[0:25] Good afternoon everyone. We're not used
to having an afternoon meeting and I uh
[0:33] said good morning to quite a few of you.
So, I'd like to call to order the
[0:38] regular council meeting of August 17th,
2026.
[0:44] Can I get a motion to approve the
agenda, please?
[0:48] It's moved by Councelor Dunovan, second
by Councelor Nixon. All in favor?
[0:54] Motion is passed. Uh, have you read the
minutes of July 20th, 2026? They're in
[0:59] your package. Are there any errors or
omissions?
[1:05] Being none, let it stand approved as
read.
[1:09] So we'll move on now to presentations.
Uh first up we have Kelty Colors with
[1:15] more and Jason. You want to come to the
desk there? Um all I ask is
[1:24] your microphone, the green light is on
when you're speaking. uh you have 20
[1:30] minutes for your presentation and for
questions and I will start here while
[1:36] you're getting set up for counselors to
introduce ourselves to you.
[1:41] » Yeah. Yeah.
[1:52] Good morning and welcome. Um my name is
Donna Matis Leford and I cover district
[1:58] 1 which is uh Wadmakok First Nation and
Washabuk Peninsula and Buckla. Thanks
[2:03] for coming today.
>> Hello welcome. Uh my name is Pa Mloud.
[2:07] District 2 uh Big Bedc Middle River Bedc
[clears throat] Inlet Ayansa Yankee line
[2:12] to the bridge of Wakok.
>> Hi I'm Nicholson District 3 Bedc area.
[2:18] Welcome.
[2:22] Good afternoon. Rosella Borren, District
4 and that would be like the Saint Anne
[2:27] South Haven up the Northshore area.
Thank you. Welcome.
[2:34] » Hi, Tim Donovan. Uh, District 6 from the
top of Smokeoky to North Ingenanishes.
[2:39] Welcome.
>> Hi, I'm Wanda Henik. I'm from District
[2:42] 8. So that's Dingwall Cape North base at
Lawrence and Gapstick. Welcome.
[2:47] And I'm Jackie Organ, district sevens
from Northanish down through Neil's
[2:52] Harbor, White Point, Smrook, South
Harbor. Welcome.
[2:57] And you can start your presentation for
us today.
[3:08] » Good afternoon, wardens, deputy warden,
and members of council. Um, thank you
[3:12] for having us. My name is Mora Pcel and
this is Jason Jardine and we're the
[3:17] Celtic Colors Festival or co- festival
um managers and this year marks the 30th
[3:24] year of Celtic Colors. We're here today
to share an update on the 2026 festival
[3:30] which will be running from October 9th
to 17th.
[3:34] Um before we get into the details, we
just wanted to start by saying thank
[3:38] you. Victoria County approved two grants
this year to Celtic Colors. one being
[3:43] the development grant and the other is
the operation grant that allows us to
[3:49] provide the nightly shuttle from the
festival club to hotels in and around
[3:53] the deck area. Both applications for
this fiscal year have been approved and
[3:58] we are very grateful for your continued
support and partnership. What we'd like
[4:02] to do today is to show you exactly what
that investment translates into the
[4:07] culture and economic impacts of Victoria
County and the people. I'll let Jason
[4:12] take you through this year's festival
itself and victorious county roll
[4:15] initiation.
>> Thanks Mora and thanks everyone for
[4:19] making time for us today. Uh great to
get out of Sydney, get up to beautiful
[4:23] Bedc. We had a lovely lunch across the
street. Could do that every day.
[4:27] [laughter]
>> Yeah.
[4:28] » So thank you. Thank you. Um Mara
mentioned uh this marks our 30th year.
[4:34] So, it began way back in uh 1997 when
festival co-founders Joela Folds and Max
[4:41] McDonald came up with this brilliant
somewhat crazy idea of having an
[4:46] islandwide festival. Um, and from the
outside it can look like a big music
[4:51] festival and and it kind of is that and
so much more. But the kind of the core
[4:57] goal that they set out to do uh was to
generate rural community economic impact
[5:03] um through culture and and that's
worked. So since 1997 we estimate that
[5:09] the festival has brought 225 million in
direct economic impact to the island.
[5:17] Uh Mara mentioned this marks our 30th.
We plan to present 52 concerts and
[5:22] hundreds of cultural events across the
island. I think 290 of those other
[5:28] events uh at last count and they're
still trickling in. Um and all of this
[5:33] is made possible by many many many
people. Uh we partner with over a 100
[5:40] nonprofit organizations and close to
1700 volunteers to make all of this
[5:44] possible.
[5:51] And Celtic colors is more than just an
economic driver. It's a reflection of
[5:56] and celebration of the island's
hospitality and the cultures that help
[6:00] shape it. So we present Gaelic, Migma,
and Acadian traditions through the
[6:06] concerts and all of the cultural
experiences, many of which happen here
[6:10] uh in Victoria County.
So this year in the county we have 11
[6:16] concerts in 10 venues and that's a list
of venues which is a little hard to read
[6:21] on this screen but many familiar names
to all of you I'm sure bulletry school
[6:27] culture center gayla college Alexander
Graanbell theater uh and many more and
[6:34] beyond those concerts there will be 60
cultural events taking place in the
[6:38] county and those are all the other
things those are the workshops and the
[6:42] community meals and the guided hikes,
uh, art exhibitions and those types of
[6:47] things. Uh, and of course then there's
the deer festival club. So, everybody
[6:52] familiar with the festival club? Ever
been to the festival club? Buddy,
[6:57] [laughter]
get a couple of nods. Yeah. Um, so the
[7:01] festival club is really the social heart
of the festival. That's where artists
[7:05] and audiences get to come together a
little more informally as the concerts
[7:10] wind down. Um, for artists, it's a place
to meet and reconnect with other
[7:14] artists. And for the audience, it's a
place to kind of have a night cap or two
[7:21] and get up on the dance floor and have a
have a good time. Uh, it's a pretty
[7:25] magical event that happens every night
during the festival. And uh last year we
[7:30] saw approximately 1,700 in attendance
over the week uh and brought in close to
[7:36] $30,000 at the door. Um and the success
of a club really depends on having
[7:42] people be able to get there and back
safely.
[7:46] Uh
that of course is the nightly shuttle
[7:51] service which Mora mentioned the
operational grant uh that you guys
[7:54] approved goes towards. Um so for every
night of the festival we run free
[8:00] transportation 10:30 till 3:30 in the
morning uh connecting the Gala College
[8:05] to Bedc Area hotels. Uh and it's it's
more than just a free ride. It really is
[8:11] uh an important service. It's a public
safety measure first and foremost. It
[8:17] keeps people off of those dark roads and
it acts as everybody's designated
[8:21] driver.
Uh we know from when we chat to people
[8:25] about their plans and it really
encourages a lot of people to stay here
[8:28] in the deck so that they can kind of be
centrally located, fill their days with
[8:33] festival things and know that they have
a hassle-free way to get to and from the
[8:37] club and it just removes a barrier to
participating uh and people don't have
[8:43] to travel that dark and twisty road as
I'm sure everybody's familiar with that
[8:47] route to Mala College. Uh so thank you
very much for recognizing the importance
[8:52] of that service and supporting it
and uh I will pass it back to Mara and
[8:57] Mara's going to talk a bit about kind of
the numbers behind Cultic Colors.
[9:03] » So when we look at the impact the
festival has to Victoria County, we're
[9:08] looking at 2025 numbers. So we held 12
concerts here last year and there was um
[9:14] almost $3,000 attendees. that generated
$112,000
[9:18] and the hosting organizations get 20% of
that back. And then there was in 2025
[9:26] there was 60 CCEES which was up
substantially over 2024.
[9:31] Um so there was $61,000 that or $67,000
that was returned to the ccees. They
[9:38] keep 100% of their money that is
generated. We just work as an an
[9:41] advertising engine for those events. and
almost 6,000 people attended community
[9:46] cultural events in 2025
and that was all made possible by the
[9:50] Victoria um by volunteers in Victoria
County. There was 207. So that's just
[9:56] the snap snapshot of this county. When
you look at the whole island, it's
[10:01] hundreds and hundreds of events that
bring people from all over the world to
[10:06] experience our wonderful island.
Um,
[10:11] yeah. So, last year we did something
really interesting with Sports Tourism
[10:16] Canada. They did a survey to measure the
economic impact of all um festivals in
[10:24] Nova Scotia. So, they were comparing
apples to apples for where everybody
[10:28] came out. And it Celtic Colors did come
out as the largest festival in Nova
[10:33] Scotia. And we generated $18.2 2 million
in economic activity for Nova Scotia and
[10:39] 15.8 of that state in Cape Breton. Um
so and it supports 143 local jobs.
[10:49] More than 9,000 people from off the
island visited Cape Breton and they
[10:53] averaged they average they stay for six
nights um which you can see when you go
[11:00] around anywhere in the island during the
festival. Hotels are full fully booked,
[11:04] restaurants are jammed, and everybody's
out at having a drink and having a good
[11:10] time. Um, and so when you realize how
much of the programming takes place in
[11:16] and around PDC,
a meaningful share of that spending
[11:20] happens here in Victoria County.
[11:25] So, we don't just do the festival for
the nine days. Um, we also have a
[11:30] schools program that we run all year.
And so we're just going to look at what
[11:34] the schools program did in Victoria
County. Um, in 2025 we were able to
[11:39] reach 628 students. We ran a fiddle club
at Cape Smoky Elementary and we had
[11:45] guitar workshops at Cabbage High and
seven schools in Victoria County were
[11:51] visited. this um so the festival artists
go out and do this um and
[11:59] programming is given in Gaelic, French,
Migma and English and they and the work
[12:04] extends beyond the festival and brings
Celtic culture to the next generation
[12:11] and allows for the festival to continue
to grow and have those culture bearsers
[12:16] coming up and
leading this festival.
[12:23] So when we look at how we make this all
happen, there's a lot of festival
[12:26] partners that come together to support
um support us. So we received 437
[12:34] $434,000
from the federal government from both
[12:37] AOA and Canadian Heritage. The
provincial government gives us 165,000
[12:42] and then we generate about $1.2 million.
So we have a total budget of one 2.1
[12:48] million and most of that money stays in
Cape Breton being spent on venues,
[12:54] artist fees, accommodations, local crews
and suppliers. We do make an extra
[12:59] effort to spend as much as we can on
island to support the economy here.
[13:05] So
wanted to say thank you for having us
[13:10] and supporting the festival. It really
does mean a lot and hope we can continue
[13:15] to do interesting things together in the
future.
[13:19] » Thank you. Does anyone have any comments
or questions for for them? I mean, it's
[13:25] a great it's a great program.
I'm sure some of us have seen your seen
[13:31] all the things going on in our own
communities.
[13:35] So,
>> just
[13:38] Deputy W go. Oh, thank you so much for
coming and since I'm here like at nine
[13:42] years now, it's it's amazing how the
festival grow every year. So, we're um
[13:47] I'm proud to we can support you and for
the shuttle. Yeah, you're right. It's a
[13:52] huge help for for us and for the
residents and for the tourists because
[13:57] that way they have the freedom to enjoy
and come back safe. So, I think that a
[14:02] main key of the festival because success
because they can travel and come back to
[14:07] the hotels. Thank you,
[14:12] » councelor Henick.
