CHANNEL-PORT AUX BASQUES, N.L. — Concerns from a local businessman over the Grand Bay West environmentally-protected zone were among the issues addressed at a recent Port aux Basques council meeting. Public tenders also came under discussion.
Town municipal plan
With the town’s new municipal plan in the draft phase and ready for presentation to the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment, Greg Sheaves attended the council meeting to ask that the environmentally-protected (EP) zone along Grand Bay West Road, which borders a great deal of his business property, be eliminated altogether.
Under the proposed plan, the border of the EP zone has been pushed back from the roadway to compensate for several businesses that unknowingly breached the original buffer decades ago.
Sheaves says the damage has been done on several fronts and he is primarily the one affected from developing his business property further.
While councillors expressed sympathy and understanding, they remained clear that the EP zone would remain.
“From my perspective, I’m not accountable to whatever has taken place, but you can rest assured that as long as I’m sitting here, if we’ve got certain areas that we’ve got to protect, they’re going to be protected, in the absence of being forced by some legal avenue that we know, and that’s a commitment that we’ve made as councillors here,” said Jim Lane. “The whole dynamics of what goes on now with regard to preserving things have changed.”
Public tenders
Sheaves also raised the issue of town assets being scrapped, gifted or sold outright instead of going to public tender. On Thursday, May 14 the town gave an old pickup truck to an out-of-town company. He also questioned why the green garbage truck didn’t go to tender.
“I would like to see this practice stopped because I am a local taxpayer who should be given a chance to buy these items, not given to outside companies who are not taxpayers in this town,” Sheaves wrote in a letter to council.
Town manager Leon MacIsaac clarified that items with less than a $500 value are not required to be tendered, and the pickup truck was non-reparable. He added the garbage truck was not a town asset but actually belongs to the Southwest Coast Waste Management Board (SWCWM), and that the cost of any work on the collection trucks is paid for by the board.
The two debated briefly about who assigns value to items that the town wishes to dispose of before Mayor John Spencer interjected, noting Sheaves’s perceived value on items may not necessarily match that of town assessors.
“From now on, any town asset I would like to see it put on public tender,” insisted Sheaves.
“We can’t. If we’ve got a shovel, we’ve got to put a public tender out for to get rid of a shovel?” countered Spencer.
Newfoundland Power
Council may have found a solution for rerouting power to the warming centre at the Lions Club. The original proposed installation of a new pole at the War Memorial met with opposition, after it was noted the site is popular with tourists and that guy wires would negatively impact the scenery. Instead council has suggested to Newfoundland Power that the new pole be situated on the other side of the street entirely, closer to the Dr. Charles L. LeGrow Health Centre.
Bell Aliant cell service
Mayor Spencer has been in contact with Aliant regarding cell service during an outage. The company is looking at upgrading the system on Flagstaff Hill and Avalon Lane to extend service for the area, as well as ensure landline service to the town office during a prolonged power failure. The town is also working with Aliant to thin out some of the pole clusters, but as the poles are shared with Newfoundland Power they will have to be involved as well.
“Lakesbrook, particularly, looks like a tree forest up there now,” noted the mayor of the unsightly clusters.
Western Regional Waste Management (WRWM)
Coun. Keeping spoke about the ongoing provincial review of the waste management system, informing council that the representative currently has no plans to visit the west coast south of Corner Brook. Port aux Basques will extend an invitation to visit the southwest coast area as well, to directly address issues for this region.
Keeping did speak about the transportation subsidy taken off the table years ago.
“I don’t know why,” he admitted. He proposed lobbying for the reinstitution of the subsidy or, barring that, developing a waste disposal site on the west coast. “At least then the tipping fees can be lowered.”
Keeping promised to reaffirm this position at the next meeting.
Post office position
The Grand Bay East post office location is becoming available and has been posted publicly. Council believes this is a solid opportunity and doesn’t want to see the outlet closed permanently.
“You can have it in your house,” noted Spencer. “You can have it as a part-time business in your home.”
The position does come with a minor rental stipend of roughly $200 per month on top of the postmaster's job, which calls for 27 hours of work per week.
The current postal outlet in Grand Bay East also services Cape Ray residents.
