Province to Decide if District 3 will be Split in Three

There will be less councillors and rearranged districts when this year's county election is held on October 15. That's for sure because the public has clearly stated a strong preference for fewer councillors. The independent consultant hired to determine the most appropriate number came to the conclusion that a reduction from 11 to 9 was the most appropriate way forward.

How many districts and where the boundaries will be drawn will be decided by the Utilities and Review Board. A date for a public hearing is yet to be set. The Board will either approve the boundaries applied for or it can rule that the independent consultant's recommendation is upheld, or it could rule that a different number of councillors or a different set of boundaries is more appropriate.

Ironically, council never did get to vote for the boundaries and number of districts recommended by the independent consultant we hired! Instead council, in a 6 to 5 split vote, approved boundaries put forward by the CAO MacEwan under the direction of Deputy Warden Hirtle.

If council's recommendation is accepted by the UARB your current district (i.e., District 3 --- 2007-2016) will be split in three. Below are the maps and a short description of the changes.

Centreville and District, Halls Harbour, and Gibson Woods will be joined to a new District 1 that encompasses Canning and a North East Kings expanded to the west.

Aldershot will be split. The east portion will be joined to the Village of Port Williams and the western portion of the Village of New Minas in a new District 2.

Aldershot's west portion, along with Meadowview will be joined to a new District 3 that crosses the Cornwallis River and expands into Coldbrook.The reproduction of the maps above is less than great! Copies of the maps for all districts have been left at the Centreville Community Hall and the Meadowview Community Hall. You may also request to see these maps during regular business hours by contacting the County of Kings at 902.690.6275.

In my respectful opinion, the boundaries that have been submitted for this reduction to eight districts are the very definition of a higgledy–piggledy mess.

They do little to keep communities of interest intact. They even jump from the north to the south side of the Cornwallis River.

I hope further examination by the Utility and Review Board will lead to adjustments rather than approval. The hearing will be a public one and the opinions of members of the public are welcomed by Elaine Wagner, Chief Clerk of the Board at 1.855.442.4448 or Elaine.wagner@novascotia.ca

As always, please do not hesitate to be in touch with me if there is anything you wish to say or discuss. I can be reached by email or phone.

902.670.2949 

paulineraven@gmail.com

Application Filed at UARB to reduce from 11 to 8 the number of Kings County councillors

The Municipality of the County of Kings filed its application with the Utility and Review Board on February 12, 2016. The application reduces the number of councillors from eleven to eight. The application also amends the boundaries of polling districts. 

As I see it, the amendment of the boundaries is confusing and the method employed to decide boundaries is unwarranted. There is the perception that boundary choices were made to favour some of the current councillors while disadvantaging others as the county looks to the municipal election of October 2016. 

Documents and files related to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board's upcoming hearing can be found by searching Case Number M07312. The title for the case is:

MB-16-01: Municipality of the County of Kings - reduce the number of councillors and polling districts

Files/Documents

Questions about the process can be posed to:

Elaine Wagner

Chief Clerk of the Board

Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board

1601 Lr. Water Street, Suite 300

PO Box 1692, Postal Unit “M”

Halifax, NS  B3J 3S3

Telephone:  (902)424-4448

Toll Free:  1-855-442-4448

Email:  Elaine.wagner@novascotia.ca

Update on Airport Motions

I voted yes to the business case study but qualified that the business case made by MMM would not have warranted investment without the subsequent work by Paul Easson and the Freedom Aviation Society.

Three other motions (investment related) were adjusted prior to the meeting. The solo motion presented ws a long one but fundamentally dealt with the $1.147 Million grant to Freedom Aviation Society to establish civilian airport activities at Greenwood.

I put an amendment on the floor to the motion that added:

"Based on an estimated grant to FAS of $1.147 Million that council immediately enter into negotiations with Minister Furey, Minister Brison, and MP Colin Fraser to have a portion of the risks associated with this investment underwritten."

The ammendment passed but with Brothers, Hirtle and Lloyd speaking vehemently against and urging a "no vote".