>> Just wanted to say congratulations on 30
[14:16] years.
That's a, you know, good, you know,
[14:21] organization festival for 30 years in
Victoria County. It's wonderful. I
[14:24] already got my ticket for ASB Bay. So,
>> yeah, thank you very much for coming.
[14:31] » Anyone else?
Okay, council Nicholson,
[14:35] » I just like to say on in the bedc area,
it's jammed. There's not another space
[14:40] anywhere for the whole time. It's an
awesome event.
[14:43] » Yeah, it's impressive to see
>> even even for us because we we have
[14:48] partnerships with many of the hotels
here and they're very generous with us.
[14:52] So, we kind of block our rooms in
advance because people book them year
[14:55] after year, right? Um, so we have our
little block that's safe and we kind of
[15:00] zip through those pretty fast and then
we reach out. We're like, "Yeah, we
[15:04] can't help you. We have nothing left."
It's like, "Okay, all right." So, even
[15:09] we feel that crunch. Yeah.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
[15:15] » Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[15:24] Next up, we have Easter District
Planning Commission Sean Dunovan. Hi,
[15:29] Sean.
[16:11] You're all set up there. Sean,
[16:19] » Sean, is your mic on? Is the green light
on?
[16:21] » There. There we go.
>> There you go.
[16:23] » Um, yeah. Yeah. So, just a few slides,
but I was asked to come and just provide
[16:28] more of an information session on the
dangerous and unsightly premises that we
[16:32] deal with with district planning. Um,
there has been some changes recently
[16:35] with regards to them, just kind of our
internal procedures and who's involved
[16:40] with them now. And so, the purpose of
this presentation is just to kind of
[16:44] give a little information on where we're
at with them. Nothing on specific files.
[16:49] Um, I do ask if you have any questions
with specific files or anything, give me
[16:53] a call. Um, I'm the main point of
contact. So, a lot of times now calls
[16:59] will come into our main office or come
to John. Um, and then they all get sent
[17:03] to me and then it's reversed. So, if uh
if there is any questions or concerns on
[17:09] files or properties or anything, you can
just reach directly out to me, my cell
[17:13] phone, email, anything. Um because I'll
have access to every right away instead
[17:19] of sending emails back and forth to try
and figure out who's where properties
[17:22] are. So, um, so yeah. Um, the big thing
with district planning now is that on
[17:29] our website, we have a spot that allows
constituents to submit their complaint
[17:35] forms. So, in previous years, it was
always a paper copy. Um, we'd have to
[17:41] send the file, we'd have to email the
PDF, fill it out, send it back, and then
[17:45] there'd be times people would be
dropping them off to municipal offices
[17:49] or dropping them off to counselors or
get faxing them into our Hawkbury office
[17:53] or any of our other municipal offices or
emails and it was kind of they were
[17:59] here, there, everywhere and trying to
keep track of them all. So to simplify
[18:03] that now we have uh right on our website
you can go so if anyone's contacting you
[18:08] asking about how to submit a form you
can direct them right to our website um
[18:12] there's a section there under building
and fire and on the right hand side
[18:16] it'll bring you to this for the
dangerous and unsightly complaints and
[18:20] they can fill all the information out
there. Then it gets automatically
[18:23] submitted to an email address that we've
created and with our new administrative
[18:27] assistant Stephanie it goes right to
her. So there's no lost in the shuffle
[18:33] anymore. No fax complaints or dropped
off complaints or email complaints that
[18:37] are going to junk mail or anything like
that. They go right to a specific
[18:40] complaints email address. We get them
right away. And now that Stephanie's
[18:45] brought into the fold. Um they're acted
upon in our new kind of procedures much
[18:51] quicker, much more efficient. So this is
what it kind of looks like. Anyone that
[18:55] wants to submit it can submit it there.
I know in the past we've received a lot
[18:59] of complaints that have had pictures and
different things and it's just easier
[19:02] now to just put everything in, the
complaintant puts their name on it. Um,
[19:08] again, nothing's changed with the
confidentiality of them or anything.
[19:11] It's just an easier function to go to
our website and submit them.
[19:16] So
in [clears throat] that now when we
[19:20] receive them by email we've moved into I
know most of you have realized at
[19:24] district planning we've created or we've
recently done a organizational review
[19:29] and part of that organizational review
that I've dealt with was the dangerous
[19:32] and unsightly complaints process. So
since that review we've moved into this
[19:38] is our town suite permit tracking
system. We've always used this for
[19:42] building and fire inspections side. It's
our main point of inspections, files,
[19:48] everything. Um, all the photos for
inspections, everything go in there. So,
[19:53] I've worked with Town Suite over the
last few weeks and we've now created the
[19:57] bylaw section. So, once these complaints
are submitted, they go to the email
[20:03] address. Our administrative assistant,
Stephanie, now receives them right away.
[20:08] She lets the complaintant know that
we've received the the complaint. She
[20:11] has a you'll see in a later slide um
we've created a a letter that goes out
[20:18] immediately. So she's submitting that
right away. Um so that's going out to
[20:22] the property owners right after we
receive it. Um and then everything's
[20:26] going into our town suite permit
tracking system. So in that system, this
[20:33] is just a a snippet of what kind of it
looks like. Um, so Stephanie will
[20:38] receive it, put it in, creates a file,
puts the complaint form in, puts her
[20:43] remarks in when it was received, and
then she's basically letting me know,
[20:47] and we're assigning a building official
to visit the property and start the
[20:50] process, and then she sends the letter
out. The letter goes in here. You'll
[20:54] see, I know it's hard to see, but
there's a document section there. Um,
[20:59] excuse me. So, the letter, the complaint
form, anything that comes with it goes
[21:04] in there. And then one of the functions
that I'm working on, you'll see in the
[21:09] bottom rightish there's a add process.
So we're able to add processes of um
[21:16] where the
files going. So initial letters been
[21:20] sent, site visit needs to be done within
14 days, all of these things. So then
[21:24] it's allow like we can then use this
system to track them where it's at,
[21:29] what's been done so far. So it's a much
more efficient way of doing it. Um, so
[21:33] we're still ironing out some kinks with
the town suite system and their IT
[21:37] department on it, but it's so far it's
been working good. New complaints have
[21:42] been going in. Stephanie's able to keep
track of it. She's doing updates
[21:46] monthly. Um, but again, it's all new
since the organizational review and
[21:50] that's kind of where we're going now.
So, the new letter that we have that
[21:55] we've created, um, previously we would
send a letter just saying we've received
[21:59] a complaint. Can you please contact us?
Um, so this letter has a little bit more
[22:03] bite, a little more time frame. Um,
we're asking that they contact within 14
[22:08] days of receiving the letter. All
letters are going out registered mail so
[22:11] we can track them whether they're
received or not. And Stephanie's a big
[22:15] part of that because that's the
administrative work. That's a lot with
[22:18] these ones that you know once she
receives a complaint, it goes in town
[22:22] suite. It's just the next step is get
this letter done, fill out the property
[22:25] information, send it out. And a lot of
them a lot of them these days are
[22:31] getting returned recently. Um so we're
using the tax department a lot. Um we're
[22:36] kind of the next step that Stephanie
moves into if there's a letter gets
[22:40] returned is that we contact the tax
office and sometimes we've had good
[22:44] luck. Other times it's the same address
that they have that we have that they
[22:47] have. Um but sometimes we luck out and
there's a phone number or an email
[22:50] address on file and we use that. Um,
we've had some success recently for a
[22:56] property in
Iona that the letter was returned,
[23:01] contacted the tax office, we ended up
getting an email address, we took a
[23:04] shot, within a day, the owner contacted
us, within another day, the property was
[23:08] cleaned up. So, we have had some success
with the tax department on that and
[23:13] lucking out to have contact information.
But this letter,
[23:18] we've had a lot more in the ones that
recently since we started doing this
[23:22] property owners contacting us right away
after receiving this letter. So, and
[23:25] that opens up the initial conversation
with the property owner and with the our
[23:29] number one goal of getting compliance.
It's sometimes when they receive a
[23:34] letter or an order right away, it starts
the process off very salty. So, having
[23:40] this conversation, being able to say,
"Hey, this is what it is and this is
[23:43] what we're looking to do. can we meet
you on the property? We've already
[23:46] visited, but can we meet you there? And
and then get this process started. And
[23:50] then it kind of leads to our overall
goal of having that owner compliance and
[23:54] working with the owners to complete the
necessary work. So that's our number one
[23:58] step. Um so when when I talk about that
owner compliance, that's our number one
[24:02] goal. I mean, obviously to have the
property owner complete the necessary
[24:07] work. That's what we're shooting for. Or
that's why the purpose of that letter is
[24:11] to get that contact to have that
conversation to work with them to get
[24:15] it. So then it keeps it out of you know
tenders and municipality paying a bunch
[24:19] of money to have this work completed
where if we can have that conversation
[24:23] with the property owner and say hey
listen like this is what we need. You
[24:26] know what's a time frame that you think
you could be there? And unfortunately a
[24:31] lot of some of these owners are not
around. So we're also dealing with them
[24:37] out of pro province that are trying to
deal with family members to get there
[24:40] and we've done that where we've met
family members on the property walk
[24:44] through and tried to say you know let's
get this done in the next 30 days and if
[24:48] you get that done let's move to this. So
that's kind of the overall goal of that
[24:53] letter is to open up that line of
communication and and have the property
[24:57] owner understand listen we've got
complaints you know this is where we're
[25:01] at. this is what we'd like to see and
and so far in the ones that we've
[25:05] received recently and started this
process with it's been good success. So
[25:10] with that previous files that's where
Steph's at now is she's trying to move
[25:14] these in here to get them caught up and
get the processes
[25:18] started and these where time frames
going on the older files where we've had
[25:22] them just in a in our share drive
basically. So we're we're slowly moving
[25:26] those in. Obviously, summer's a busy
time for us with the building inspection
[25:30] side of thing. It's the construction
side. So, my guys are flat out right now
[25:34] going everywhere is for building and
summer vacation. So,
[25:38] Steph is back and she's working on
getting all those ones back in. But any
[25:41] anything new in the last probably month
and a half that's come in has been going
[25:45] into town suite and has been in this
process. And in most municipalities,
[25:49] we've been having good success with it.
So, it's just a step forward in this
[25:53] process of unsightly to track it
efficiently, not have anything fall
[25:58] through the crack, not have a complaint
form misplaced or anything, and then not
[26:04] only update the property owners, but to
be able to have staff immediately say,
[26:08] "Yes, thank you. We've received your
complaint. Any up further updates,
[26:12] please contact me." So, it's a little
easier that way for us. Um, and then
[26:17] obviously I'm sure everyone's well aware
that we we have the right to issue those
[26:21] cleanup orders and those are those are
the ones that come in when there has
[26:25] been cases we've dealt with property
owners that they just don't want
[26:29] anything to do with it. So, as
administrators, we have the right to
[26:33] issue the cleanup orders. Um, they don't
have to come from council. They can come
[26:36] directly from us. We have those drafted.
We can post those. The only way they
[26:41] come to council is if they're appealed.
So, they have that right to appeal it.
[26:45] If it's appealed, it basically shuts the
cleanup order down until it appears
[26:49] before council. Um, demolition orders,
those are the same. Those we don't we
[26:55] can't issue. Um, we recommend and then
it comes to council. They have the
[27:00] opportunity to speak. We come and do our
presentation and then it's council's
[27:04] decision whether they want to issue that
order or allow more time in some cases.
