Aker looking forward to return of City Days festival this summer

By Mark Squibb/February 17, 2022

The City of Mount Pearl was one of 181 communities approved for provincial Come Home Year grants last week, and Mayor Dave Aker said the $2,000 will go towards the annual City Days festival this summer.

“Our thinking is that we’ll use the money to have a little bit of a bigger bang for our buck for City Days, especially our final night,” said Aker. “But we’ll also use the funding to do some promotion for people who are living away.”

He said the aim of the advertising will be to attract folks back home to Mount Pearl this summer. “Especially for City Days, because that’s our centerpiece event,” said Aker.

And although Monday’s fresh dumping of snow was a stark reminder that we are still in the middle of winter, Aker said it’s important to begin planning for summer now.

“We have to start sooner rather than later, because we need to get the message out because people need to begin making their plans, whether they’re driving or flying or however they want to come to this province,” said Aker. “We want to encourage them to start thinking about having a vacation here in Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as Mount Pearl.”

Due to COVID restrictions, City Days 2020 was held virtually, and the City held small scale events targeted towards families and seniors in 2021. The beloved Frosty Festival has been cancelled these past two years because of the pandemic.

Aker said that being able to host large scale events once again, without throwing caution entirely to the wind, is good for both the economy and for people’s mental and social health.

“I think people are really excited to get out and to be able to do things,” said Aker. “But the key to it is that we’ve got to get to the point very soon, not just with Come Home Year but with City Days, that we do announce our intentions to go ahead with it. I think it will be good psychologically for families and residents and business too, that we have something to look forward to this coming summer, and I think it’s important that we get off the mark pretty quickly with the communication.”

St. John's South - Mount Pearl Conservative hopes party will follow O'Toole's lead

By Patrick Newhook/February 10, 2022

With Erin O’Toole out of the picture and the federal Conservatives scrambling to reinvent themselves, the party’s former candidate in St. John’s South – Mount Pearl says the party needs to unify if it wants to win.

O’Toole was removed as leader by a vote among the Conservative MPs last week.

Realtor Steve Hodder said he’s been a Conservative Party supporter his entire life and became more actively involved with the party in the 2021 election.

“I wanted to run in the election obviously because I’ve had political aspirations over the years, you know in different levels of government,” said Hodder. “What the CPC had offered in their platform, a lot of it struck home with me on a personal level… every single piece of that platform seemed to strike a chord with me and if it wasn’t something directly with me, it was with a lot of my family and friends.”

Hodder was a big supporter of O’Toole, feeling that he was an honest candidate for Prime Minister who would deliver on his promises and benefit Newfoundland and Labrador.

“I thought very highly of Erin O’Toole. I thought he would have been a fantastic leader for our country,” said Hodder. “He was very supportive the moment I decided to throw my hat into the ring for the election.”

Hodder said the party should try to build on what O’Toole created and focus on unifying.

“Everything that Erin O’Toole did I respected, his positions and stuff,” said Hodder. “I still think that we need to go in that direction, and I guess the primary focus for the Conservatives going forward is to unite the party, to gain momentum from what he has done.”

Right now, Manitoba MP Candice Bergen has been named Interim Leader. Some pundits say her support for the anti-vaxxer protest that caused mayhem in Ottawa, along with similar support demonstrated by other Conservative MPs, has moved the party to the political fringe, effectively scuttling chances of winning election next time around.

That view is reinforced by MP Pierre Poilievre’s announcement that he is seeking the leadership.

Hodder said he hasn’t had a chance to speak with Poilievre yet. But no matter whoever wins the race, he wants to see them carry on with the ideas that O’Toole lined out.

“What I think should happen is obviously build off the momentum that Erin O’Toole had created and if that does mean veering back more to the right than what we had been, that's fine as well,” Hodder said. “I guess the powers that be are going to analyze where we did extremely well and where we need to improve upon. Once we do that and we take that direction and if it’s something that I support, then they’re going to have my full support.”

