August municipal news - Victoria-by-the-Sea
Summer is drawing to a close, so the municipality is steadily able to turn our attention from operation of summer facilities, to a suite of capital projects this fall and early winter. Read the updates below!
In addition to delivering this newsletter by email, we are now also publishing this newsletter to the website, so you can easily find past editions and share them with interested friends: www.rmvictoria.com/newsletters
In this edition:
1 - Casual maintenance work this September?
2 - From the Mayor’s desk
3 - Capital Projects Update
4 - Upcoming Council Meetings
5 - Saltwater Well Drilling at Amar, Sep 4-8
6 - New Canada Post Mailboxes
7 - Centre for Aquaculture Tech - Animal Care Committee
1 - Casual maintenance work this September?
We are looking for someone local to open the central washrooms, and the Victoria Park washrooms, on Mondays and Tuesdays only in September, and can pay $19 per hour with submission of timesheets. Please email victoriamunicipalitypei@gmail.com if you are interested or have any ideas.
This would involve three visits throughout the day: 30-60 minutes in the morning (before 10am) to unlock both facilities, check that toilet paper and soap is topped up, and mop the floors; then another visit around lunchtime to check supplies and mop the floors again, and a final quick visit to lock the doors and park gate in the evening (between 8 and 10pm).
2- From the Mayor’s desk
Dear fellow residents of Victoria by the Sea,
As I write this report, I’m watching the progress of soon to be Hurricane Franklin that has turned north and has possibilities of coming our way [update: the storm is now expected to pass well to the south]. As you know, according to the provincial laws, our municipality and indeed the entire province has to have plans in place to ensure our preparations and response to major storms and other types of disasters are adequate and meet residents’ needs. While we have been very busy with getting many of the essential capital projects underway and ensuring we are providing the ongoing operations for the municipality to the best of our ability, we have not yet put in place an “official” Emergency Measures Plan for the community.
At our recent meeting of the Council, the CAO reported her intention to develop an interim plan by engaging all the parties that would be involved in responding to an emergency, at a workshop in early September. I hope that having this level of readiness for this year’s peak hurricane season should give residents some comfort that we will be a little more prepared than we were for last year’s event. We will be communicating with residents in the days following the workshop about our interim plan and, in the event of a municipal emergency, how everyone can access the available services if they are needed. I am particularly happy to report that the municipality has, with the support of electrical engineer Bob Sear, issued a tender for generators which would supply electricity, in the event of a sustained power outage - to both our municipal water-supply system, our wastewater treatment facilitity and to the schoolhouse, which could serve as a reception centre with warming/cooling capacity during extreme weather. Once bids are received, we look forward to this installation occurring, to add some much-needed peace of mind for our residents.
The Council also received a report from our CAO, Anna Keenan, outlining the many challenges we have as a municipality to serve the residents without having the resources necessary to fulfill our responsibilities under the laws of the province. The report is available online here. I urge all residents to read this report if you haven’t already done so. In the report, our CAO outlines her recommendations for how the Municipality should address the challenges and take advantage of opportunities available to provide sustainable government services for our residents. Recently, the CAO in our neighbouring municipality resigned his post and their municipal council is looking for how they will continue to provide services to their residents. I recently met with the Mayor of Crapaud to discuss their challenges and have found that they have many of the same issues as we do with delivering municipal services without the resources needed to meet the requirements under provincial laws. Reading between the lines in our CAO’s report, doing nothing is not an option. In response, the Council members agreed to consider the CAO’s advice before the next council meeting and agree on a plan to proceed with one or more of the options available at this time.
Unfortunately, due to its age and last year’s weather event, the roof on the Playhouse was in need of urgent repair. A grant will be sought to pay for a full replacement (which is past due), however, in the meantime the Municipality has had to do a temporary fix by patching the roof. Our CAO and General Maintenance Officer wer able to secure the services of a boom truck last Friday, which was essential to complete the temporary repair before Saturday’s heavy rain. Other facilities owned by the Municipality have also been subject to urgent repairs, such as the public toilets. With such a small budget, the Municipality has to be extra careful for how it spends the limited funds available. It is the reason for why our Council has to stay on top of the municipal expenses in order to prioritize our initiatives.
I want to take this opportunity to thank our administrative staff, Anna and Marsha, for the support they have provided our council and the services they have provided our community. Behind the scenes, there is a lot of work that is required to ensure the smooth running of our municipal government. I would like you to join me in thanking our administrative staff for the tremendous effort our council members see day in, day out.
Please remember to contact me or any of the other council members if you have any concerns or suggestions. Our contact information is on the Municipal website which also has information about the work our council and administrative staff have been doing and other important information you might need.