[27:10] Um, but at the end of the day, the
property owner does have the right to
[27:12] appear before those. So, that's kind of
where we're at with unsightlys right
[27:18] now. It has we've moved in since the
organizational rem review, we've moved
[27:23] into this process where we're using
we've updated our town suite system.
[27:28] We've put that to use. We've tried to
move it similar into the building
[27:32] inspection side, but it's a much more
efficient way. And I think moving
[27:36] forward, it's going to be very helpful
with these. Um, but every unsightly I
[27:42] can say I've been a part of for the last
15 years has been different. There
[27:47] hasn't been one that's been the same.
You're dealing with different owners,
[27:51] different properties, demolitions,
cleanup. Sometimes you're dealing with a
[27:56] property that someone might think's
unsightly, but according to the MGA,
[28:00] it's not. It might be tacky, but it's
not unsightly. And we've had a lot of
[28:06] those properties. And sometimes it's
hard to hear for a complaintant that,
[28:10] you know, keeps their yard immaculate
and doesn't like wishing wells and
[28:14] gnomes and garden sheds and everything
on their property. But at the end of the
[28:17] day, we have to go by the municipal
government act. And um but yeah, so
[28:22] everyone like we go into it with the
mindset that we want to work with the
[28:28] property owners. We want to get owner
compliance. Obviously that doesn't
[28:32] happen every time, but um that's kind of
our goal where we're at with them. Now,
[28:37] having Steph on board is massive for us
right now because the administrative
[28:42] work is taken care of and it's much more
efficient as far as you submit the
[28:46] complaint, it goes into our system.
within seven days we have someone on
[28:49] site to visit it. You're getting
notified that you've received it. So,
[28:53] it's not like, "Hey, I submitted this
complaint. I have no idea where it's
[28:56] at."
And then it's a point of contact as
[29:00] well. Same with me. But more for the
complaintant to say, "Okay, now I have
[29:04] Steph's contact. I can contact her and
say, "Hey, where's it going?" Um, and
[29:08] then with Townite as well, those
requirements, they give notifications.
[29:13] So every month we can print it off and
say, "Okay, what's where are we at with
[29:16] all these Victoria
County complaints and it'll print off a
[29:20] report and say you have to hit this one,
this one, this one." So it should be
[29:25] much more efficient moving forward.
Obviously, it's not an overnight thing,
[29:28] but um and we do have to get caught up
on the existing files that aren't in
[29:31] there, but um I am looking forward to
having this process be a more efficient
[29:36] one with complaints. Um, but yeah,
that's kind of what I had as far as an
[29:42] update from us and information with
Dangerous and Unsightly. Um, the biggest
[29:47] thing is, like I said, every file is
different. Sometimes you're dealing with
[29:52] homeowners that have are deceased and
you have no one. You're trying to find a
[29:56] family member. A lot of times in the
rural areas, you're dealing with
[29:59] property owners that are out of province
that have no idea. They've been left
[30:04] this property. They've never been to it.
Um, so everyone is, as much as I'd like
[30:09] to say, and I tell this when I talk to
complaints is that as much as I'd like
[30:13] to say, hey, it'll be done next week,
it's it's not reality. It's it they do
[30:18] take time and some have taken a lot of
time. But it's uh you know when we're in
[30:22] a situation trying to work with them and
they're contacting us and they're
[30:26] they're being open in their dialogue
with it, we do tend to work with them
[30:30] cuz a lot of these cases, especially the
more so the cleanups and the
[30:36] demolitions, but um you're dealing with
mental health and hoarders and different
[30:41] things that you know people that are
trying to make a living and what some
[30:45] people might see as junk and rubbish and
everything else. to that person, it's an
[30:49] income, right? So, we do try and have
that in the back of mind going in when
[30:53] we're dealing with property owners is
have that compassion a bit. Um, but we
[30:58] also have a lot of teeth when it comes
to dangerous slightly. So, we always
[31:03] said, and John Bane always kind of
reiterates this as well, is a bad day
[31:08] for us is is a bad day, but when you're
going and tearing down a 100-year-old
[31:12] family home, it's a bad day for someone,
too. So, we do air on that side of
[31:16] compassion with people. But, so, yeah,
that's kind of where we're at with this.
[31:21] Um, like I said, I didn't bring anything
with specific files for this. This was
[31:25] more of a update and information on
where we're at with dangerous unsightly
[31:28] process with district planning. Um, but
like I said, you have my number, you
[31:33] have my email. I'm always available and
if there's specific questions on
[31:37] specific files, I'm the point of
contact. So, it's easier just to call me
[31:42] or email me and then I can go uh if if
I'm not aware of it now that Steph's
[31:47] brought in, I can get the update very
quickly. So,
[31:51] yeah. Is there any questions?
>> Go ahead, Councelor Maxport or just
[32:00] » Yes.
[32:09] » Excellent. I shoot that off to them and
boom, done. Love it. Fact, I can do it
[32:12] in a text message, email, anyway.
>> That's right.
[32:14] » It's really convenient.
>> It is. And it's the complaint form that
[32:18] the PDF copy has changed over the years
and sometimes you'd be receiving them
[32:22] and it's like a complaint form from 10
years ago that is not the most current
[32:27] one. Right. So, this is very with
technology today and like you said, you
[32:31] could text that link and they can do it
right on their smartphone. So, it's it
[32:34] is more efficient that way.
[32:39] Councelor Warren.
>> Hi Sean. Hi. We haven't met.
[32:43] » No, just talked.
>> We've talked from District 4. Y
[32:46] » and I know we've communicated quite a
bit over the last year with um a
[32:50] particular file.
>> Yep.
[32:51] » And I probably will let you know that
there's several people watching.
[32:55] » Y
>> because there's
[32:58] major concerns still with one particular
file in our in our district.
[33:01] » Y
>> and I will chat with you afterwards on
[33:04] that because I know there is some
privacy and all that stuff with that. So
[33:07] that's fine. But going back to your the
new system, um you said that the
[33:13] existing files will get moved into this
new system,
[33:16] » correct?
>> Is there a timeline on that because I
[33:19] think maybe the some of these files got
lost potentially through that system.
[33:25] » Yeah. So that that's kind of where our
old system was. We had like every county
[33:28] had a file and it was on our shared
drive and everything, but there was
[33:32] really unless you were going looking,
there was no notification system for
[33:35] that. So, this is what Town Suite allows
us to do is to put a file in, put what's
[33:41] been happening, and then set a
requirement to say, "Okay, this has to
[33:45] happen in the next 14 days, and if it
doesn't, you're going to get notified
[33:47] for it." So, it's not just going to get
in there and just get left there. Um,
[33:51] so, like I said, Summer's been really
busy with inspections and building and
[33:56] summer vacations. So, Steph has that on
her to-do list and she'll be picking
[34:01] away at that. So, I'm going to hope in
the next month or so all the old files
[34:05] will be in.
>> Excellent. So, then with the new system,
[34:08] another question that I have is will the
person that's sent in the complaint
[34:13] » Y
>> does that generate a file number
[34:16] automatically and do they get that that
they could refer back to that file
[34:20] number as when they're calling in? um
like I I think that's missing like
[34:25] there's a gap of information potentially
missing and so you know they reach out
[34:31] to counselors to be yeah they're missing
so they're like that's you know they're
[34:35] the the residents that that make the
complaint
[34:37] » right
>> um I feel like they're getting
[34:41] frustrated because they're not getting
anyone to follow up with uh the
[34:45] complaints except if it goes through
counselors which I definitely don't have
[34:49] a problem with that I think all of us
deal with that quite often And but I
[34:53] think there's a missing piece of
communication.
[34:57] » Well, when you talk about a file number,
that's what so the permit tracking
[35:00] system on the building side, it gives
you a permit number. So when we put
[35:04] something in town suite now for
Unsightly, it does create a file number.
[35:09] So
it kind of got my wheels turning where
[35:12] when Stephanie does respond back to the
complaint and who submitted to say, I
[35:16] think you received your complaint. we
could add the file number to it. So then
[35:21] when they want to contact us, they can
list off a file number. Typically right
[35:25] now it's more just they're giving us the
property, the civic number if there is
[35:29] one or the area or the if they know the
property owner, but a file number would
[35:34] be very easy just to put in that email
and say thank you for it. files been
[35:37] created viant
[35:41] because then they feel I mean like it it
takes a lot of like for someone to put
[35:46] their name out there to even to do the
complaint because they could be friends,
[35:50] their neighbors, their community
members. So I think there needs to be
[35:53] that part of it. I think that's where
there's some community frustration is
[35:56] when they're left out of that piece.
>> Um you know when they're there to
[36:00] support as well. They're not just there
to complain.
[36:03] » That's right. So, um, we got to look at
their their point of view. I guess
[36:07] that's where I'm coming.
>> The confidentiality that that's a big
[36:09] thing that you bring up and we always
explain that that, you know, you are
[36:14] putting your name on it. Um, you know,
we do our best for confidentiality. We
[36:18] don't say who the complaint is, but a
lot of these rural areas, you know, it
[36:22] could be a neighbor and you're only the
two houses on that rural road, right?
[36:27] So,
>> sure,
[36:28] » they say, "Yes, I get it that it's
confidential, but who else is going to
[36:31] be complaining about this?" So that does
air on that side. Um so I do see that
[36:35] was concerns but um yeah we have nothing
that's like other than to say we've
[36:42] received your complaint and at the end
to say that it's been complied with or
[36:48] in some cases if we go there and it's
not dangerous and unsightly we will send
[36:52] the information then everything after
that is on the complaint if they want an
[36:56] update to contact us. So when we send
that initial contact to say that we've
[37:01] received it, I think we move forward
with creating that file number in our
[37:06] system and saying here's the file number
for future updates. Please contact this
[37:10] number for this spot.
>> Great. Can you walk us through from the
[37:14] new system from when they
um first uh put in the complaint to when
[37:20] the case would potentially be closed?
What what do you see as a time frame and
[37:23] what is
>> 6 months, 8 months, a year? That's the
[37:27] That's the hard part. Like I wish I
could give you a number. Um but the
[37:31] problem is is when we receive a
complaint,
[37:34] » it goes in our system. We send that
letter.
[37:38] » Sometimes that letter is not returned to
us from the post office. If it's not
[37:41] received by registered mail for two to
three weeks and then we have to go down
[37:46] the avenue of okay, is there a phone
number? Is there an email? Can we get
[37:50] something to contact this person or
what's our next step? And then it's if
[37:55] they do receive that letter and they
contact us, then like I said, every file
[38:01] is different. What's what's the avenue
here? Is it a bunch of derelike
[38:05] vehicles? Is it just two bags of garbage
that they're complaining about? Is it
[38:09] five houses on the property that have to
come down? So, as much as I could I'd
[38:14] like to say it's a two month, three
month, six month process, it's it's hard
[38:18] to put that number on a file depending
on
[38:22] one the contact. Did we get a hold of
them? Did they get a hold of us? Two,
[38:27] what's on the property?