Equipment surcharges, inflation a worry for Antle

By Patrick Newhook

City council continues to grapple with surprise surcharges when trying to purchase new vehicles for its fleet.

The latest case came before council last week when councilor Isabelle Fry announced the City is in the process of purchasing a dual string recycling truck and a rear load garbage truck from Saunders Equipment Limited.

However just like the previous meeting, Fry said the trucks will be more expensive than previously thought.

“The public works department received a letter from Saunders Equipment Limited dated December 21 stating that due to the unprecedented cost increases and vigorous supply constraints over the past couple of years there would be a cost increase or commodity surcharge applied to each of the units,” said Fry.

“The recommendation from our committee is that the commodity surcharge of the dual stream recycling truck and the rear load garbage truck … to be supported in the amount of $10,925 dollars, HST included, which can be accommodated within the fleet budget,” she added.

Councilor Bill Antle asked how the increase will impact the fleet budget, noting that if they keep having to spend more than initially estimated, there’s going to be budget issues.

Infrastructure and public works director Gerry Antle responded by saying the extra charges can be accommodated in the fleet budget and that it won’t have any impact. He also estimated that new tender calls will eventually stabilize and they won’t have to keep having to pay more.

Councilor Antle then followed up by pointing out that two weeks ago it was an overage of $6,000 and now its $10,000 He asked director Antle about when he expects to see the end of this. “This is $16,000. Our budget is finite and we just did our budget,” said the councillor.

Director Antle reiterated that he thinks the situation will stabilize. “I don’t think we’re going to continue to see this with our new tenders… Throughout this spring and summer this will stabilize,” he said.

Councilor Mark Rice commented that the cost increases may need to be factored into new budgets.

“Once we get away from COVID and we get away from the times where a lot of countries and states are not supplying that raw product, I think we might see the trend go down, but right now I’m thinking that trend will stay the way it is because of the supply and demand of the raw product,” he allowed. “You cannot get certain items. This is something we might have to look at, revisiting sometime the fall when we go to look at our budget for next year.”

Fry said it’s not just the City that’s contending with the problem.

“This is something that is unavoidable,” she said. “If we want these vehicles we have to pay the surcharge and we do want these vehicles because on the other side is that we’ll be spending much more money in vehicle repair or maintenance for the trucks that we already have. If we don’t pay the surcharge and get these vehicles now it could be a couple of years down the road before we even get them… At this point this, in my opinion, is our only option.”

Councilor Jim Locke supported the action.

“These are sort of surprises now, these are ‘after the facts,’ these are things that we didn’t budget for, but going forward these surcharges, or any increased costs due to the supply chain issues that councilor Rice mentioned, they will be embedded into the bids, so they won’t be after the fact expenses,” Locke said. “So, I agree that this is probably the last we are going to see because we don’t have any large tender items to come forth. But when we bid on new equipment, if it’s still a supply chain issue, that will be contained in the tender prices.”

Councilor Antle asked how the city can spend more without losing something else in the process.

“We aren’t going to increase the fleet budget by any means, so at the end of the day we are going to lose something, right?” said Antle. “That’s my fear. Are we going to lose a small pickup truck, are we going to lose some equipment out of the fleet budget?”

Mayor Dave Aker assured Antle the city is doing fine financially and won’t need to do anything drastic.

“There’s no doubt this is COVID inflation and the purchasing power of the budget is going to be less,” said the mayor. “What are you suggesting that we do? We have an envelope that’s worth around $1.5 million for 2022. I can’t recall the budget right now for 2021, but I’m assuming we will continue to order the vehicles as we always have. But to your point councilor Antle, we aren’t going to run out of money. Based on $6,000, that’s actually a low inflation rate, but there’s no doubt that we’re either going to order less vehicles out of that budget or Director Antle, you’re going to have to cut back on the specs.”

After more discussion, council voted unanimously to proceed with the purchases.

Metrobus service gets another airing at council

By Patrick Newhook/February 3, 2022

The quality of service and cost to taxpayers of Metrobus got another airing at Mount Pearl city council last week.

