The long awaited multi-Million dollar announcement for Cumberland-Colchester is expected by end of January. (That is one of the problems with being a monthly. Important announcements can come a day or so after publication and it is almost a month before you have opportunity t put anything in print).

Sources indicate to the Shoreline Journal for over two weeks, Develop Nova Scotia (DNS), has been indicating an announcement is "moments away". Projects such as this one have to get in line in the political priority list and for sure the premier and other elected officials have had their hands full with issues surrounding the January 31^st deadline on Boat Harbour.

It is slightly over two years since Bill Casey and Shoreline Journal publisher, Maurice Rees hosted a joint meeting between Colchester and Cumberland, which evolved into "kick-starting" the joint application for broadband for the two counties.

If the announcement evolves as expected, Casey & Rees will be able to claim total success, because their selection of Xplornet as the presenter to the joint meeting held at The Peg, Masstown, of the required Broadband, ISP provider will have evolved into Xplornet successfully meeting Develop Nova Scotia’s stringent requirements.

During the joint meeting, Xplornet provided a rough approximate guesstimate of $40+/- Million. It is not known, at this time, the financial arrangements with DNS. Those details will form part of the announcement expected to be by the end of January. It is known that last fall, when it reviewed it’s 5-year capital projections, Colchester budgeted an amount up to 4-Million. That was an outside figure with actual cost to the municipality expected to be much less.

According to the initial presentation the Xplornet construction process would ensure it was 5G ready, which the Federal Government has mandated it all ISP providers, must supply early in the 20’s. The project, to all reports, is very unique for the following reasons:

• It is the first time two Nova Scotia counties have jointly volunteered to work together to develop a service which would apply to all residents and businesses within their governance areas.
• The speed at which it happened.
• A joint proposal for a two county-wide program, but each retaining control of their respective areas.
• Elimination of municipal competitiveness, which may pave the way to other similar initiatives, when appropriate.
• History making that in all of Canada, Cumberland-Colchester is the first federal constituency which will receive broadband services, in some ways that are more comprehensive, better, more economical and faster than some of Canada’s largest Metropolitan areas.

Not mentioned in any of the above what the economic on the two counties would be. It is definitely a tool to make businesses more competitive. The anticipated UNESCO Geo-Park approval will bolster tourism activity and permit hospitality businesses to market the area as having wide broadband throughout the entire UNESCO approved area.

As Tom Taggart has reported, the Federation Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to which he is a board member, in a study which it commissioned have concluded populations of rural municipalities will increase by at least 7% over the next decade.

Professionals who have the ability to work from home and prefer a county lifestyle will gravitate to relocations in their chosen area of Cumberland-Colchester. The construction build-up is expected to take upwards of two years, as long as approval is received early in the non-construction season.

With heavy promotion by the two municipalities that broadband will be available, it won’t take long before realty brokers and individual agents will extensively market the broadband asset.

Some commercial real estate transactions of businesses relocating to Debert Business Park have evolved slower than anticipated because of the lack of broadband services.

Economic development specialists are excited about the potential possibilities for Cumberland and Colchester to recruit new businesses. However, they have a major concern there might not be the trained labour force.

In order to be totally successful the municipalities need to be diligent to orchestrate a "buy-in" from realtors to find trained professionals to relocate here and ensure training is available for the skills the new businesses will require.

Colchester Council will adopt a Code of Conduct at its January meeting on the 30^th. Various discussions have been held since 2017 and the Minister of Municipal Affairs requested all municipalities were required to adopt a code of conduct.

At council’s committee meeting on adopting a code of conduct, municipal solicitor, Dennis James, pointed out to council the provincial act requiring a code of conduct has not been given royal assent and adopted.

When discussions on a code first surface, council requested staff formulate and submit a draft. Staff did as requested and presented to council. Several councillors, including Councillor Cooper, felt the submission was not appropriate and he would oppose.

On at the other end of the spectrum, Councillor Wade Parker has been advocating for a detailed and comprehensive code. Throughout all the discussions, council were advised the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities had been asked by the provincial government to develop a code to be considered by NSFM members.

NSFM submitted their version in April 2018, but the Minister of Municipal Affairs during the NSFM AGM in fall of 2019 expressed disappointment his department had not made a submission. During council’s committee meeting in December and again on January 16^th, Councillor Taggart expressed disappointment no one challenged the minister and he reminded council agreed in December to adopt a code in January.

At December’s 12^th committee meeting, council was advised by Rob Simonds, CAO his office had received the NSFM version earlier, but some minor changes were being made. On January 16^th the revised version was received and presented to council. Because information was circulated on table an electronic version was not available to the media.

A review of both NSFM versions reveal only slight variations, perhaps a couple of paragraphs. Discussion on what to adopt on January 16^th was intense. Councillor Wade Parker, who spoke several times on the matter said the version of code slated for adoption was useless and perhaps more dangerous that if non existed. It ended his input by saying the current version is not something he could support, because it needs to be more comprehensive and needs a lot of work.

Other’s are saying they need to adopt a code by the end of January as along as they can update and make changes at a later date.

When asked about a code of conduct, business owners, not anyone who has relatives working for the municipality, nor been a council member are shaking their heads. Their comments range from a number of different perspectives including: are council members afraid their activities would be restricted by a code; are they rushing to adopt simply because it is an election year and they wish to say, "we now have a code of conduct"; are they serving their self interests, or interests of staff and the taxpayer.

One prominent business lady suggested a poorly constructed code of conduct could be expensive, if not clearly written with precise regulations, as it would open itself up to several legal battles.

When asked in Tim Horton’s of their view, a coffee group involving several business owners offered: Are they sure they know what they are doing? I don’t think so. Already on staff is Mark Austin, who has a Master’s degree in Human Resources and similar matters. Why did they wait? Why not get him to prepare one, which would stand the test of time?

If councillor Cooper is right, we don’t need one, or a strong one. If Councillor Parker is correct, the Municipality of Colchester could be headed for some legal battles.

Thursday night will determine the outcome and test of time will reveal the accuracy of council’s decision on January 30^th