And then owner compliance, like are they
[38:32] working with us? And I mean, if we're
getting, say, for a property that's got
[38:36] a whole bunch of junk on it, if they
contact us and they start cleaning it,
[38:40] then we give them time frames of like,
okay, we need this, this, this done by
[38:44] this. And if they get that done, then we
say, okay, well, now it's this, this,
[38:47] and this for this. And those are usually
when it's clean up, it's always like 14
[38:52] days or 30 days. Those are the time
frames that we stick with. So again, I'd
[38:57] love to be able to tell you it's a 6
month or 3-month process, but it's just
[39:00] unrealistic depending on what the case
is. I mean, some of them are a oneweek
[39:05] process. Complaint in, send a letter,
they contact us,
[39:11] sorry, I, you know, I meant to clean all
that up. Two days later, I get an email
[39:14] and it's done. So, [sighs] it's uh it's
varied case by case and the severity of
[39:20] the case depends on the time frame and
then you get into other issues where is
[39:25] it one property owner, is it another
property owner, is it a list of family
[39:30] members that are on this property that
have been, you know, their parents have
[39:33] passed away and they've given it to five
siblings and now, you know, they live
[39:38] everywhere in the country and you're
trying to track down all of them. So,
[39:43] I would love to say it's a certain time
frame, but I just unfortunately in these
[39:47] cases I can't. And that's the that's the
nature of the beast when it comes to
[39:50] these complaint files is that they are
all different when it comes to them.
[39:55] » Great. Thank you. And I'll follow up
with that one
[39:58] » particular case. Thank you.
>> Are you warden?
[40:02] » Thank you, Sean. Uh just I have
understand uh they go to the building
[40:06] fire and then the form. in the form they
can uh upload pictures. Is there
[40:12] pictures or just
>> No, no pictures. No. Um
[40:16] » it's uh it's just the information
>> and then you contact them.
[40:19] » Yeah. So when you're on that
>> So it's right there. So in the message
[40:23] you can write your description. So
basically like the the old paper
[40:27] complaint form was. Now some pictures we
would receive people would print them
[40:32] off and attach them with it.
>> Okay. In the form, but if they do it
[40:35] online, it's just
It's just information, property
[40:39] information, because it's hard. We would
never base our opinion off a picture
[40:43] that's been emailed to us because we
don't know where that picture's been
[40:46] taken from. Is it exactly that property?
So, until we actually visit the property
[40:50] and do our own photos, those are the
ones we use.
[40:52] » As a consor, we don't have to sign it
either or any letter, nothing. Okay.
[40:57] Great. Thanks.
>> Any other questions for Shaw?
[41:04] No, not being any. Thank you very much.
>> No problem. Thank you for having me. And
[41:08] like I said, uh any questions at all,
contact my cell phone or shoot me an
[41:13] email. I'm on the road a lot these days.
And so I'll get back to you as soon as I
[41:18] can if I don't pick up. But um yeah, the
way the system is now, we can provide an
[41:23] update quickly. So great. Thank you very
much.
[41:52] and the next one is Bedc Nordic. Uh
they're not here right now, so we're
[41:58] going to jump ahead until she gets here.
We're going to do council highlights
[42:03] your districts. We'll start with
councelor Matson Lefor.
[42:10] Thank you, Gordon.
uh district 1 report on July 31st. I was
[42:15] pleased to attend the clan
McNeel day. So I got to be a McNeel for
[42:20] a day at St. Columba Paris Center in
Iona at the invitation of Clan McNeel
[42:25] President Patricia McNeel and it was a
wonderful afternoon connecting with
[42:28] McNeel family members who I knew there
were many um from near and far and
[42:34] enjoying great music from Susan Mlan and
Kai Udby and celebrating Cape Breton
[42:39] heritage and community. A sincere thank
you to the many volunteers who made the
[42:43] event such a success. And just put out
there, Clan McNeil warmly welcomes
[42:48] anyone interested in connecting with
their McNeel heritage because they're
[42:52] willing to look it up for you. There
were people there from Ontario and PEI
[42:56] and far away. So, it was a fun day. Um,
one other notification for my area is
[43:04] the Wadmakook Pow-Wow is coming up. That
will be September 12th and the 13th and
[43:09] municipal employees and I will be there
again this year with our coffee and tea
[43:13] tent. So stop by and say hello and enjoy
a cup with us. Everyone is welcome.
[43:20] And I do have one motion again with my
that's the end of my district report.
[43:25] The motion is on municipal travel
expense policy review and amendment.
[43:31] So it's one of those whereas therefore
so give me one second here. Um whereas
[43:36] the municipality of the county of
Victoria has a municipal travel expense
[43:41] policy governing travel and mileage
expenses incurred in the course of
[43:45] municipal business. And whereas
counselors have been advised that
[43:49] mileage incurred within their own
electoral district is not eligible for
[43:53] reimbursement and whereas the authority
for this restriction has not been
[43:58] identified. Therefore, be it resolved
that the um CAO be directed to number
[44:05] one, review the municipal travel expense
policy, including its historical
[44:10] amendments and related council
resolutions
[44:13] respecting counselor travel and mileage.
Number two,
[44:18] identify and report the authority for
the restriction on mileage incurred by
[44:21] counselors within their own electoral
district, including any applicable
[44:24] policy provision, council resolution,
administered directive, or other
[44:28] documented authority.
Review the corresponding travel and
[44:33] mileage practices of comparable Nova
Scotia municipalities
[44:37] and prepare proposed amendments to the
municipal travel expense policy and
[44:42] present them to either the September
8th, 2026 committee of the whole meeting
[44:47] or the September 21st, 2026 council
meeting for council's consideration.
[44:53] There's a motion on the table. Do I have
a seconder?
[44:58] Second by council. All in favor?
>> Do we have any discussion or
[45:03] » no discussion then?
>> No. Sorry.
[45:06] » No. I just thought in case anybody
wanted to ask any or the new counselors.
[45:12] So, it's all in favor of motion will be
carried.
[45:17] Okay.
We're going to go back to our
[45:21] presentations. Miss Eileen Woodford,
come to the table. Thank you.
[45:27] » Uh I'm going to tell you you have 20
minutes.
[45:30] » Yes.
>> For your presentation and questions
[45:34] and your mic there as long as little you
push the button for the little green
[45:38] light to come on and that means your mic
is on.
[45:41] » The green is on now.
>> Okay.
[45:45] I've got the counselors to introduce
ourselves to you. Uh good I want to say
[45:51] good morning again. Good afternoon. My
name is Donna Matis Leor. I'm district
[45:56] number one which includes Wadmakook
First Nation uh Washabuk Peninsula and
[46:01] everything in between.
>> Thank you.
[46:03] » Nice to meet you Donna. Nice to meet
you.
[46:06] » Welcome Elen Pa Mloud District 2 Big Bak
River Bedc Inlet Nansa Yankee line to
[46:12] the bridge to Wakov. Thank you for
>> Ian Nicholson District 3 Bed. Welcome.
[46:21] » Thank you Ian.
>> Welcome. We've met Rosella Borne,
[46:25] District 4. Nice. Nice to see you again.
>> Good afternoon. Uh Tim Donovan, District
[46:31] 6 from Smokeoky to Northish.
>> Okay.
[46:35] » Nice to meet you, Tim.
>> Janoon. I'm Wanda Henik. I'm in district
[46:39] 8. That's Dingwall, Cape North,
Sherlock, Basin, Lawrence, and Capstick.
[46:42] » Nice to meet you, Wanda. [clears throat]
>> And I'm Jackie Organ, district 7 from
[46:47] Northadesh to Dingwall.
>> Nice to meet you as well, Jackie.
[46:51] » Go ahead.
>> Okay. So, thank you for the opportunity
[46:54] to uh speak to you this afternoon. Um,
Bedc Nordic is requesting $2,900
[47:01] uh to support operations for our coming
season. And I'm going to tell you a
[47:05] little bit about our club um and why
we're making the request.
[47:12] I get to push the button here.
[47:23] I'm used to a mouse. [clears throat]
[47:28] Thank you. A little bit cut off there.
Uh so, as I say, pictures are worth a
[47:33] thousand words. Here are some pictures
submitted by members during a photo
[47:38] contest we had at the end of our season
this year. Uh you can see we have a
[47:42] variety of terrain. Um, you can see some
people on snowshoes and on skis. And we
[47:49] have some lovely wooded areas in our
little piece of paradise at 1085 Bibc
[47:54] Road.
[48:05] So, who we are and what we do, um, we're
a volunteer-led nonprofit organization.
[48:11] we formed in December of 2022 and that
was based on a number of community
[48:16] meetings we had over the previous year
and a half. There's a long history of
[48:21] crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing in
bedc and there was a very active club
[48:25] back about 35 years ago called Bedcan
area ski club. It was one of 10 uh
[48:31] crosscountry ski and snowshoe clubs in
Cape Bratton at the time. And some of
[48:35] you may remember the uh famous Cape
Bratton Lopet series which was uh an
[48:40] event that lots of clubs hosted u with
up to 200 people in attendance. Um it
[48:47] was kind of a fun event. Some people
raced, some just went for for the
[48:51] scenery and for the outing.
So we manage a for now a 14 kilometer
[48:58] trail nestled at the foot of the
highlands uh below Katus Mountain in Big
[49:03] Badc at 1085 West Side Bedc Road. Um we
are thankful to our very generous land
[49:09] owner who has given us access to the
land, Dr. Mary Doyle. And um she has let
[49:16] us not only use her land, she's let us
cut trails, renovate trails, improve
[49:20] drainage, um make a trail head, make a
parking lot. Um she's been very, very
[49:26] supportive.
And our mission is to promote
[49:29] cross-country skiing and snowshoeing for
all ages and abilities. Um, and we know
[49:35] that being act active in the outdoors,
there's lots of research to say that
[49:41] it's good for physical, mental,
emotional, and social health. And, um,
[49:45] we're fostering uh, active living uh, as
well. Um, and there's also a big factor
[49:53] here in terms of supporting tourism and
economic development,
[49:58] especially in the offse.
[50:07] Okay. So, we know that Cape Breton um is
becoming and is a premier winter
[50:12] destination. Um we believe as part of
one of three cross country and snowshoe
[50:19] trails in Victoria County that we've
kind of added to that in our four
[50:24] seasons of operation. Um, we've been
told anecdotally by members and visitors
[50:30] alike that if they're coming from other
parts of the island or they're coming
[50:34] from other parts of Nova Scotia and
other provinces that they're coming for
[50:38] experiences and if they're going to make
more than one day of it, they'll often
[50:43] take in as much as they can. Uh, people
tend to travel in family groups or other
[50:48] groups and there are different interests
among those members of those groups. So,
[50:53] they may start at North Highland Nordic.
They may uh ski Cape Smokeoky the next
[50:58] day. They may head to Bedc um and ski at
Bedc. They may go to ski Benon. They may
[51:04] rent a snowmobile or bring their own
snowmobile and ride the uh beautiful
[51:09] snowmobile trails in Victoria County and
Inesse County. Um we've modeled uh what
[51:14] we have now after kind of the
catillacountry
[51:19] ski trails in Nova Scotia, North
Highland Nordic. Um they're celebrating
[51:22] their 50th year, I think, coming this
season. Um they've hosted many national
[51:28] and provincial events, both competitive
and social. Um and for anyone that's
[51:34] been there, they know it's absolutely um
wonderful scenery, wonderful grooming,
[51:41] wonderful uh trail system. We wanted
something to start off with that we
[51:45] could achieve in three to four years.