The discussion arose during presentation of the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee Report by councilor Jim Locke, speaking in place of Deputy Mayor Nicole Kieley who was absent. Locke was tasked with presenting a list of invoices that included a bill for Metrobus service.

“Our Transportation Commission fees to St. John’s for Metrobus, is just under $100,000,” Locke noted.

That figure sparked councilor Mark Rice to pose a few questions.

“My second question regards the Transportation Commission’s Metro Bus fees (of) $99,330.28,” said Rice. “It’s a substantial amount that we’re paying out every month for that service, and I’d love to see that revisited and see what we can come up with on a go forward basis. It’s quite an amount and hopefully we’ll get some information back from the City (of St. John’s), even our own interests, what we could do moving forward for the city of Mount Pearl.”

Locke said there have been meetings within Mount Pearl City Hall about the issue and it is still being examined.

“That was discussed at a meeting yesterday,” Locke noted. “We are investigating the busing service. We do pay a substantial amount for Metrobus as well as GO Bus services within the city.”

Locke admitted there are issues concerning the level of service Mount Pearl is getting.

“We’re basically renting or purchasing two routes which some of our users are suggesting are inadequate, that there’s lengthy periods of time (waiting) for buses and it’s not conducive to increased usage,” he explained. “As we’ve discussed around the table in previous councils as well as this one, we are interested in doing a needs assessment. I think the mayor touched on this: is there an increased need for enhanced servicing and if, to Councilor (Isabelle) Fry’s point sometime back (ago), if we build a better service, will that promote greater usage? So, all these issues are on the table.”

Metrobus is a heavily subsidized service.

“My last number was the City is subsidizing it to the tune of about six dollars,” Locke said. “The actual cost of a ride is $8.50, but our users are paying $2.50.”

Another complaint that council has heard from users is that the bus service doesn’t cover the whole city, making its utility limited.

“We don’t get full coverage within Mount Pearl, and that’s some of the feedback we’ve received from residents,” said Locke. “For example, if you’re in Masonic Park and you want to go down to Coleman’s, it’s quite a lengthy bus ride… We will be exploring this further at our committee level and then we will certainly bring it back to the committee as a whole.”  

Councilor Bill Antle questioned how much riders paid per month on Metrobus and wanted to know what the ridership was, saying that both factors are important due to how much Mount Pearl spends on it. Locke reiterated what he previously said, adding the numbers will be fleshed out further in investigations and discussions. Locke added that citizens should be asked how they feel about it too.

“We need to reach out to residents and see what is the perceived need, and is there another way, to councilor Rice’s point, to meet that need in terms of working with Metrobus for better routing or enhanced services?” said Locke.

Meanwhile the motion to pay the Metrobus bill passed unanimously.

Mount Pearl woman competing for international modeling prize

By Mark Squibb/February 3, 2022

Leigh Bursey says his wife Jaida-Leigh Dubois-Bursey blows his mind — and he hopes that voters in an international tattoo modelling contest are equally blown away.

Bursey has entered an Inked Magazine model contest, and as of Tuesday, February 1, she was ranked fourth out of 35 other randomly selected contestants in her group in the first round.

After several more rounds, one winner will be picked. That winner will receive $25,000 in cash, and the opportunity to grace the cover of Inked Magazine.

“Embracing this journey is something her and I have sort of done together,” said Bursey. “I’ve played the role of loving husband, and coordinator, and manager type character, but the truth is, she’s always been beautiful, since the first time I saw her.”

Bursey explained there’s an additional charitable component. Folks can ‘purchase’ votes, with proceeds going towards MusiCares, a not-for-profit that helps musicians during times of financial, personal, or medical distress.

Of Jaida’s tattoos, a tree along her wrist and forearm ranks among her favorites. Many of her tattoos are based upon the popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft.

The Mount Pearl couple first heard of the contest through a social media ad.

