A mayoral candidate in Mulgrave says one of his goals is to have provincial officials take responsibility for a section of the town’s main road.
Lorne MacDonald sat on council for 27 years- 23 as a councillor and four as the town’s mayor; he’s not part of the current council.
MacDonald tells The Hawk the replacement of the main street’s bridge is coming up, which means it’s the perfect time for provincial officials to take responsibility for the section of the road leading up to the bridge.
“I’m going to ask the province that they take over the 3.5 km from the bridge out,” he says. “That’s where the heavy truck traffic is going to the wharf, and the road needs upgrades to handle the heavy truck traffic.”
MacDonald says those upgrades and maintenance costs would be better handled by officials with the provincial government.
He says taking on the town’s 6.2 km main road was a sticking point in previous amalgamation talks.
MacDonald says this isn’t a move toward amalgamation; instead, it’s about reducing costs and improving safety.
“Amalgamation, that’s not going to happen in the next four years unless the province says we have to amalgamate- I can’t see that,” he says. “Right now, it’s not a topic for discussion- nobody has mentioned it to me, and I can’t see it happening in the near future.”
MacDonald says his other priorities include changing the Mulgrave NSLC location into an agency store so residents will have a place to buy essentials in the town, rezoning commercial waterfront property into residential to create high value property, and finding a developer to build rentals for the area’s seniors.
Voters will choose between MacDonald and Ron Chisholm, a current town councillors, in the Oct. 17 municipal elections.
