By Mark Squibb/January 20, 2022
Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Mount Pearl Mayor Dave Aker said he’s excited for a number of City projects, some new and some ongoing, that he hopes to see completed in this calendar year.
Near the top of the list is the construction of a $9 million civic centre, an item announced in 2021 and budgeted for 2022.
“We announced it las year, and all the consultation has been finished, so we’ve handed the requirements over to our engineering staff, we are working at modeling the components of the building to meet the needs of the community, and as a result of that you’ll see later in the year an RFP issued for the design and construction of that new facility down at the Team Gushue Sports Complex,” explained Aker.
He is also excited about the completion of new Smart Accessible playground at St. David’s Field, upgrades to Topsail Road, water and sewer upgrades, purchase of additional fleet vehicles, a continued reviewing of the municipal plan, and upgrades to the trail network, including the boardwalk at Power’s Pond.
This might also be the year folks see the old swimming pool finally torn down.
“We’re hoping to see that area redeveloped,” said Aker. “We have decided that that building, in all likelihood, has to be removed, and I think the residents down there will appreciate that. But, what goes there is really going to be the question at the end of the day. When picking out the new civic centre, we basically ruled out that site as the location, so it’s time to move on. We’ve had the new pool, I think going on eight years, and as part of that, we’ve had the old pool building sitting there unused. And it’s time for some change down there.”
What impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on these projects remains to be seen. Already, the beloved Frosty Festival has fallen victim to the pandemic for the second year in a row.
“I really feel for the volunteers who worked so hard,” said Aker. “They worked long hours this past fall to bring it all together, and they, like us with our budget, made the assumption that Frosty Festival would continue, and things would look a little bit more normal. But frankly, they had to make the decision, and it was well founded, and I believe they plan on doing some of the events a little later in the year.”
As Aker pointed out, this would have been the fortieth anniversary of the Frosty Festival.
“We made the same assumptions in our budget, but we all have to be nimble enough to pivot when we have to,” said Aker. “It’s only a temporary setback, and I’m sure things will start to look like normal soon.”
That said, Aker did admit council passed the budget assuming that recreation facilities would be open at full capacity. That, said Aker, is unlikely to happen now as a wave of Omicron infections has shut down much of the province again.
But, that doesn’t mean people still can’t have fun.
“We want people to be out in the parks and on the trails,” said Aker. “Outdoors seems to be the place to be. Get some fresh air. It’s good for your mental health. It’s good physically. We’ll be doing things like the snow shoe program and the cross-country skiing program. The outdoor ice rinks of course have been a big hit so far this year. And with minor hockey and the skating club in a bit of a downturn because of COVID, since no team sports are taking place, we’re opening up the Glacier for additional bubble skates, senior skates, and family skates, to allow people an opportunity to get out and get a bit of exercise in the right setting, from a COVID perspective.”
While team sports are a no go, going for a skate with your ‘tight ten’ is still allowed.
Aker said he’s proud of how council and staff worked hand in hand to ensure that essential services were delivered throughout the pandemic.
“We did have to scale back some of our non-core services in our recreation areas, but essential services, we never missed a heartbeat,” said Aker. “It was a challenging year, but I think that’s a real good news story and I want residents to be assured that as Omicron continues to make it’s way across the community, the province, and the country, first and foremost, their safety is the most important thing to think about.”
He said that since the beginning of the pandemic, the City has had to learn how to pivot depending on the provincial guidelines and alert levels.
“When the pandemic started back in 2020, we mapped all of our service offerings to the alert levels that the province had put into place,” said Aker. “So, we could quickly pivot from Alert Level 1 back up to Alert Level 4. We had to tweak it a little bit because the Alert Level 4 that’s in existence is slightly different than when it was back when it was first introduced. But generally speaking, from a recreation point of view, the guidance we’re following is to reduce the people attending your facilities.”
Looking ahead to whatever COVID challenges 2022 will bring, Aker said the question now is one of how municipalities learn to live with the disease.
“We ultimately have to learn to live with COVID,” said Aker. “We can’t shut everything down every time there is an outbreak. We have to learn to manage it. I think what we’ve learned in the last 18 months is going a long way to ensuring those same city services. The key for us is our essential workers. If they have symptoms, for example, there’s protocols in place for them to step out and isolate for a period of time, but then get them back into the workplace, which in some cases could be snow clearing equipment, but get them back to work as soon as possible, but in a safe way. Controlling the spread is key, from an employee point of view. But we can’t take our services for granted. If we don’t manage COVID, it ultimately means we’re carrying too much risk to deliver those essential services.”
On top of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, Mount Pearl City council also had to face the challenge of a number of empty seats around the council chambers last year.
Councilors Andrea Power and Andrew Ledwell were dismissed from council in June of 2020 after allegedly communicating with former CAO Steve Kent about an investigation into his conduct while on the job. As a result of an allegation by Power of unprofessional conduct, Aker himself removed himself from council proceedings while an investigation into his conduct was launched. He was cleared of the misconduct allegations, and took his seat again in October of 2020. Shortly thereafter, long serving councilor Lucy Stoyles announced her intention to run in the 2021 provincial election. Stoyles was successful in her campaign against PC candidate Jim Lester, and traded in her council seat for a House of Assembly seat in March. With the municipal election coming up in October, it was not thought prudent to hold an expensive by-election, so the four remaining members had to hold down the fort until the October election.
Following that election, council is once again operating as a full complement.
“Frankly, the workload is a little bit easier,” said Aker. “As I said to the the new members of council, nobody is more excited, no one else is more happy to see you folks arrive on our doorstep.”
As to the legal battle between the former councilors and former CAO and the City, Aker said it is still ongoing — and may be for some time yet.
“My understanding is that it’s moving along slowly, and it somehow might be inhibited a little because of the impacts of COVID on the court system,” said Aker. “So, those issues are still outstanding. Of course, I can’t comment much more on that except to say that the process is still active.”