And I I think we're we're getting there.
[51:50] Um,
okay.
[51:55] I think this chart kind of speaks to the
community passion and participation in
[52:00] the interest. In year 1, we had 35
members. Didn't have any process to sell
[52:06] day passes that year. And we've just
shown a steady increase in growth since
[52:11] then. And we topped out at 123 members
this past season. and 203 people skied
[52:18] on a day pass.
[52:28] Did a little bit of research in terms of
the information we collect when people
[52:32] register. Um we are pretty diverse uh
group of individuals. Um we we cater to
[52:40] all ages and all abilities. Our average
age, which is probably no surprise to
[52:45] any of you in the room, is is an older
demographic, a little over 52 years. Our
[52:51] youngest members 5 years old and our
oldest member is 80.
[52:56] Um,
our most of our membership comes from
[52:59] the Bedcan area, a little over a hundred
and we do have members from uh Bulletry,
[53:05] North Side, uh, Sydney area, and a
couple of people from the mainland. Um,
[53:11] our data collection for day pass users
is kind of limited. Uh, we do use an
[53:16] online system and many people wait till
they get to the trail before they buy
[53:20] their pass. Their hands are cold. They
just want to get going. Um, and so we
[53:26] get their name and their phone number.
Anecdotally, the people we meet there um
[53:31] or send us an email afterward, they're
coming from all over Nova Scotia and
[53:35] Cape Breton.
[53:42] This is a little small and I apologize
for that. The um narrower lines. So if
[53:48] you go to the bottom of the screen, you
can see um the Big Bedc road at the very
[53:54] bottom. It's kind of a a faint gray
line. Um on the bottom right, you can
[53:59] see a green circle. That's um where our
trail head and parking area is. Um the
[54:07] rest of the colored lines uh represent
the existing trails that we had until
[54:13] the spring of this year roughly 9 1/2
km. The broader white lines are what was
[54:19] developed and excavated and improved
this spring. So our total is about 14 km
[54:25] of trail. And for distance and scale um
that gray area that looks a little bit
[54:32] like a fiddle is a former runway. And
that's just a little over a kilometer in
[54:38] length.
[54:45] We were very successful in um both with
grants and fundraising to get uh new uh
[54:53] grooming equipment last year to add to
our already um I guess stable of a
[54:59] utility snowmobile, a secondhand
all-train vehicle. Um this is electrify
[55:05] and um it has all kinds of adjustments
in terms of raising and lowering the
[55:11] packing unit. Um the rake which
pulverizes ice and there's an
[55:16] electrified track setter on the back so
it can be adjusted to the depth of snow,
[55:20] the conditions um and whether or not
you're going up and down a hill. Um the
[55:26] the uh difference that made this year
was phenomenal. We were able to actually
[55:32] track set most days it was groomed and
our team of groomers led by Roger
[55:38] Wilcott includes uh Stuart Shaw, Tyler
Germany and Dawson Fitzgerald for the
[55:44] past season. Um and they they do a
wonderful job.
[55:50] Just a little bit more detail about the
grooming. This is our Milky Way trail.
[55:55] To the right you can see Kravis
Mountain. to the left looks east uh
[55:59] toward the Bedc River Valley, but the
lines in the snow on the left are the
[56:05] the track that is set for classic
skiing. The areas to the right are used
[56:09] for skate skiing or for snow showing.
And that's roughly um 16 ft wide.
[56:18] We were blessed this winter to have an
absolutely phenomenal winter for anybody
[56:22] that likes winter. We had very little
rain. We had steady and consistent
[56:26] snowfall and uh we haven't had a winter
like that probably for 10 years. It was
[56:31] it was fantastic.
One of our uh priorities um coming into
[56:37] year three and year four was to really
expand what we could offer in terms of
[56:40] programming and events. Um so this year
we had 13 events. Uh we focused on youth
[56:49] and families. So we had three kids fun
days which were very well attended. Um,
[56:54] we had skilluing and um, technical
development clinics. Um, we're very
[57:01] fortunate because of our membership in
cross-country ski Nova Scotia to have
[57:05] the services of a a wonderful person,
Michelle Richards, who's a cross-country
[57:10] ski ambassador for Cape Breton Island,
and she happens to live in our area. Um
[57:15] she's a certified instructor in many
different aspects of cross-country
[57:20] skiing and she recently completed her
learning facilitators program. So now
[57:25] she's able to help us build that
leadership capacity in her own
[57:29] organization by training instructors all
over Cape Breton.
[57:37] The picture on the top right there um is
actually a full moon about 9:30 at
[57:42] night. It was extremely bright that
night and very very cold.
[57:51] Here are a few more pictures of of u our
future um leaders in the organization.
[57:57] These are also pictures spended in the
photo contest by members. Uh you can see
[58:02] the kids having a great time at the
funday.
[58:10] Thanks to the support of Victoria County
and uh managed by the Cape Breton
[58:19] Regional Library here in BDC, we now
have 80 sets of skis um and a couple of
[58:24] um lots of range for for children's
sizes and that includes skis and boots
[58:29] and 30 sets of snowshoes.
Um this winter there was a waiting list
[58:34] for most of them. Um our other partners
are on the slide on the right. that's
[58:38] grown incredibly in the last four years.
Um we have people who have donated
[58:44] money, people have donated prizes for
raffles, we have people have provided um
[58:49] free services for servicing our
equipment and snowmobile and things like
[58:53] that.
Uh we've emphasized
[58:58] communications and try to do most of
this um electronically and digitally.
[59:03] So, in the in the winter, um, members
get a a daily email with an updated, uh,
[59:08] grooming and trail report. We have a
newsletter that goes out two or three
[59:13] times a year. Uh, we link to Cross
Country Ski Nova Scotia website where
[59:18] they have all the grooming reports
listed for each ski area in the
[59:22] province. Uh, there's a Facebook page.
We have a website. Uh and uh we've used
[59:29] our member survey, the most recent
member survey in 2025 to inform our
[59:34] priorities and our action plan.
Few more pictures here. That one on the
[59:40] left is also that full moon, incredibly
bright and incredibly cold. There's a
[59:45] center picture there taken by our
groomer at dawn when he was grooming.
[59:50] and um a wooded trail on the western
part of our trail system called Hardwood
[59:55] Valley in the afternoon.
So we had major um second phase major
[1:00:02] trail development this year um and we
had a cross overrun in June of um about
[1:00:09] $7,000
uh which was kind of unexpected. Um, as
[1:00:14] a result of that, uh, we kicked into
gear, uh, very quickly. We've had
[1:00:20] successful fundraiser the last three
summers for a ticket for two at the Wood
[1:00:25] Road restaurant in Margary Harbor. We
were able to do another one in July. Um,
[1:00:33] replaced a little bit of our our uh,
plan carryover. Um, and are now as of
[1:00:39] August 1st, we're in a stable position.
when we were back in the black. Uh
[1:00:43] approximately $1,700.
[1:00:48] We usually like to carry over $300 to
$4,000 each year. Um fortunately for us,
[1:00:55] we were selected for the reuse center at
the landfill. Um we were there Saturday
[1:01:00] and we're going to be there next
Saturday. On Saturday, we raised $1,100,
[1:01:04] which will certainly help. And we will
open our uh early bird membership drive
[1:01:09] on September 1st. And we also will have
the uh uh funds gathered from the
[1:01:17] recyclables at the re at the at the
municipal landfill as well.
[1:01:23] So we know that we've increased our
trails by about 40%. Um and we've been
[1:01:28] planning for increased operational
costs. Some of those are easier than
[1:01:32] others to plan for. Um fuel prices are
rising
[1:01:38] and they're quite unpredictable as
everybody knows. Um we'll we'll have u
[1:01:43] increased equipment maintenance. It'll
require more volunteer hours um from our
[1:01:48] members to uh maintain and look after
those trails and groom them. Uh last
[1:01:53] season our cost per broom was
approximately $28.
[1:01:58] $22 the previous year, but last year we
had new equipment um that consume more
[1:02:03] gas. Um the result of um our trail
expansion opportunity. We expanded the
[1:02:09] trail head. Um you can see we added a
porta potty there. It's kind of a green
[1:02:14] dot with a white roof in the middle. Um
and it's uh more than three times the
[1:02:19] size of the original area. So there will
be increased costs for snow removal and
[1:02:24] sanding.
Um membership slide on the right. You've
[1:02:29] seen that earlier. Uh lots of
uncertainty for any organization that
[1:02:33] operates outdoor winter activities.
Don't know what the winter weather's
[1:02:37] going to be like. You don't know how
much snow you're going to get. And if we
[1:02:40] get uh a cycle of of snow, rain, freeze,
thaw, uh it even makes it a bit more
[1:02:47] challenging to plan for that. and people
tend not to uh go outside and seek out
[1:02:52] winter activities if they don't see snow
in their backyard.
[1:02:56] Um our day pass sales uh definitely
correlate to good weekend weather. Um
[1:03:02] and last year was was excellent. Um but
again and that's a very good income
[1:03:08] driver. We have no idea what's ahead of
us for this this winter. So, we've did
[1:03:13] we've done some homework in terms of uh
projected costs for the upcoming season.
[1:03:18] Um the total is just under $10,000 and
it includes things like equipment
[1:03:23] maintenance. Um we pay for storage on a
private property adjacent to the trail.
[1:03:29] We've got insurance for our equipment.
Um we have a partnership with uh Prattis
[1:03:34] Mountain Snowmobile Club who's been very
helpful to us over the years in terms of
[1:03:39] planning the trail and actually the
first year they they groomed for us with
[1:03:43] a snowmobile on a pallet. That's all we
had. But we pay for 15 memberships in
[1:03:50] Kra Mountain Snowmobile Club for the
first 15 members who express interest in
[1:03:55] also skiing on the snowmobile trails. uh
as a show of goods faith and support.
[1:04:01] We're estimating fuel uh costs there as
well. Our other expenditures look a bit
[1:04:07] high, but we have to redo the trail maps
and add some new trail safety and naming
[1:04:12] signs because of the 40% increase in
trail. Uh zone 4 is the online
[1:04:17] registration system that we use. Um, and
there are costs to use that system, but
[1:04:24] the additional costs that are included
in that approximately $1,800 are because
[1:04:29] they deduct our cross country um, Nova
Scotia fee as well as our Nordic Canada
[1:04:35] fee as soon as somebody registers. And
we need Nordic Canada because they
[1:04:41] provide our liability insurance.
And we're estimating additional revenue
[1:04:47] of approximately uh this season based on
a conservative 65 members at $12,63
[1:04:55] and that includes membership fees um a
guest at day pass fees uh fundraising
[1:05:02] donation and donations. So, before we
had the uh re reuse center, that left us
[1:05:09] around $2,100 as a buffer to start off
the season, which is not very much. We
[1:05:15] could have an equipment problem and and
pretty well wipe that out. So, hence the
[1:05:20] reason for requesting support from from
you folks.
