Municipality of Cumberland Mayor Murray Scott spoke of a year full of progress during his annual address to members of the Amherst Rotary Club on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Amherst.
“It has been a very busy year within the municipality with a lot of projects underway. There are a lot of things happening that maybe the public doesn’t see, but we have around 100 employees and they are doing a terrific job working to improve life in Cumberland County,” the mayor told Rotarians during his annual address to the club.
The mayor spoke of the policing review the municipality conducted in 2022 and the decision last June to select the RCMP as the preferred provider. Since then, he said, the municipality has worked with the RCMP and the Department of Justice to address some of the issues residents shared during the public engagement sessions.
Andrew Clarke is the new staff sergeant of the Cumberland RCMP while Jaret MacDonald is the new sergeant in charge of the Springhill detachment. As well, the municipality is working with the Department of Justice and the RCMP to address vacancies and increase police presence in communities across the county.
Municipality of Cumberland Mayor Murray Scott (left) speaks with Amherst Rotary Club member Bruce Baxter following his annual address to the business club on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024. Darrell Cole – Municipality of Cumberland photo
Mayor Scott talked about the fire services review that was conducted in 2022 and the decision to implement a hub model system with Springhill, Pugwash, Parrsboro and Truemanville serving as the hubs and the remaining 12 departments as local departments.
The municipality is hiring a new fire manager and administrative person and recently passed a new bylaw to regular fire departments.
It has also made a financial commitment to the fire service including $400,000 for bunker gear, breathing apparatus and radios and $1.5 million for trucks in the 2023-24 budget. As well, it recently called for proposals for a new fire station in Springhill and will include a new station for Parrsboro in capital budget planning.
The mayor talked about the $7.92-million rehabilitation of Junction Road in Springhill and the $2.361-million watermain replacement project on Athol Road as well as the development of a new playground on the site for the former town hall property in Parrsboro.
The past year also saw the municipality merge three water utilities in Pugwash, Parrsboro and Springhill into one water utility that will also see the installation of water meters in Springhill residences.
The municipality is also partnering with NSCC and the provincial government on studying the potential of deep mine water geothermal and using geothermal energy to support a greenhouse in Springhill, while it is partnering with Truro to investigate the potential of a 25-acre utility-scale solar project with funding through the Sustainable Communities Fund.
Mayor Scott spoke about the unprecedented level of development taking place in the municipality, saying permits have grown by 2.5 times since 2020 with most of those being single-dwelling units. He also told Rotarians the municipality is focusing on getting surplus properties in circulation for housing development and the municipality is also working with NSCC at developing a residence for students attending the Springhill campus – a facility that will be available in the offseason to support events such as tournaments and sports activities.
“In a large geographic municipality such as us you may not see it, but there is a lot of development taking place,” the mayor said, “and it’s through the whole municipality.”
Mayor Scott said council and staff are working on the 2024-25 budget, and while residential and commercial assessments are up, those numbers are impacted by the cap on assessments and a number of financial pressures including salaries, the mandatory contribution to education, rising costs of police, fire and insurance and capital re-investment in all aspects, including the fire service.