The mayor of the Town of Port Hawkesbury says they have faced unique challenges from COVID-19.
Brenda Chisholm-Beaton says the town relies more on service revenue than most municipalities, so when COVID-19 shut those services down it was a major blow.
Chisholm-Beaton tells The Hawk they did what they could to lessen it.
“Our staff worked hard to keep operations going, despite a severe loss of revenue for our town. Many of our recreational facilities closed,” she says. “We were able to initiate a COVID safe restart plan.”
Chisholm-Beaton says that happened in June and, shortly after, they were able to open their pool, one of the few municipalities in the province which could.
She says one of this year’s biggest accomplishments was the work they’ve done on Destination Reeves Street.
Chisholm-Beaton says the project began in 2019 and will continue into 2021.
She says 2020 marked considerable work on beautification.
“Destination Reeves Street has been an ongoing multi year multi phase project,” she says. “This year we were able to complete facades and streetscapes.”
Chisholm-Beaton says the next step is bringing that project together with their waterfront development, improving spaces and connectivity throughout the town.
She says their fully re-elected council has given them a renewed mandate for 2021.
Only one councilor did not reoffer in the fall municipal election and all incumbents kept their seats.
“Our five strategic directions are economic development, housing, medical healthcare recruitment, parks and recreation and greens spaces, as well as waterfront development.”
Chisholm-Beaton says those will be the things they look at through 2021 and throughout this council’s four-year term.