[1:05:25] So just to wrap up um the benefits of
having this wonderful outdoor facility
[1:05:30] is that it promotes uh winter activities
outdoors for all ages. We know that
[1:05:36] activity in nature is important for
social, mental uh physical health and
[1:05:40] for socialization
often at a time of the year where people
[1:05:43] may not be uh willing or interested in
going out. Our trail system has been
[1:05:49] developed with community member
engagement and very strong support from
[1:05:52] the community and our land owner. Um we
feel we're contributing to the economic
[1:05:58] activity in the off season and I think
some of the names on our sponsor list
[1:06:03] will uh speak to that because they've
been very supportive. Um, we add to the
[1:06:09] growing list of winter experiences in in
Victoria County and different available
[1:06:15] experiences draws more people. Uh, it's
pretty affordable and accessible. Uh, we
[1:06:20] have low me as low membership fees as
possible and day pass costs and coupled
[1:06:26] with the free equipment loan at the Bedc
Library and top-notch instruction from
[1:06:30] our ski ambassador, we have a a nice
package to offer our community. Um, and
[1:06:36] we know that increased collabor
collaboration among groups and
[1:06:40] businesses who offer um things to do in
the winter uh is a big bonus for
[1:06:46] Victoria County as a winter destination.
[1:06:53] Sent along a supplemental information
package via staff and it includes five
[1:06:59] letters of support. It includes a copy
of our most recent uh newsletter from
[1:07:04] June. It includes our annual uh
financial statements um from April 30th,
[1:07:12] 2026.
And there's al other links there in
[1:07:15] terms of our web page, our Facebook
group, and you can also find us on Cross
[1:07:20] Country Nova Scotia website.
[1:07:25] Before I answer any questions, I just
want to say when I was um I had help
[1:07:30] obviously preparing the presentation, I
realized yesterday when I looked at the
[1:07:35] the picture on the left that the second
person
[1:07:38] um from the left is Stuart Germany from
Bedc. He was the last president of the
[1:07:43] Bedcin area ski club 35 years ago. He
was also the provincial ski coach. In
[1:07:49] the middle is Daniel Murray who is a
member of of North Island Nordic. uh is
[1:07:55] a current provincial ski coach and uh is
a member of Bedc Nordic and is on her
[1:08:00] board. Uh Diane Timmons had written us a
letter of support for a grant we applied
[1:08:05] for a couple of years ago and she said
before I finish it I want to come over
[1:08:09] and go for a snowshoe. So, she came
over. She's there. Behind her, you can't
[1:08:13] see her face, is our board secretary,
Nicolen Kirkovven Dwit and uh Carol
[1:08:19] Campbell is our vice president and she's
in the foreground taking the picture.
[1:08:24] So, thank you and I'm happy to answer
any questions or take any feedback.
[1:08:31] » Question. Councelor Matfort, go ahead.
>> Hi, great presentation. I love the pics
[1:08:37] and last winter was the most fabulous
winter ever. [laughter] I'm a snow
[1:08:40] bunny. I love snow. Um, but my question,
I saw your um membership prices. What
[1:08:46] are the day pass prices? Were they in
there? I didn't notice them.
[1:08:49] » No, they're not there. They're they're
$20.
[1:08:51] » Okay.
>> It's $10 per person, $20 for a family.
[1:08:54] » Oh, okay. That's really reasonable. So
now, is there any guarantee or do you
[1:08:58] guys not offer it? If someone buys the
early bird pass before November 1st and
[1:09:03] then there's rain all winter, do you
refund that or is it purchase at your
[1:09:07] own risk? It's purchase at your own
risk, but we will we will get some kind
[1:09:11] of skiable conditions. We are also um
will probably open to winter hiking with
[1:09:17] poles, okay,
>> if we had to if if as long as it wasn't
[1:09:20] too slippery. Okay.
>> Especially on the more established parts
[1:09:23] of the trail.
>> Okay, that's perfect. Thank you.
[1:09:28] » Any other questions?
[1:09:33] » Go ahead, Deputy Warden.
>> Thank you, L for the presentation. uh as
[1:09:37] my district I know how the influx of
people comes and goes and with the bedc
[1:09:43] library as well it helps and but no
thank you and I would like to make a
[1:09:48] motion to um give it 30 it's 3900
>> 2900
[1:09:53] » 2900
well I can give you 39 2900 for our
[1:09:58] council projects for vc Nordic
[1:10:03] » there's a motion on the table from the
deputy warden for $3,900.
[1:10:08] Um, can I get a second or please? Second
by councelor Nicholson.
[1:10:13] Any discussion?
[1:10:17] All in favor?
Against.
[1:10:24] We have We have two against. Yeah. So,
can you put your hands up against for
[1:10:29] against for so Steph can record that,
please?
[1:10:34] Motion is carried.
Thank you. Thank you.
[1:10:39] » Thank you very much for the opportunity.
[1:10:46] » Okay, we will continue on with council
reports. Uh, Deputy Warden, you're up
[1:10:51] next.
>> Thank you. Um,
[1:10:56] I they sent a email for us in the
correspondence of Norwood. they asking
[1:11:01] uh for a with districtric um budgets but
I think is for us console because uh the
[1:11:08] security basic home safety products go
to all the county so they asking um $100
[1:11:15] for each one but I would like to make a
motion if we can give $1,000 for console
[1:11:20] products for uh Norwood to the security
ba basic home safety products for all
[1:11:26] the residents Dr. Deputy Warden, are you
asking for that from all from special
[1:11:32] projects or
>> Yeah, for a special project instead of
[1:11:35] district budget uh will be the council
project.
[1:11:38] » There's a motion on the table. Can I get
a seconder for that? Second by councelor
[1:11:43] Mat Lefort.
Any discussion?
[1:11:50] All in favor?
[1:11:54] Your motion is carried.
>> Thank you. Um, we have the issue with
[1:11:59] the earring. I know they sign they paint
the signals signs and everything. I
[1:12:04] don't know if uh the some it's about the
parking outside in the highway. So, we
[1:12:13] can do a letter to public works or just
I send my email but I don't think my
[1:12:19] only my email is going to do something.
So, I was wondering if we can send a
[1:12:23] letter to Steve or public works about
the parking signs in Irving. They're
[1:12:29] outside in the highway because the
trailers are parking outside as well.
[1:12:33] So, it's a safety uh concern about that.
>> You can make a motion to uh ask our CEO
[1:12:40] to do a letter for that then.
>> Okay, sounds good. Okay. So, I'm making
[1:12:44] a motion to ask the CEO to send a letter
to the public works uh manager to check
[1:12:50] about the signage and outside in the
highway in the ear for about no parking
[1:12:56] because it's a safety control. Uh some
of the residents around there, they're
[1:13:01] very concerned about that. Um
this there's a motion on the table. Can
[1:13:07] I get a seconder, please?
>> Second by councelor Matson Lefort. Any
[1:13:11] discussion?
All in favor?
[1:13:15] Your motion is carried.
>> Thank you. And the second is with that
[1:13:19] um I wonder if the CEO can um send a
email or to the RCMP to uh ask for a
[1:13:29] presence between 8:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m.
when the traffic from the fair is coming
[1:13:34] in the earring. So they're ignoring the
70 kilometers they're parking outside.
[1:13:40] So really if we can see a little more
presence the RCMP there in that times uh
[1:13:45] I think people will start getting
noticed about that
[1:13:47] » and you should put that into a motion.
>> Yes.
[1:13:50] » So I'm making a motion uh to send a
letter to the RCMP to to
[1:13:55] ask to be more present in around 8:00
a.m. 11:00 a.m. uh specifically when the
[1:14:02] traffic from the ferry the new Fan is
coming. Uh they are not um the 70 km is
[1:14:09] ignored and uh I don't know. Yeah. So we
need that please.
[1:14:13] » Okay. There's a motion on the table. Can
I get a second or please? Second by
[1:14:17] councelor Nicholson. Any discussion?
All in favor?
[1:14:22] » Your motion is carried.
>> Thank you. That's all.
[1:14:24] » Thank you. Uh just one moment.
[1:14:40] Everything good now there?
Okay. Council Nicholson.
[1:14:46] » Hi. The past month, uh, I talked to Bedc
Village Chair Anna McDonald. She wanted
[1:14:51] to thank us for our support with the
SECF grant, but the timeline was too
[1:14:57] tight and they couldn't get it all
pieces together on their end. Uh, also
[1:15:01] the Bedora Club is running another
successful junior sailing program plus a
[1:15:06] great regata week. Very nice to see all
those sales on the water. Great for
[1:15:12] tourism, great for the area. Thanks to
all the work of all their volunteers.
[1:15:16] Also, I attended Pedc Festival. What an
awesome event that is and to all the
[1:15:23] work the volunteers do. It's a major
event. A lot of organization. Certainly
[1:15:28] brings a lot of people to the area. I
have a thank you here
[1:15:33] to all the fine folks with Victoria
County. Thank you for your donation
[1:15:37] towards this year's community fireworks
displays. We always appreciate your
[1:15:42] support and we are honored to serve the
village and the county alongside the
[1:15:46] municipality with sincere thanks. Spid
volunteer fire department.
[1:15:52] That's it.
>> Thank you, councelor. Councelor Bourne.
[1:15:56] Thank you, Warden. I'd like to start by
acknowledging many community events and
[1:16:01] activities that I had the opportunity to
to attend throughout the summer. It has
[1:16:06] been great getting out into the
community, meeting with residents, and
[1:16:10] seeing the support people continue to
show for many organizations and events
[1:16:14] throughout our district. One of the
highlights for me was attending the
[1:16:18] Giant Macascals Museum fundraiser. It
was great to see so many people come out
[1:16:23] to support such a great cause and to see
the community come together to support
[1:16:28] the museum. I'd also like to thank the
volunteers and community organizations
[1:16:33] who continue to put up put so much time
and effort into making these events
[1:16:38] happen. They are an important part of
what makes our community feel so
[1:16:42] special.
Um, I have a couple items here. So, for
[1:16:46] the Jersey Cove side of the English Town
Ferry, we had some residents call in
[1:16:52] with some concerns about public
washrooms. A resident raised concerns
[1:16:57] about the removal of portable public
washrooms on the Jersey Cove side of the
[1:17:02] Englishtown Ferry. The resident
contacted the captain in charge of the
[1:17:07] ferry and shared the response with me.
The fairy service explained that the
[1:17:13] portable toilets had been provided as a
courtesy but were removed following
[1:17:19] vandalism and mis misuse last season.
They noted that the toilets were left
[1:17:24] unclean, tipped over, and had garbage
put into them and that the cost for
[1:17:30] continuing to provide them was no longer
sustainable.
[1:17:34] I don't think removing the washrooms is
the only
[1:17:38] solution.
Um, hold on one second here.
[1:17:45] They are portable washrooms at other
fairy locations that people can
[1:17:50] experience that and people can
experience weights, extended weights at
[1:17:53] the English town, particularly busy
during the busy tourism seasons. So, I
[1:17:58] have a motion to request to ask the CEO
to follow up with the province to see
[1:18:02] what options are available for providing
washroom facilities at the Jersey Cove
[1:18:07] side, particularly during the busy
summer season, and whether another
[1:18:12] solution can be found.
There's a motion on the table. Can I get
[1:18:17] a seconder, please? Second by councelor
Donovan. Any discussion?
[1:18:25] All in favor?
The motion is carried. Councelor Bourne,
[1:18:31] I thought the washrooms were there
today. I'm not sure.
[1:18:35] » They could have just put them back, but
this just late last week. So,
[1:18:40] » um, that would be wonderful. That would
be great news.
