Opening/Chair: Laurie Sandeson chaired the meeting today, leading the group in the singing of O Canada followed by a moment of personal reflection.
Visitors/Guests: Kyle Andrews was the guest of Rotarian Jim Harman.
Speaker: Crawford MacPherson is the Director of Community Development for the Municipality of Colchester. He will have been with the Municipality for 35 years in July.
Crawford graduated from the Nova Scotia Collage of Art and Design with a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Planning and then completed a program at the University of Dundee, Scotland in Town and Country Planning. He and his wife have two sons.
Crawford gave a very informative talk about initiatives that the Municipality is very active in; The Fundy Discovery Site and Municipality of Colchester Climate Change Action plans.
The
Fundy Discovery site is what is being developed on the location of the old Palliser Restaurant and Tidal Bore viewing site. In partnership with other levels of Government who had made contributions and private companies who had made donations, a nice park, playground and amphitheatre have been developing. They had managed to stay under their initial $750K budget.
Work on a viewing tower and interpretative feature is ongoing with plans for a major pedestrian and cycling bridge to cross the river and connect trails on both side well under way. Estimates for this project were somewhere in the order of $3M. It would be a major piece of the Cobequid Trail and Blue Route bicycle network.
The Fundy Discovery Site was a key part of the much bigger
The Fundy Biosphere Reserve UNESCO World Heritage region and would be a key part of the region's Tourist attraction planning.
Crawford then explained the Municipalities activities in the area of
Climate Change. He stated that combating the effects of major Climate change will be a key priority for the next decades and the need to reduce Greenhouse Gas emission (GHG) and our carbon foot print has never been more urgent. To reach the goal of net zero emission by 2050 means a reduction in GHG by 45%. Drastic action would have to
be taken. Local government have completed an assessment of top GHG contributors and it appears that the largest emitters in our community are Residential heating and cooling - 49%, Transportation - 38% and commercial and institutional -12%. A number of initiatives were being piloted such as Solar Colchester that would help put solar collectors on people's homes to generate power. It is recognized that even more will have to be done such deeper level energy conservation. Capacity to rapidly extend many of these programs is a recognized barrier.
In another interesting project it was mentioned that in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, a section of Dykeland in the county is being converted back to marsh to act as a carbon sink.
Crawford was thanked by Darlene Stevenson.
Member Health: No report.
Announcements and Reports:
- Dave Mills reported on the CCWS fundraising campaign. Progress is being made towards the goal and he encouraged those who have yet to make a donation should do so. He will have tickets next week for a basket that Hattie has assembled as a fund raiser.
- Jim Gould gave a report in his role as AG. He highlighted the March 7th TLC session in Halifax and encouraged people to attend. It was the only one for mainland NS. He also mentioned the possible amalgamation of our district with our neighbour 7810 sometime in the next couple of year.
- Laurie is looking for volunteers to help with the spring RYLA event. This is a day long leadership session for high school students that has proven to be very popular with young people. Let her know if you are interested and able to help.
President's Report: President Lech reported that:
- Charter Night would be April 16th. An invitation would be going out.
- There is a TLC (Training for Leaders of Clubs) session being held in Halifax Saturday, March 7, 2020 from 9:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. The Club would pay the registration fees ($10) if there were more than 10 from the club wanting to attend. Alana spoke on the quality of speakers who were coming to the event and the training that would be provided.
Happy Mug: There were a few of happy Rotarians today:
- Ed MacDonald was happy to have quality Grandparent time with his grandson as his daughter had decided to go take a course.
- Jim Gould was happy to be heading for South Carolina soon for a couple of months to enjoy the weather and golf.
- Martina was happy to have been able to make a meeting and to have been able to get skiing for the first time in a while.
50/50: Tom Savary had the right ticket but missed the joker (again) so the $75 pot continues to build.
Closing: 1:15 pm
New Member Proposal: The board of Directors has approved the recommendation of the Membership committee for the induction of Matthew Berrigan as a member of the Rotary Club of Truro.
An Acadia graduate, Matthew is Regional Manager of the Northern Connector Program. He has experience in facilitation, promotion, program planning, and program implementation and works closely with established business and community leaders to help employment-ready workers build professional networks across the region.
Matthew has attended several club meetings and was one of our speakers in December. Alana Hirtle is Matthew's Rotary sponsor.
Induction will occur at the next available date.
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