“She has a modelling page on Instagram that has 11,400 followers,” said Leigh. “It’s blown up significantly the last six or eight months.”

The couple saw a promoted post that appeared in her Instagram feed one day, and Jaida decided to enter.

“Between the two of us, we spearheaded an effort to get her face in front of as many people as possible,” said Bursey, who added that modeling has given his wife a major confidence boost.

“Both her and I were at one-point or another homeless youths,” said Bursey. “We’ve both gone through family circumstances… everybody goes through various obstacles, relationship turmoil, personal and professional setbacks, and she’s also had a lot of health obstacles, and many times it’s definitely had a pretty negative impact on her confidence, which I think is tragic, because I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone more beautiful in my life. Everyday I wake up and look at my wife, and go, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this is real.’”

The couple, who had been living in Ontario, were married this past September. They made a trip to Newfoundland in August to visit some of Bursey’s family — and ended up moving to Mount Pearl.

They put in a bid on a home after viewing it digitally, and the deal closed during their honeymoon. The couple moved to the Newfoundland in early November, where Bursey found a job at The Gathering Place.

Votes can be cast at the Inked Magazine website.

Alex Taylor poses with a cheque representing the amount of money raised through the Merry & Bright Christmas concert fundraiser for Mental Health. All proceeds go to the Dollar A Day Foundation. This is Taylor’s second year organizing the fundraiser and he hopes to continue doing it picking a different charity each year. The 13-year-old Mount Pearl Intermediate student has a passion for music.

Supply chain issues increases cost of snow plows

By Patrick Newhook/January 27, 2022

Mount Pearl has come up against some issues in trying to replace equipment in its snow fleet.

The original plan, according to the budget, was that the city would spend $2.1 million on fleet renewal this year. “This investment will ensure we can maintain service standards and public safety for important core services such as snow clearing or both roadways and sidewalks,” said councilor Isabelle Fry.

The city put out tenders for two heavy duty tandem trucks, and awarded the contract to Harvey & Company Limited last March. According to Fry, Public Works has since received a notice that the trucks will now be more expensive than tendered.

“On November 26, the Public Works committee received a letter from Harvey & Company Limited stating that there would be a cost increase, or a commodity surcharge, applied to the price of each unit,” said Fry. “This increase is a result of material costs increases due to unanticipated supply chain issues.”

Supply chains have been impacted by the ongoing pandemic, causing costs to rise due to parts shortages. The price hike for each truck is some $4,750 plus HST. Originally, the trucks were tendered at a cost of $598,482, HST included.

“The committee recommends that the commodity surge charge on the two heavy duty tandems purchased under TP-003 be supported in the total amount $10,925 HST included which can be accommodated in the fleet budget,” said Fry.

Mayor Dave Aker said the situation is a unique one. “Councilor Fry, in all my time on council, and yours, we’ve never seen a situation like this have we?” said Aker.

According to Fry, Harvey & Company did offer the opportunity to step away from the tenure, but Fry said that no matter which company the City buys from, supply issues will persist.

Aker asked about retendering, but infrastructure and public works director Gerry Antle said if they did so cost increases would be the same or possibly higher and it wouldn’t improve delivery time. Antle also pointed out the city needs to replace its current fleet for safety reasons.

Councilor Jim Locke said he supported the recommendations for reasons of safety.

Meanwhile, Aker said that the motion could set a bad precedent, and he asked CAO Dana Spurrell what her thoughts on the matter were.

“We’ve looked at our options and we’ve looked at the tender ability period and our next closest bid, and we’re outside our tender ability period,” said Spurrell. “I have spoken to other municipalities. We’re not unique, other municipalities and other organizations are facing the same challenges. We certainly could re-tender, but I’m not sure it would bring any better results or any more favor of the timelines. In fact, as Director Antle said, we’d be held up, and these are two pieces of equipment that we need. So, I think it’s something that we need to allow for and to account for in the future, but right now this is the best course of action to take."

Put to a vote, Fry's motion passed unanimously.