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The item before council committee was to request consideration to cover costs associated with the replacement of the arena floor. Council committee recommended to council the request from the North Colchester Recreation Centre for additional overages of $359,115.02, with a cost to the Municipality of approximately $70,300 once grants, tax rebates and GIC have been received.

More complete details on the project is contained in a separate article elsewhere in this issue.

Michelle Boudreau, Director Public Works presented a Funding Application, Growth and Renewal for Infrastructure Development Program (GRID) to seek Council’s support for an application to the GRID program. Funding priority will be given to shovel-ready projects that help communities address critical capacity issues, health and safety, expand services, build more accessible and adaptable communities, and projects that enable and/or preserve housing.

Council Committee recommends that Council support an application to the Growth and Renewal for Infrastructure Development program with the selected project being replacement of 833 metres of trunk sewer in Tatamagouche at an estimated project cost of $1.3M. Council Committee was asked to seek Council’s support for an application to the Green Municipal Fund’s Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation Program. Staff recommend using a project cost estimate of $100,000. If the application is successful, the program would provide 70% funding, or $70,000. The remaining $30,000 would be covered by the Municipality and that amount would be included in the upcoming operating budget deliberations. Staff’s recommendation was approved by council committee.

The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) is a program which is administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and funded by the Government of Canada. Its mandate is to support local governments in their efforts to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gases.

Regarding adopting a Code of Conduct, which the province has mandated all municipalities adopt a Code of Conduct, on motion by Mayor Blair, Council Committee recommends to Council that the current Code of Conduct for Members of Council Policy and the Code of Conduct Complaints Policy be repealed; and, By way of resolution, that Council adopts the Code of Conduct for Municipal Elected Officials Regulations as set forth by the Province of Nova Scotia.

Additional information items before committee on November 14^th included: Updates from Carbon-Free Colchester Implementation Committee and Paul Smith, Director Community Planning Report (see elsewhere thinks issue) prior to committee going in to closed session to discuss two items: Contract and Property Matter.

An information item was circulated to council committee at its November 14 meeting to update Council on the Carbon-Free Colchester Implementation Committee’s activities since its inception in Fall 2023, with a focus on two key ideas that have emerged from Committee discussions.

The Carbon-Free Colchester Implement Committee, a committee of Council, began meeting in October 2023 is to advise the Municipality by assisting staff to set priorities for implementing the Community Energy & Emissions Plan. The outgoing Committee consisted of two Councillors (Parker and Sandeson) and six enthusiastic and knowledgeable community members.

This Information Item aims to share two key ideas emerging from the CFC Committee:

One of the key ideas that has emerged from the Committee is an incentive for developers/builders to: build new homes and commercial buildings to a higher standard of energy efficiency than is required by the National Building Code; build to a "net-zero emissions" or "net-zero ready" standard; build new homes and buildings to be EV-ready, or add solar panels to newly constructed buildings.

Any incentive offered would need to adhere to the Municipal Government Act. At the request of the Committee, staff will research the options, opportunities, and implications of creating an energy efficiency incentive and bring a report and recommendations to Council by the end of this fiscal year.

The Committee has expressed concern about the level of staff capacity dedicated to climate action, noting that, frequently, ideas proposed by the Committee are unable to be undertaken because of staff time limitations. The Committee wishes to communicate to Council the Municipality’s climate action work is extremely important, and that if the Municipality hopes to successfully implement the Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) and meet its emissions reduction targets, additional staff capacity will be required to do so.

The Municipality currently has access to several external resources to support staff capacity, which should be fully leveraged before further increasing internal capacity: In April 2024, Colchester joined the Clean Foundation’s Community Climate Capacity (CCC) program, which provides the Municipality with a Climate Lead for 30hrs/month and access to a team of climate specialists. The CCC staff have proven in just six months to be an invaluable resource.

Colchester is taking part in the QUEST Net-Zero Communities Accelerator (NCA) program, which will give staff guidance, tools, and access to a community of practice to assist Colchester to implement its CEEP.

ICLEI Canada’s Building Adaptive and Resilient Communities program assists municipalities to undertake a community-level climate risk assessment. Colchester may have an opportunity to participate in another ICLEI Canada program that will support municipalities’ transitions from climate adaptation planning to implementation.

Because the Municipality is in the early stages of working with the Clean Foundation and QUEST, staff feel that another position is not needed at this time. Staff will reassess needs after one year of participation in the CCC and NCA programs (in summer 2025) and subsequently on an annual basis and recommend staffing changes as needed.

Additionally, before a new full-time position is created, staff would advise that the existing PACE Program Coordinator position, currently a 3-year term, could be made a permanent fulltime climate action position. Expanding the scope and timeframe of this position would enable the presently titled PACE Program Coordinator to take on greater responsibility on the sustainability team and better support the Sustainability Planner with her many projects and initiatives.

CEEP lays out a pathway to reduce emissions, but effort and funds will also be needed in the coming years to adapt our communities to a changing climate. This might include upgrading infrastructure to withstand expected future climate impacts, supporting homeowners to make their properties resilient to extreme weather and wildfires, improving and expanding emergency response programs, completing a community climate risk assessment, and more. The Municipality’s CCC Climate Lead will help staff to get started on specific climate adaptation initiatives.

Staff have also begun planning cross-departmental training on climate change to increase the capacity of staff across the organization to embed climate considerations into their work.

All candidates in Colchester Musquodoboit Valley were asked to complete a questionnaire unique to the constituency. Answers from participating candidates can be found, in alphabetical order, in this issue of the Shoreline Journal.

• Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley – Gwyn Bellefontaine, page 5; Colchester North – NDP Candidate, Christina McCarron, page 6.
• Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook- Salmon River – NDP Candidate, Cailen Pygott, page 7.
• Colchester North – Liberal Candidate, Dustin Rekunyk, page 9.
• Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River – PC Candidate, Dave Ritcey, page 10.
• Colchester North – PC Candidate, Tom Taggart, page 11.