Latest news with #JenniferMacDonald
CBC
27-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Money at heart of strained relations between Baddeck and Victoria County: village chair
Budget pressures are causing tension between the village commission in Baddeck, N.S., and Victoria County council, commission chair Jennifer MacDonald says. Last year, the county cancelled all of its long-standing funding agreements with the village and MacDonald said since then, both sides have started trying to work out which level of government is responsible for things like sidewalk snow clearing and sewer and water services. "Everybody wants to make their dollars stretch as far as possible and so, yeah, I think part of it is money and I think part of it is a shifting sense of responsibility and agreements had been in place for a long time and agreements need to be renegotiated because things change over time," MacDonald said Monday after the village commission's annual general meeting. Neither county chief administrative officer Leanne MacEachen nor Warden Jackie Organ returned calls for comment this week. On its website, Victoria County says it is willing to strike an agreement on shared services, but the village needs to come up with a five-year capital plan and supporting financial documents before it can agree on any more funding. MacDonald said the village is willing to work with the county, but a comprehensive capital plan can't be developed before the fall, when an engineer's assessment is due on the village's aging sewer system. The county says in addition to a traditional cost-sharing agreement, both sides need to consider: Property taxes related to village-owned water utility infrastructure. Tipping fees or contributions toward solid waste management. Responsibility for garbage collection within the village. Potential support from the municipality with tax collection, including cost recovery. MacDonald said the village was sharing the cost of some services under long-standing agreements, but the newly elected commission has decided it does not want residents to pay extra for services they already pay for as county taxpayers. Sidewalk snow clearing is a good example, MacDonald said. The village has done that work for years with a financial contribution from the county. But the village does not own the sidewalks, which MacDonald said are a municipal responsibility, according to the provincial Municipal Affairs Department. She said the village indicated last winter it was going to stop providing the service, but the county asked that it be continued for one more year, so the village did that out of concern for the safety of residents. Last year, the service cost the village about $35,000, with the county chipping in $8,000 of that, MacDonald said, adding that other communities get that service paid fully by the county. "That'll have to be another discussion … because it certainly is a service that is provided by the municipality elsewhere and … why is it that the Village of Baddeck tax rate should subsidize that?" Not personal Garbage collection and sewer and water services are also provided to other communities, paid for out of county general funds, which Baddeck taxpayers also pay into, MacDonald said. Money is at the heart of the tension between the village commission and the county council, she said. "Although the relationship is strained, it's certainly not a reflection of relationships between commissioners and councillors being strained," she said. "I think it's just a reflection of different levels of government and their responsibilities and the pressures that everyone feels. I think that's where the tension is, not personally."
CBC
25-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Village of Baddeck cautiously accepting new sewer and water hookups
The village commission in Baddeck, N.S., has lifted a moratorium on new sewer and water hookups that was implemented last year over concerns about the capacity of the Victoria County community's aging infrastructure. Demand for treated water exceeded the wells' regulated withdrawal limits and partially treated sewage sometimes bypassed the treatment plant and went directly into the Bras d'Or Lake. At the village commission's annual general meeting on Monday evening, chair Jennifer MacDonald said development is now cautiously going ahead under the watchful eye of engineers. "We now feel that we do have a limited capacity," she said. "We're still having bypass events. We're still having withdrawal concerns from our wells. We're not in the clear, but we do know that a single family home here and there isn't going to put undue stress on the system." Development was brought to a standstill last year as the community grappled with the cost of repairing systems that were built decades ago. At Monday's village meeting, with about 40 residents in attendance, MacDonald said about 70 per cent of the material being treated by the wastewater system was not coming from homes and businesses, according to water meter readings. She said water is infiltrating the sewage system and the village is trying to figure out where it's coming from. It's most likely rainwater, because rainy weather coincides with capacity issues at the treatment plant, MacDonald said. An engineering report on the wastewater system is expected this fall, which will help the village plan repairs and expansion and determine how much that will all cost, she said. However, the water treatment system is also not efficient, MacDonald said. Expansion is possible An engineering report found most of the water that is treated is not being delivered to homes and businesses. Some of that loss is through leaks and some of it may be through customers receiving unmetered water. MacDonald urged residents who are not receiving a bill to call the village office. She said a recent study found there is plenty of water in the aquifer, so it's possible to expand the treatment and distribution system. The commission chair said the village is gradually getting a handle on its infrastructure needs and is making plans for improvements, which is why new hookups are once again being accepted. "In the interest of not inhibiting development, we're opening those things back up based on a case-by-case basis again," MacDonald said. "Would we have capacity for a large development? Likely not, but single family dwellings and small commercial hookups, we can certainly accommodate those things at this stage."
CTV News
19-06-2025
- CTV News
‘It's unacceptable': Adam Drake's defence lawyer blocked from leaving court, followed
The defence lawyer for the man accused of killing battle rapper Pat Stay says he was blocked from leaving the parking lot of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Dartmouth and subsequently followed. Michael Lacy told Justice Scott Norton about the incident before the judge delivered his final instructions to the jury in Adam Drake's second-degree murder trial on Tuesday. Lacy said justice system participants deserve to do their jobs 'without being harassed, intimidated, physically accosted, followed away from the courthouse.' Lacy acknowledged the need for defence lawyers to have 'thick skin,' but said people are not entitled to 'physically intimidate counsel, whether it's the Crown of defence counsel, to get in their way and impede them from leaving, following them after they leave the courthouse.' 'This is the kind of thing that's happened over the last two days in this trial,' he said. 'Not once in the 28 years that I have practised, have I been subjected to that conduct and I watched Ms. (Jennifer) MacDonald be subjected to that conduct.' After eventually leaving the courthouse on Monday, Lacy said he was followed, and that fellow defence lawyer Jennifer McDonald was behind the 'thug' who was following him, calling the person 'one of the thugs from the mob of the misinformed.' He said there was video of that person 'aggressively driving' with no licence plate, following them and circling in a parking lot they ended up in, to the point where police were called. Lacy said he wanted to make it part of the court record, but it didn't impact his ability to defend Drake. He said he didn't want to become a complainant for the purpose of doing his job, but he did want to ensure the jurors weren't impacted and that they didn't see or read about what happened. 'It's unacceptable, it shouldn't happen,' Lacy said. Ultimately, after learning through video surveillance footage that jurors were not present, he decided not to ask that the judge's instructions to the jury reflect the incidents. Drake is accused of fatally stabbing Stay at a Halifax nightclub on Sept. 4, 2022. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. The jury began deliberations Tuesday afternoon following a six-week trial. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
