Council grasping opportunity

Purchasing property adjacent to lagoon

At the request of chairman Allan McInnis, Coun. Angel Murphy withdrew a motion at Tignish council’s recent meeting that sought to have two adjacent properties appended to the community’s lagoon property.

The municipality has already negotiated the purchase of the adjacent properties and McInnis said the sale could close very soon. Council plans to use a portion of the 24 acres the municipality is buying to add a second cell to its lagoon. McInnis called the purchase “an opportunity we can’t pass up.”

The current lagoon, he said, is at capacity, explaining that, for the community to continue to grow it needs to add a second cell. He said it is advantageous to have access to property next to the current cell. McInnis asked that the motion be withdrawn because two members of the current council, including sewer and water chairman Jeff Hackett, were absent. He said the motion would be brought back to the table, either during a special meeting or during the August monthly meeting. McInnis said council would be calling a public meeting to explain to residents why the second cell is needed and to alert them that the cost of the new infrastructure could result in a hike in sewer dues. “We want to be more transparent,” he said.

The municipality has applied for infrastructure funding to assist with the cost of the proposed project. Councillor Wayne Gavin argued in favour of a public meeting prior to the close of the sale on the adjacent property, but McInnis reminded him that the motion to purchase the property was actually approved by council last fall.