Media Releases

Amherst town council committee of the whole briefs

Amherst town council has authorized its staff to call for tenders on three properties that did not sell during a tax sale in December. The properties are at 3 Fullerton St., 26 Park St. and 23½  West Pleasant St.

All of the properties had dangerous and unsightly premises charges applied to them as a result of orders from the town. All three also had buildings removed by the town when the owners refused to clean up their properties.

 Halifax firm wins engineering contract

EXP Engineering Services will provide the engineering design services for the East Pleasant Street reconstruction project. The Halifax company won the tender over four other firms with a bid of $25,440.

EXP Engineering scored the highest of the five bids, who were judge on the basis of cost, needs of the town, project schedule, company profile, past performance, project methodology and social considerations.

The East Pleasant Street reconstruction is slated to take place later this year, pending council’s approval of the project in the 2018-19 capital budget.

February committee of the whole meeting date changed

Town council has delayed its February committee of the whole meeting by one day.

It will be held on Feb. 20 instead of Feb. 19 because the earlier date conflicts with the Nova Scotia Heritage Day holiday.

Solar Nova Scotia invited to make presentation

Town council will be inviting a representative from Solar Nova Scotia to make a presentation on the community solar program.

Council agreed to issue the invite after Coun. Jason Blanch indicated the program could be beneficial to Amherst’s efforts to be environmentally friendly.

The date for the presentation has not been set.

In a similar move, council also agreed to hear a presentation from the organizers of the Bordertown Biker Bash at an upcoming meeting.

The organizers want to report on last year’s successful event and outline their plans for the 2018 event.

A date for this presentation has not been set.

Electronic vehicle charging station

The Town of Amherst is progressing with its efforts to install a donated electronic vehicle charging station.

The station will be placed in the parking lot behind town hall. Currently, the town is waiting on an electrician to install the electrical wires that will power the charger. This work is expected to be completed by the end of the week.

An official opening of the charge station will take place in the future, but a date has not yet been set.