Media Releases

Amherst Town Council October 30, 2023 – Meeting Highlights

A new deputy mayor was elected on Monday night. In non-election years, Council is mandated to select a deputy mayor at its October council meeting, to hold office from November 1 of that year until October 31 of the following calendar year, with an election following each subsequent October for the duration of the Council term. During the meeting of council, mayor Kogon opened the floor to nominations resulting in one nominee: Dale Fawthrop. A motion was presented and unanimously passed, electing councillor Fawthrop as deputy mayor for a one-year term.

Council and Citizen Committee Appointments

Members of Council are appointed to Council Committees annually, for one-year terms, with current terms set to expire on October 31 of this year. Each councillor recently expressed their interest to the mayor and clerk in serving on committees for the year ahead, and during Monday’s council meeting, the proposed slate of Council Committee appointments was approved for a new one-year term, to end on October 30, 2024. This excludes Councillor Chambers’ and Councillor Baker’s appointments to the Amherst Board of Police Commissioners, which expire on October 31, 2024 and October 31, 2025, respectively. 

Mayor Kogon
- Regional Emergency Management
- Community Center Steering Committee
Councillor Baker
- CJSMA
- Northern Region Solid Waste Committee
Councillor Chambers
- Amherst Board of Police Commissioners
- Planning Advisory Committee
Councillor Davidson
- Planning Advisory Committee
- Amherst Board of Police Commissioners
- Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee
- Community Center Steering Committee
Councillor Emery
- CJSMA
- Municipal Alcohol Project
- Regional Emergency Management
- Senior Safety Advisory Group
- North Tyndal Wellfield Advisory Committee
- Intermunicipal Tourism Committee
Councillor Fawthrop
- Cumberland Public Libraries Board
- LA Animal Shelter
- Tree Advisory Committee
- North Tyndal Wellfield Advisory Committee
- YMCA Board of Directors
- Accessibility Advisory Committee
Deputy Mayor Landry
- Intermunicipal Poverty Reduction Advisory Committee
- Planning Advisory Committee
- Accessibility Advisory Committee
- Community Center Steering Committee (alternate)
- Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee

All members of Council are also appointed to the Committee of the Whole of Amherst Town Council and the Town of Amherst Audit Committee.

Citizen members were also appointed on Monday night to two committees: the Audit Committee, and the Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee.

Terms of reference state that all members of Council are to be appointed to the Audit Committee, as well as two citizen members. After expressions of interest were sought through the Cumberland Wire and the Town’s social media, two were received from current citizen appointees, Rob Small and Jeff Brennan. On Monday night, Council re-appointed these two members to the Audit Committee, for two-year terms.

A notice was also placed in the Cumberland Wire and on social media seeking expressions of interest for the IDE Committee. On Monday night, council approved a group of five citizen appointees, comprised of returning members: Tammy Gero, and Jolene Gouchie; and, new members: Victoria Vance, Echo Metzger, and Corey Chaisson, for a term ending March 31, 2025.

105 South Albion Street Development Agreement Receives First Reading

The Planning Advisory Committee provided a recommendation that council enter into a development agreement to permit construction at 105 South Albion Street of a multi-unit development. The development will consist of two, five-unit townhouse buildings, and two apartment buildings – one building with 48 units, and the second with 128 units. Council gave the development agreement first reading on Monday night, and a public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, November 23 at 5 pm.

Municipal Building Lighting Retrofit

Recently, a lighting audit of municipal buildings in Amherst was completed by Nichent Energy. From the findings, recommendations were made to improve lighting at the Police Department, Town Hall, the Public Works building and the library. The Town has recently worked with Nichent to complete lighting retrofits at the Amherst Fire Station and at the Amherst Stadium, and the company is also in the process of replacing lights at the Robb Complex. After a guaranteed Efficiency Nova Scotia energy rebate, the cost to the Town for these newest lighting retrofit projects will be $60,000. This project is projected to deliver an annual energy savings of approximately 80% once complete. Council awarded this contract to Nichent Energy on Monday night.

Amendments to Bylaw and Policy Documents – Ongoing Review

First reading was given to a series of amendments to the Companion Animal Bylaw at Monday night’s council meeting. This exercise was undertaken as part of Staff’s four-year cyclical review of all Town of Amherst bylaws and policies, to ensure they are relevant and updated appropriately. The Companion Animal Bylaw has received updates to ensure more clarity in the roles, authority, and decision-making for animal owners, animal control officers, and police officers, including: a section that provides for the use of an animal for Search and Rescue, Law Enforcement Operations, Special Needs dogs, and for off-leash dog parks; additional options and authorities for the Animal Control Officer when dealing with dangerous dogs; and, a mechanism for dog owners to appeal to council when their animal has been classified as a “dangerous dog” and is subject to restrictions. This amended bylaw will receive second reading at the next regular session of council in November.

Also examined as part of the regular review process, two policy updates were approved by Council on October 30. First, the Solid Waste Special Collections Policy was repealed completely as it was deemed unnecessary; Council recently approved the contract for solid waste collections, thereby rendering the separate policy redundant. And second, the Community Support Grants Policy was updated to make the grant program more inclusive to the whole community and provide a system of accountability to the taxpayers. Changes included elimination of a two phased payment approach to grant recipients, and the introduction of required reporting for organizations who intend to reapply for grants in future, in order to increase transparency on how funds are used and how they impact our community. Amendments to both policies were approved by Council. 

Community Support Grant Awarded to Creative Pathways Society

The Creative Pathways Society offers a 6-week Arts and Crafts Education program and a 6-week Memoir Writing program. On Monday night, Council approved a grant of $4,100 to the organization that will support the purchase of art supplies – some re-usable – and supplies for memoir writing, to ensure art in every expression is available to our community in a low to no cost manner. Seats in these programs will be offered to seniors and limited income families at no cost.

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Direct enquiries to:
Sean Payne
Communications Officer
902-694-6265
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