Councillor Winsor spoke in favour of the project but voted no. His position was based on a need to see the governance structure outlined first and his view that council needed to be represented on the airport's board. Hi arguments were very valid and my preference would have been to see these details some time ago. However, I feel these matters will be dealt with soon.

Councillor MacQuarrie had indicated on Tuesday that she would likely attend the Friday Special Council meeting, noting that she would work to readjust some other appointments and urging council to not consider other dates/times. However, she did not attend. Therefore, no assumptions should be made about her feelings on this matter based on the voting details above.

That's the news from council. There were very few individuals in attendance beyond Paul Easson and a few other Kings County residents (aviatiors and Mr. Goldie who operated the flight school at Waterville).

No one made any public comments besides Paul Easson who spoke in strong support. In other words, any alternate public view was absent in chambers.

The municipal airport will officially close on March 31, 2016. I look forward to an update from Michelin regarding its planned expansion prior to that date.

Four Airport Motions Before Council Today

The closure of the Waterville Municipal Airport to make room for an impending Michelin expansion has been a painful process replete with unexpected twists. I am getting ready for a 10AM special council meeting.

I'm looking for some guarantee for the taxpayers' funds at today's council meeting. A commitment by council to work on that could be the defining factor for me as I vote on motions 2-4 today, . 

The four motions to be debated between 10 AM and 1PM are:

1. Council approves and accepts the Business Case Study and the 10 Year Business Plan [for general aviation activities at 14-Wing Greenwood] as prepared and submitted by MMM Group Limited.
2. Council confirms that it will make a decision on funding within one (1) month following receipt of the detailed cost estimates for the necessary and reasonable capital infrastructure required for the operation of a Civilian Airport Facility at CFB Greenwood and the 10 Year Business Plan.
3. Council confirms that, regardless of the amount requested, it will not commit to an amount of funding greater than the proceeds from the sale of the lands to Michelin less certain costs and expenses (as approved by Council). 
4. Council approves a grant to Freedom Aviation Society for the necessary and reasonable capital infrastructure required for and related to the planned Civilian Air Facility as referenced in the General Aviation Business Case and Governance Study prepared by MMM Group Limited in an amount not to exceed $1,147,400 with the total amount of the grant to be confirmed through the tendering/construction process and in order to facilitate payment of the grant and confirm amounts to be paid, Freedom Aviation Society shall be required to submit invoices to the CAO and, following submission of the invoices, the CAO shall arrange for grant funds to be paid to Freedom Aviation Society and, following receipt of the grant funds, Freedom Aviation Society shall provide the CAO with proof of payment of said invoices.

[The total amount expected from the sale of the lands to Michelin is $1.88 million. The total of all of expenses related to the closure of Waterville and holdbacks for lease payments is $732,600. The balance is to be awarded to Freedom Aviation Society... $1,147,400]

Kings County Municipal Airport to Close in 70-days

Is it too late to make a course correction and avoid a potential crash landing of millions of dollars of taxpayers' cash when our municipal airport closes? Council's work to relocate the Waterville airport is headed for a solution that places only municipal dollars in the kitty, and only municipal dollars at risk. We need to immediately challenge our provincial and federal infrastructure partners about that, perhaps making the investment of our dollars conditional on their financial involvement.

Time is short. I was reminded of that last week when a "sore-of-heart" Kings County resident forwarded CAO Tom MacEwan's January 8, 2016 letter to Transport Canada. It read: “This will confirm that operations at the Waterville Municipal Airport shall cease on March 31, 2016 and following the closure date, the airport will no longer be available for air operations of any kind.”

The impact of decisions evolve. Realities change. Time marches forward. Since the decision to sell airport lands to Michelin and relocate the airport I've continued to look for a win-win-win situation for taxpayers, aviators, and Michelin, despite frustrating and sometimes surprising circumstances.

We began with a primary focus on new jobs and secondary focus of relocating the airport. An expansion will raise Michelin's commercial property evaluation and additional tax revenues beyond the one million dollars currently collected each year from the tire giant will be welcome. Council has been encouraged by Deputy Warden Hirtle to not think in terms of “if” the expansion happens, but “when”, and to think of that when as “soon”.

