All posts by robinthemayor

Village Clean up day May 13 – cancelled

Good Morning

Despite the sunshine today, the forecast continues to show rain from Friday evening through the week-end.  The ground is still saturated in most areas of the village – particularly the island.  We have decided to cancel the clean up day on Saturday.  There is a fair bit of planning the last couple of days before the event, so a decision needed to be made today.
The positive side of things is the street cleaners did an amazing job this year – and the streets look fabulous.
Thank you for your yearly support and hopefully we can meet on the street with rakes and garbage bags next year.
We are considering a volunteer day later this year to sand and paint the fire hydrants.  Stay tuned …..
Robin

Rain has stopped for the time being ….it could be worse!

I have spent much of the morning visiting and talking with residents and business owners about the weather.  Whalen and George St have some issues with storm sewers, but nothing that interferes with traffic.  We are monitoring the different areas of the Village.  After watching the news and hearing from others about serious flooding in municipalities nearby in Ontario and Quebec, I think we are in pretty good shape.  Please call if you have information that would be helpful. 9195

In my travels this morning, I appreciated Les’s sense humour and thought I should share what was at the hardware store.

Les' sense of humour

Consultation with public, parents and elected officials by Ministry of Education in Merrickville on school closings- May 5, 2017

Ministry of Ed consultation May 5-17MPP Steve Clark joined Mayors Doug Malanka, David Nash and Pat Sayeau and me tonight in Merrickville.  Minister of Education Mitzie Hunter was hosting the first of ten public consultations on “Strengthening Education in Ontario’s Rural and Remote communities.”.  The message was loud and clear from the participants.  This consultation is too little too late after the school closings announced last month and the Minister was urged to put a 1 year moratorium on school closings while this consultation occurs and recommendations are prepared and considered by the government.

Bon Voyage “Connected by Canoe”!

Hopefully you are following Connected by Canoe, a group of men and women paddling from Kingston to Ottawa.

The canoe project, called Connected by Canoe, is about taking greetings and a message from the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough about the canoes—as an idea that connects Canadians to who we are and where we live in this nation of rivers—to the annual conference of the Community Foundations of Canada.  The idea of this project is to show that the canoe can be a powerful symbol of ‘being in the same boat’ and ‘pulling together’ as Canadians.  It’s a two part journey: an Express Leg involving one Voyageur canoe (16 people) travelling from Kingston to Ottawa; and a Ceremonial Leg involving three other big craft including a skin on frame umiak, a Haida-style Spirit Dancer from the West Coast, and a second big Voyageur canoe for a pre-conference paddle for delegates from Dows Lake to the Westin Hotel, where the Community Foundations Conference is happening.

The group arrived in Westport around 5:30 this evening and enjoyed a relaxing dinner and evening at the Cove.  They are a wonderful group of Canadians, with the common purpose to lead  conversations with others about what the future of Canada can be.

So glad James Raffan and the rest of the crew took the time to come to Westport.  Safe travels to Ottawa!