” Boucher said, adding she would be very “disappointed” if council wasn’t passing their full budget during its June monthly public meeting, which is on the 18th.
Paint cans
During his committee report, as chair of waste management, councillor Jack MacPherson noted a change in the way paint cans are to be disposed.
“This is brand new from Divert Nova Scotia; empty paint cans were able to go to the landfill, now they’re not,” he said, restating for reporters, after the meeting, his committee announcement.
“They need to be recycled; they need to go back to the bottle exchange or our household hazard waste drop-off event, and we will take them back there.
“They do not go into the garbage … that’s effective immediately.”
FAST signage
Council approved a motion to allow Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre to tag their ‘Welcome to Antigonish’ highway signage with a smaller sign, that will be put up on the same post.
Special Olympics
With the Special Olympics Canada 2018 Summer Games around two months away (July 31 to Aug. 4), Boucher talked about preparations under way by the town.
“As far as the town, we’re getting our lines painted and we’ll be going around and making sure it’s as accessible as it can be,” Boucher said.
“Our recreation director and her crew are working hard to get all of the facilities in order and, of course, folks at St. F.X. are working hard as well; trying to get the stands in place and their accessibility tightened up as well.”
Collaboration
During her report, Boucher used the opportunity to express appreciation for what she sees as a growing, positive working relationship between the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities (UNSM) and the Province of Nova Scotia.
“That has been spectacular,” she said.
“I have to say, I’ve been part of council now for six years; this is the sixth year I’ve gone to Halifax and taken part in resolutions and this is the first time I can see work really being done … the cooperation between the province and the UNSM. I really believe, have faith, they’re going to work together to address some of these problems we’ve been having as municipalities, for many years now.
“[The province] will take a step back and look at the differences between towns and counties, the different challenges they have, but how can we all still work together, even though those challenges are different.”
She praised the effort of Municipal Affairs Minister Derek Mombourquette, MLA for Sydney-Whitney Pier.
“I have to give it up for Minister Mombourquette and I really believe it’s because of his municipal experience that he can put a municipal lens on policies he is creating,” Boucher said.