[1:18:43] » Okay.
>> Um, the second topic that I have is
[1:18:46] concerning the Big Harbor Road. A
year-round resident has again raised
[1:18:50] concerns about the condition of the Big
Harbor Road. in this email circulated
[1:18:54] through um the MLA through myself and
some other uh managers. So um including
[1:18:59] both the paved and unpaved sections, the
resident referenced a case number from
[1:19:04] the September 2025 and said they
understood the major repairs to the main
[1:19:09] road were planned including stripping
and repaving. The resident also reports
[1:19:14] that the gravel section requires
requires ditching um gravel and grading
[1:19:20] and then the wash out is approximately 3
to four kilometers from the big harbor
[1:19:24] end and is currently preventing through
traffic. So there's several families
[1:19:28] that live along this section year round
including families um with seniors that
[1:19:32] live there. So I'm asking through a
motion to request the CIO to follow up
[1:19:37] with the province public works for an
update on the planned work and report
[1:19:42] and the reported wash out and the
maintenance needed for on the gravel
[1:19:46] section and to bring that information
back to council.
[1:19:50] There's a motion on the table. Can I get
a seconder, please? Second by councelor
[1:19:54] Nicholson. Any discussion?
Okay. All in favor?
[1:20:00] Motion is carried.
Uh my third topic had to do with the
[1:20:05] unsights sightly premises. So I'm going
to move on from that, but just to
[1:20:09] recognize that that discussion did take
place during the earlier session and I
[1:20:14] will report back to the the folks in the
area.
[1:20:19] Um and then I have damage to missing
road signs. I had several concerns that
[1:20:24] have been brought forward in the past
few weeks regarding missing and damaged
[1:20:28] road signs throughout District 4. I've
emailed provincial public works
[1:20:32] regarding these concerns and asked that
the affected signs be reviewed. These
[1:20:37] concerns have been ongoing and residents
are becoming frustrated with the lack of
[1:20:42] action. I will follow up with the
provincial public works and if we are
[1:20:47] not seeing any resolution, I will bring
this matter back to council to discuss
[1:20:51] further action including whether we need
a formal letter um on behalf of council
[1:20:57] sent. But that's just to note it for
reference.
[1:21:00] I do have two motions. This is councelor
Bourne. Um Emila Timmons um spoke to us
[1:21:07] and asked if there was any signs missing
in our districts to report them to her
[1:21:12] too.
>> I did.
[1:21:12] » Did you? Okay. Thank you.
>> Yeah, she was on that original email
[1:21:15] that we she asked us for. Thank you.
>> So, I have two motions. The first motion
[1:21:20] that council direct the CEO to review
the previously proposed mobile vending
[1:21:26] food vending bylaw. consider the
feedback and concerns previously
[1:21:29] received from council and the public and
make any necessary revisions and bring
[1:21:34] the new proposed uh bylaw back to
council for consideration.
[1:21:39] There's a motion on the table second by
councelor Mat Lefort. Any discussion?
[1:21:45] All in favor?
Motion is carried.
[1:21:48] » Thank you. and final motion that council
direct the CIO to investigate options
[1:21:54] and costs for upgrading the council's
chambers microphone system to include an
[1:21:59] electronic speaker request and Q
function allowing council members to
[1:22:03] indicate whether they wish to speak and
provide the warden with a visual
[1:22:07] speaking order and report back to
council with recommendations.
[1:22:13] There's a motion on the table. Can I get
can I second her? Second by councelor
[1:22:17] Donovan. Any discussion?
All in favor.
[1:22:22] The motion is carried. Thank you,
Warden. Thank you. Councelor Donovan.
[1:22:31] Thank you, Warden.
Uh I don't have a great deal. There is I
[1:22:34] guess I'll get it out of the way first.
I I do have one motion. Um
[1:22:41] the uh Highland Manor is currently
looking to review their bylaws
[1:22:48] and uh what I would the motion I would
like to put on the floor is that the
[1:22:52] municipality enter into a cost sharing
agreement with Highland Manor to fund a
[1:22:58] project to review and update Highland
Manor's bylaws to support good
[1:23:02] governance practices.
>> There's a motion on the table. Do I have
[1:23:06] a second or second by councelor Vaughn?
Any discussion?
[1:23:13] All in favor?
Your motion is carried.
[1:23:19] Thank you, Warden. Uh let me see. At the
warden's request in her place in
[1:23:24] herstead, I uh attended an EV event that
was facilitated by Nova Scotia Power. It
[1:23:30] was held at Ski Cape Smokey. They had uh
installed two new rapid charging
[1:23:36] stations for EVs and they had a couple
there that you could take for a test
[1:23:41] drive if you wished. One was a Mustang
and one was was a uh half-tonon truck.
[1:23:50] It didn't look like a Mustang, so I took
out the half-tonon truck. Um surprising
[1:23:56] I I some things I wasn't aware of. I
didn't realize there were so many
[1:24:00] charging stations across the province,
but there are many and many more planned
[1:24:05] to be put in. So, it is an option. And
with the prices of the electronic
[1:24:10] vehicles coming down considerably, it's
a could be a viable option for those who
[1:24:16] uh
who would rather get away from gas,
[1:24:20] especially with the price of gas. Now,
uh let me see. There are uh I was
[1:24:25] approached. There are concerns about
speeding um through the main dragonish
[1:24:31] uh especially now that the daycare
center is open
[1:24:35] uh and there's a lack there's no
crosswalk from the sidewalk to the
[1:24:39] entrance to the daycare center and I
know there are some parents who do walk
[1:24:42] their children there and I also know
that there because it's a fairly
[1:24:48] straight stretch of road people tend to
be a little heavy on the accelerator
[1:24:51] there. So, I'm just uh I I I'm thinking
I could reach out to Steve McDonald to
[1:24:57] see if there's something we could do
there. It used to be a school. So,
[1:25:00] they're they're they used to have the
school zone signs there, which were a
[1:25:05] bit of a deterrent, but now that it's no
longer a school, those signs are no
[1:25:08] longer there, and it just seems like a
freeway. So, it' be I'm not sure what
[1:25:13] can be done to slow people down there,
but perhaps Steve would have some
[1:25:18] answers that would help. Councelor
Donovan, do you want to make a motion
[1:25:21] for our CEO to look into that uh for
crosswalk
[1:25:25] » that? Yes, thank you. Uh I I would like
to make a motion that CEO look into uh
[1:25:30] either a crosswalk or perhaps um more
visible signage to slow people down in
[1:25:36] that area. Yeah,
>> there's a motion on the table. Can I get
[1:25:39] a seconder, please? Second by councelor
Mel Ford. Any discussion? All in favor?
[1:25:46] the motion is carried.
>> Um, on the same vein with the busy
[1:25:51] tourist season, it it becomes a lot more
evident. There is one one area on the
[1:25:56] street throwing in which
has been and is still a fairly dangerous
[1:26:01] little area. Right at Beach Crossing
Road because there's Beach Crossing
[1:26:05] Road. Across the street from Beach
Crossing Road is the main street
[1:26:10] restaurant which in at this time of year
is very busy. Now, most local people
[1:26:15] know to slow down coming around that
corner because cars are backing out of
[1:26:19] the restaurant. But if you're a visitor
and you don't realize that restaurant's
[1:26:23] there, there is a serious chance of a
serious accident on that corner. Now,
[1:26:28] again, I don't know what can be done to
mitigate it, whether there's one of
[1:26:32] those highway mirrors perhaps that could
be put on the opposite side of the
[1:26:35] street so you could see if vehicles are
pulling out or if additional signage
[1:26:41] there would help. I'm not sure, but
something I think has to be done there,
[1:26:46] especially at that corner. It's a busy
spot and uh there's a lot of traffic
[1:26:50] there all the time.
>> Do you do you want to amend your uh
[1:26:55] motion to
>> Yes, please.
[1:26:59] » I'd like to amend.
>> Can we amend the motion there?
[1:27:05] Okay. Yeah. Can I get a seconder to
amend the motion that uh
[1:27:15] Okay, he's just added.
>> Thank you.
[1:27:17] » Okay.
>> Uh
[1:27:21] I do have some good notes too though.
[laughter]
[1:27:25] Uh the IDS they at uh Freshwater Cove,
they have put in a new uh picnic
[1:27:31] shelter. It's being very well used and
uh it's a it's a much welcome addition
[1:27:37] to that to that uh to that swimming
hole. Uh and at the same time at the
[1:27:43] front of where the Freshwater Cove
entrance is, Parks Canada again has
[1:27:47] their dories and stories set up where
they have a member of the park staff
[1:27:51] building a dory out by the right out by
the road which is visible from the road.
[1:27:55] And as I've noticed, he's gotten quite a
few visitors stopping by to take a look
[1:27:59] and have a chat. So, that's going well.
Uh, and yeah, one last thing, uh,
[1:28:05] Highlands Links held its club
championship this past weekend.
[1:28:10] Congratulations to Grant Holly for
winning the men's division, Bobby Hussie
[1:28:14] for winning the senior division, Susan
Cochran for winning the ladies division.
[1:28:19] I did participate and I did manage to uh
enjoy the flora and fauna that Parks
[1:28:26] Canada Woods have.
That's all for me. Thank you, counselor.
[1:28:31] Counselor Henick.
>> Thank you, Warden. Um, as the busy
[1:28:37] summer's coming close to an end and the
students will be heading back to school
[1:28:42] and I can see some of the leaves
changing already, which is quite
[1:28:45] surprising, but I hope everybody had
enjoyed their summer. Um, I would like
[1:28:49] to send a shout out to Morgan and her
wonderful team for all the efforts that
[1:28:52] they have done so far with the community
cleanups. Uh they will be in Cape North
[1:28:57] this Friday starting at the fire hall
from 10 to 12. Uh come out and lend a
[1:29:02] hand if you have a a minute or so. Uh
this summer district 8 there was a lot
[1:29:07] of activities. I'd like to thank all the
volunteers. It's greatly appreciated
[1:29:11] from all the fun at the base at Lawrence
Community Center to the youth basketball
[1:29:16] done at done by Samuel and Gracie Scott
at the Dingwall Park. Also to all the
[1:29:21] volunteers, young and old, for all their
hard work and dedication to fix up the
[1:29:25] Dingwall ball field. They played ball
just about every night, and it was so
[1:29:30] great to see it back in use again. Um,
also the cra the cabbage Alliance Club
[1:29:36] will be holding their annual auction in
person on Saturday, September 5th at 1
[1:29:41] p.m. at the United Church Hall in Cape
North. Viewing starts at 12. Um some
[1:29:47] great news also uh
scouts are coming to to north of
[1:29:53] Smokeoky. So also contact Tracy McKinnon
Scott for further details. So it's great
[1:29:58] to see the girls guides are up running
again and now they're going to get
[1:30:02] scouts. So that's very good for our
young uh people. So, and this summer I
[1:30:08] spoke with many tourists and the main
topic was that we live in a beautiful
[1:30:12] place, but too bad we can't see much
without the growth covering up our
[1:30:17] beautiful scenery. I've heard this over
and over again, and I was I don't know
[1:30:23] who we would contact or see about brush
cutting or whatever is done because it's
[1:30:29] it's thrown in a lot. Um, and I only had
one more thing to add. I also have a
[1:30:36] motion uh to have your CEO uh send a
letter to Nova Scotia Health to request
[1:30:43] any information on dialysis at the
Buchanan Memorial.