Wishing everyone time to enjoy the last days of the summer season,
Martin Ruben, Mayor
3 - Capital Projects Update
The municipality has a number of Capital projects in our budget for this financial year (April to March). Here is the current status of each project:
Replacement of water line across the Causeway Bridge: the bid from Island Coastal was approved, and it came in under budget. They are currently procuring the required specialized materials, and the work should be complete by the end of October.
Installation of Generators to provide backup power to the water pumphouse, the schoolhouse, and the wastewater treatment facility: A tender has been issued and we expect to receive bids from various contractors by this Friday, for the Water & Sewer Commission to assess (and hopefully to approve one!) at a meeting next Tuesday morning.
Replacement of the sewage lift-station on the Wharf: We are in the final stages of negotiating the tender package, including getting signoff from the Harbour Authority and DFO, and expect it to be published in the coming days. Should everything go to plan, we expect that the work to replace this dated lift station, which is at the end of its lifespan, will be completed in the late fall and early winter this year.
Heatpump installation at the Community Hall (Victoria Playhouse) and Fire Hall: We received a grant to cover $20,000 for each of these installations, and municipal staff are currently working to secure contractors to perform the work. Unfortunately, the heat exchanger of the oil furnace in the Community Hall rusted through this year, however we are taking the opportunity to install a central
4- Upcoming Council Meetings
Meetings currently scheduled in September include:
Water & Sewer Commission - Tuesday September 5, 9am, primarily for consideration of bids received on the Generator projects
Council - Monday September 11, 6:30pm
Planning Board - September 21, 2023, 6:15pm. Will be briefly open for some public updates on expressions of interest received for subdivisions in the municipality, then will move into a closed session for discussion of legal advice.
As per our Procedural Bylaw, Agendas and packages for meetings will be published on the website 2 days in advance.
5 - Saltwater Well Drilling at Amar, Sep 4-8
AMAR Seafood PEI is planning on drilling a deep salt water well during the week of Sept 4 2023. The salt water well is being drilled by Moores Well Drilling and supervised by Joose Environmental. Amar received a permit for this work from the PEI Dept of Environment (Groundwater Exploration Permit #2022-17), and a copy of this permit has been provided to the municipality. The permit outlines the criteria required by the department, including pump step tests which will take place once well is drilled. They hope all drilling will be complete by Sept 8.
If you pass the site while drilling is occurring, you can expect to see a lot of moving water, which will likely appear red from the PEI clay soil and silt mixed in. Amar has assured us that they will be directing overflowing salt water away from the park and into the ocean, and further that they are working with the department of environment to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include installation of silt screen fabric to remove silt prior to water entering the Strait. Once the well is established, which will take a few days of drilling, the pipes will be connected and discharge into the ocean will end.
The location of the planned well is shown as ‘Proposed PW5-23’ in the following image from their permit application. This will be the 5th such well on the Amar property, in addition to the 4 existing saltwater wells:
If anyone in the community has any questions, Scott Travers, CEO AMAR Seafood PEI, has provided his contact number: 902 329 1110
6 - New Canada Post Mailboxes
Mail services in the village are changing. You should have received information from Canada Post already with your new address details, your new mailbox keys, and other information about the change.
A helpful video has been posted on the Victoria Villagers Facebook page. Check it out here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/551267452161774/posts/1305735990048246/
As municipal staff, we look forward to seeing more as you drop by the schoolhouse to pick up your mail. We have offered to Canada Post to sell stamps and offer large parcel pickup services from the municipal office, however we are waiting on their response, so it might be a few weeks yet. We’ll let you know how that conversation goes!
7 - Centre for Aquaculture Tech - Animal Care Committee?
The Centre for Aquaculture Technology here in Victoria (at 797 Victoria Road) is searching for a Community Member for their Animal Care Committee (ACC). Could this be you?
From Tory Burke at the Centre: “As part of our certification to work with animals, we follow the Canadian Council for Animal Care’s directives which require us to have this committee that has at least one member from the local community. This is to ensure that there is no question to the ethics of our research using animals (fish).
Currently, we have a community member who lives near our facility in Souris, but he will be finishing up with us in the coming months and so we are on the hunt for someone to join our committee (as a volunteer) close to the Victoria site. This commitment would require roughly 5-8 hours per month to participate in our monthly meeting, review our animal use protocols, review of standard operating procedures, and attend a walk-through of the facility once per year.
For anyone who is interested, they can contact either myself (Tory Burke, tburke@aquatechcenter.com, 1-902-569-8531) or Troy Barton (tbarton@aquatechcenter.com) who is our ACC Chair.”
That’s all for this month!
Questions? Feedback? Info for a future newsletter? Photos you’re willing to share?
Contact Anna & Marsha at victoriamunicipalitypei@gmail.com
Regular office hours: Mon-Thurs, 9:30am-12noon & 1-3:30pm.
Rural Municipality of Victoria, 730 Victoria Road, Victoria, PE, C0A 2G0, Canada