Why then, aren't we actively pursuing a financial role for provincial and federal governments. There will be greater growth in their income tax revenues than the county's property tax revenues once hundreds of new Michelin jobs are realized.

The remaining condition for the county's involvement in establishing the conditions for civil aviation activities at 14-Wing is a solid business case to justify the expenditure of millions of taxpayers' dollars. The job of exploring the business case was contracted to the MMM Group who estimate “a small but tangible impact on the economy of the Annapolis Valley” for a general aviation airport. Somewhere between year three and ten they report employment equivalent to ten full time jobs. With this fairly weak business case, the MMM Group first related the spending of 1.5 million dollars in terms of compensation to hangar owners. It's now referenced as a “relocation allowance”.

The business case as tabled, does not make a case for a sound investment of taxpayers dollars in the regional economy. But the Freedom Aviation Society, and its hard-working chairman Paul Easson, of Easson's Transport, pressed on. Continued hard work to attract businesses to the future 14-Wing location is bearing fruit. Perhaps because the case has been made that the facilities there, spectacular runways and 24-hour air traffic control, can't be rivalled by an independent civilian airport in a small county like ours.

Easson reports that a charter flight company, a flight school and an airfreight operation are likely. We are told that DND will be able to make room for these interests despite the current small footprint set currently aside for general aviation. It is also notable and laudable that Freedom Aviation seems to have secured confidence in the Greenwood location among nearly all those who currently use the municipal airport at Waterville

For me, two major concerns remain.

One. The county plans to spend every penny realized from the Michelin sale (almost $2 Million) to locate a general aviation airport at 14-Wing Greenwood. If heightened security concerns should arise, our investment would quickly come undone.

Two. Our provincial government initiated this sale to Michelin and the Department of National Defence is likely to be left with significant new infrastructure, including a large hangar, if, for security reasons, DND must boot all civilians off its base.

Why is only municipal taxpayer's money being used and placed at such risk? Given the great potential for tax revenues that the Michelin expansion will bring, at the very least the provincial and federal governments should be asked to guarantee this use of county taxpayers' funds.

Both the federal and provincial governments could be asked to place a third of these funds in trust with payment made to the county if our investment does become undone by heightened security concerns.

The bitter medicine of the closure of the much loved municipal airport at Waterville on March 31, 2016, will be sweetened if we hear in the weeks ahead that sod-turning on the Michelin expansion is as imminent as Deputy Warden Hirtle expects.

It appears closure can't be further delayed because the county must collect the money from the land sale to Michelin as soon as possible. The airport community has been virtually silent if dissatisfied with this date. Without Michelin's cash for the purchase, the infrastructure needed at Greenwood can't be built. That translates to a lack of a home-base for the 48 aviators the Freedom Aviation Society has lined up for its move to Greenwood. March 31, 2016 at time of writing is 70-days away.

Life's most persistent and urgent question? What are you doing for others.

Question posed and answered by Martin Luther King Junior. Today is Martin Luther King Day.

Here in the Annapolis Valley we see many volunteers doing many things for others.

Martin Luther King's life celebrated small and large acts of kindness and courage.

His actions changed and world and others are now challenged to complete the changes needed.

Council items tonight January 5 2016

Some of the items on tonight's agenda that might peek your interest in attendance at 6PM in council chambers following a Public Hearing...

• General Aviation Business Case & Governance Study 14 Wing Greenwood
• Waterville Business Park
• Kentville Library
• Roles, Responsibilities and Goals & Objectives of the CA
• Recommendations from Budget and Finance Committee:

Click here for the complete January 5 2015 Agenda

The Budget and Finance Committee is bringing forward

• Strategic Priorities
• Kings Point-to Point, Trans County Transportation Society, Valley Search and Rescue
• Capital Budget Project Sheet
• Multi-Year Community Grant Commitments
• Service Partners
• Budget Process Timelines
• Evaluation of Grant Applications
• Multi-Year Community Grant Commitments - Defeated Motion