[1:30:48] I had a few residents come to me and
that have to travel to city 3 to four
[1:30:52] days a week for dialysis and just
wanting to know if there was going to be
[1:30:56] any movement at getting something set up
at hospital in El Sar.
[1:31:02] » There's a motion on the table. Can I get
a seconder? Second by councelor Bourne.
[1:31:07] Any discussion?
All in favor?
[1:31:11] Motion is carried.
>> Thank you, Morton.
[1:31:13] » Is that it for you?
>> That's it for me.
[1:31:15] » Okay. Well, District 7, uh, thank you,
Councelor Dunan, for attending that
[1:31:20] event for me.
So, as councelor Henik said, uh, summer
[1:31:27] is coming down, but it's still in a full
is still in full swing as residents,
[1:31:31] beaches, accommodations, and campgrounds
are very busy. I'd like to urge all
[1:31:35] residents to be alert when traveling for
pedestrians and other traffic on our
[1:31:40] roads. Um, please check out the Victoria
North Library Facebook page for events
[1:31:46] going on all summer and they're still
continuing. Branch 105 Legion is hosting
[1:31:51] a monthly merchandise bingo. Um it's
usually posted outside the date. St.
[1:31:57] Andrews
[1:32:00] uh parish hall usually hold um
merchandise bingos also so you can watch
[1:32:06] for their posts. Also the St. Andrews
ACW will be holding a tea and sale on
[1:32:11] September 13th with live music performed
by former counselor Norman McDonald.
[1:32:16] Come on out, enjoy a pot of tea,
homemade sweets and music, and pick
[1:32:21] yourself up a little goodie at their
sale.
[1:32:24] Uh, below guided bike tours every
Thursday at 9:00 a.m. at the Periwinkle
[1:32:30] Cafe. And also, I found out that there's
water aerobics at the Freshwater Lake
[1:32:35] Mondays, Wednesdays, and Friday mornings
at 10:00 a.m. I'm heard it the the
[1:32:39] ladies that are in it are enjoying it
very much.
[1:32:44] Uh for the residents um that had
complained about the overgrowth on the
[1:32:49] road sides, I have reported it to public
works and also to MLA Timonss. I have
[1:32:55] received that some brush cutting will be
done. Um no timeline.
[1:33:00] And also I've been receiving complaints,
I'm sure all of us have on cell service
[1:33:04] and they're wondering if we are
advocating for cell service for Victoria
[1:33:09] County. And I I'd like to tell all
residents we are much so advocating for
[1:33:15] cell service um in Victoria County. Al
also the justice minister will be uh
[1:33:22] coming to see us uh sometime and uh I'm
going to mention that to him too as for
[1:33:28] safety safety issue.
Um to add to our motions for um Mr.
[1:33:36] McDonald and uh public works like to
make a motion to direct the CEO to have
[1:33:42] Mr. McDonald to come in for a fall
update uh at his convenience. Um I'm
[1:33:48] sure he'll
just to just to meet in with us and just
[1:33:53] maybe he can give us update on the
cabbage trail, brush cutting,
[1:33:58] uh potholes, etc.
There's a motion on the table. Do I get
[1:34:04] a second? Second by councelor Matis
Lort.
[1:34:10] Any discussion? All in favor?
The motion is carried. And that's it for
[1:34:16] district 7.
Uh, we're going to take a 15 minute
[1:35:24] Okay, welcome back to everybody. Um,
next we have uh council discussion on
[1:35:30] road name petit petition. Um, you're
speaking on that s there.
[1:35:37] [laughter]
>> You are now.
[1:35:38] » Yeah. So, I thought uh I thought that uh
Sean Dunovan may may have been staying
[1:35:44] for this. However, um so there was a
road name petition that had been put
[1:35:49] forward. Um it has been brought to us by
Brian Buts from Eastern District
[1:35:56] Planning. Uh the submitted road name was
Lindor Lane. Uh which is the change from
[1:36:03] what it was in the past. Uh twothirds of
the majority have signed on the petition
[1:36:10] and uh Eastern District Planning has
approved it on their side. So then the
[1:36:18] process is to take it to council to have
the name change approved. Um, if council
[1:36:28] so chooses,
[1:36:50] so
[1:36:55] Yep. So that that's up to you if anyone
has anything to say or if there's a
[1:37:00] motion to follow to uh pass that as a
name change.
[1:37:06] » Go.
[1:37:09] » I move that we pass that as a name
change for
[1:37:14] We have a motion on the table. Can I get
a seconder? Second by councelor Dunovan.
[1:37:18] Discussion. Deputy warden there. uh
asking if I remember for they change the
[1:37:23] names. Do they
check with the neighbors and all that?
[1:37:28] Everybody's agreeing. Yeah. Two3s. Okay.
>> Yeah, that's on that's on the petition
[1:37:32] that 2/3 have signed.
>> Okay. Thanks.
[1:37:35] » So, there's a motion.
Councelor Dunovan.
[1:37:40] Councelor Bourne.
>> Clarification. And as the clerk
[1:37:43] mentioned, the sign would be given to
the counselor who installs the sign.
[1:37:49] » Because it's a private road, it's up to
the residents on the road to have it
[1:37:52] done, but we provide the sign. Is there
is there a criteria for safety for
[1:37:58] installing a sign or like is there
>> can you come forward and and explain
[1:38:04] like does pl the plane department have a
certain criteria for height or
[1:38:09] » I'm just questioning if if it's given to
the owner to do. That's all.
[1:38:13] » The only requirement is the actual sign
has to meet certain provincial
[1:38:18] requirements which it does. Um, we order
it from a sign shop in Sydney and they
[1:38:22] have our specs that were given to us by
um, the province.
[1:38:29] » Question. Who the land that it goes on?
Who owns the land that it's going to go
[1:38:32] on?
>> I'm assuming the owners that signed the
[1:38:36] petition, but I don't know.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:38:41] » Like if it's gone through EDPC and he
has approved it to come to here, that
[1:38:45] means that he's checked the 911 system.
he's checked that it's not under there's
[1:38:50] no Lindor lane in the in the county and
he goes through those checks and
[1:38:53] balances. That's not for us to do.
>> Right. Just of note though, um
[1:39:01] this one may be okay because there was
there's three homes and two have signed
[1:39:06] off on it. Uh just to be aware that when
these are done, there are other steps
[1:39:12] that have to happen. So like like 911,
like Amazon, like all of those things.
[1:39:18] So um it's not just the name ch the only
thing council should be concerned with
[1:39:24] is the name change. However, there's
other consequences to those that are
[1:39:28] living on the road.
Okay, there's excuse me, a motion on the
[1:39:33] table. We have a seconder. All in favor?
Against?
[1:39:39] Your motion is carried.
Thank you.
[1:39:44] Okay. Um the CA CEO
report.
[1:39:50] Thank you. So I just have a couple of
things to note. Um we have a call out
[1:39:54] for our housing and our planning
advisory committee members. Please see
[1:39:59] our website and applications will be
open until August 31st. Uh we have a
[1:40:05] former counselor in the room here who
maybe one of those would be of interest.
[1:40:14] Not to call you out or anything, but
[laughter]
[1:40:21] all members of what?
>> So, this is like not the eastern
[1:40:26] planning thing. You mean? No, it's just
another
[1:40:29] » Yeah. So, now that we have planning in
place?
[1:40:33] » Yes. Um
the only committee currently that is set
[1:40:37] up is an area advisory committee for um
the village proper.
[1:40:44] So now we're looking to form a committee
for planning advisory for the county. So
[1:40:49] ideally we have some folks from all over
the county to look at planning as a
[1:40:55] whole if there's any changes to be made,
anything to be updated in the plan. I
[1:41:00] believe that council a few years ago
when um this land use planning strategy
[1:41:07] for the county as a whole started, they
agreed that they would be the planning
[1:41:11] advisory committee and now it's been um
decided that we go out for members of
[1:41:19] the public in relation to it.
And if there's a need for certain areas,
[1:41:25] we can certainly set up another area
advisory for any of those that are in
[1:41:29] the areas of growth.
>> Yeah.
[1:41:33] » Yes. And so that's two separate
committees. There's a housing committee
[1:41:37] and there's a planning advisory
committee and both are open until August
[1:41:41] 31st.
[1:41:44] » Dixon, is it clear as mud now to you?
>> Yes, I I understand exactly what it is
[1:41:50] now. Uh yeah, I'd be interested in one
of them probably. I Yeah,
[1:41:55] » sure. Um
>> the planning probably since I've been
[1:41:59] there before and I understand the
process.
[1:42:02] » I believe the terms of reference have
that there has to be some counselors on
[1:42:06] it as well.
>> So or the terms of reference that was
[1:42:10] passed early on in 2021 uh 2020, sorry.
Um so we'll mark your name down as
[1:42:19] seeing on there.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:42:21] » Thank you. Um, also the Victoria County
Water Utility and I think I might be
[1:42:29] able to leave that one uh because we are
looking for an approval of a motion to
[1:42:34] pass our water utility and capital
budget. So, we'll pass that on for
[1:42:37] later. Um, the ad for the September tax
sale by tender is now posted on our
[1:42:43] website with a sale date of September
14th. So sometimes we will do them by
[1:42:48] tender and then other times we have them
uh in for the public uh as a public live
[1:42:55] auction. Uh the one for September is
going to be by tender. The the sorry the
[1:43:01] one for September and the one for
November uh will proceed as a public
[1:43:05] auction
and
[1:43:10] those are my items to make the public
aware of.
[1:43:14] » Thank you. Does anybody have any
questions or anything for our CEO for on
[1:43:19] her report?
[1:43:22] None being so we will go on to our next
thing. Um motion.
[1:43:31] Can I get a a motion to accept the first
reading of the commercial development
[1:43:37] district improvement bylaw amendment?
Can I It's moved by councelor Henock.
[1:43:42] Can I get a seconder, please? Councelor
Matson Lefor. Any discussion?
[1:43:49] All in favor?
[1:43:53] Motion is approved.
Okay. Next. Um, do you want this in two
[1:44:01] motions for the water utility and cap?
Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the
[1:44:07] recommendations made at the August 7th
audit committee meeting regarding the
[1:44:12] water utility? It's moved by Oh, sorry.
Utility water
[1:44:19] utility budget. It's moved by councelor
Dunovan, second by councelor Bourne. Any
[1:44:26] discussion?
All in favor?
[1:44:29] Your motion is carried.
Next, can I get a motion to approve
[1:44:36] uh the recommendation made at August 7th
audit committee meeting for the capital
[1:44:41] budget?
It's moved by councelor Matis Lefort,
[1:44:46] second by councelor Bourne. Any
discussion? All in favor?
[1:44:51] Your motion is carried.
Uh committee reports. Do we have any
[1:44:56] committee reports?
[1:45:02] No,
>> just uh to remind you if do the survey
[1:45:05] for Victoria County Transit, please.
>> Thanks, Deputy Warden.
[1:45:10] » Thank you.
[1:45:14] Correspondence. We is a list of
correspondents that has been sent out,
[1:45:21] sent and received. Thank you.
Um and next is uh the public. Do does
[1:45:28] our public have any questions for us
today?
[1:45:35] Um being none,
we are adjourned.