Equipment surcharges, inflation a worry for Antle

By Patrick Newhook/February 3, 2022

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.

Tourism Minister looking forward to summer rebound

By Mark Squibb/February 3, 2022

Carbonear-Trinity-Bay de Verde MHA Steve Crocker is hopeful that 2022 is the year the province moves from pandemic to endemic.

“I think Dr. (Janice) Fitzgerald herself has said that this is likely heading into an endemic,” said Crocker, who is also the provincial Minister of Tourism. “COVID is likely here to stay, and it will choose a path, and we’ll have to learn to just live with it. And I think we’ve done well as a province. You think about the fact that we have a 95 percent vaccination rate, the highest in Canada, and I think that’s why we’re seeing success right now. Any hospitalization is too much hospitalization, but our hospitalization numbers are, per capita, lower than anywhere else in the country.”

While Crocker says he understands folks’ frustration with the pandemic restrictions, now two years on from the original onset of COVID-19, there is reason for optimism, and the province is certainly not back to square one.

“It feels like that,” allowed Crocker. “It feels like that. It feels like Groundhog Day, March 2020, but this is not March 2020. We’re 95 percent plus vaccinated, and I’m not a scientist or a doctor, but the disease itself seems to be softening. Here in the province, and again I’m not a doctor, but we’re a few weeks behind everyone else. When Ontario peaks, our peak is just a little time past that. So, I think we’re headed into what should be the new normal. Dr. Fitzgerald has said herself that COVID is something that we can no longer fortify ourselves against. We’re all, I think, going to get COVID. We just have to protect ourselves against it and make sure we have the capacity to withstand it. But the idea that we can fortify ourselves against COVID I think, if you look around the world and around the country, is not one that’s possible, and its something that we’re going to have to learn to live with.”

Industries, particularly tourism and recreation, depend on restrictions being loosened to survive.

Those industries are of particular concern to Crocker, who was appointed Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation in April 2021.

“It’s a very exciting portfolio,” said Crocker. “It’s my fourth, and this one brings unique challenges. When you think about COVID, the industries that I work with have been most drastically impacted by COVID, directly. And if you think about our district – tourism, arts, hospitality, and recreation are very big components of the community.”

One of his tasks is to oversee Come Home 2022, a $4 million tourism initiative aimed largely at Newfoundlanders and Labradorians living away.

The Liberal MHA hopes the celebrations give the industry a much-needed shot in the arm.

“I’m very much looking forward to executing that program this year as we try and revitalize the sector,” said Crocker. “Make no mistake, there will be no full recovery in the Canadian, Newfoundland, or the world economy, until this sector recovers. So, we will not see a full recovery until the tourism, hospitality, and arts sector recovers. So, it’s very important that we continue to be there with supports for the industry, and continue to make sure that we come out of this stronger than ever.”

While Crocker admits that industry analysts believe a full sector recovery to be another 18 to 20 months away, he’s optimist the tourism, recreation, and arts sector will see a rebound this summer.

“When you think about tourism, we have a tremendous opportunity,” said Crocker. “Ovbiously, 2020 was a tourism disaster. But we did see a rebound in 2021. The third quarter of 2021, when you think about the hospitality sector and take a piece out, and I don’t want to cherry pick and make it sound like everything is hunky dory, but our restaurant industry in the third quarter of 2021 actually rebounded somewhere near 2019 numbers. So, we’ve seen that there’s a pent-up demand. Ovbiously, Omicron set us back, but I think we’re headed towards a reasonable recovery in 2022, but there’s still going to be work to do.”

He added the province, with its wide-open spaces, barren landscapes, and bevy of outdoor activities, will likely prove attractive to post-pandemic travellers.

“We’re a bucket list destination, and we need to heighten awareness of that to people throughout this country, and North America and around the world,” said Crocker.

As to what Come Home Year celebrations will look like, Crocker said many of the activities will be community-based.

“I think you’ll see a lot of community activity,” said Crocker. “I know the Department of Provincial and Municipal Affairs had a Come Home Year program and they’ve received over 200 applications for funding from communities across the province. And we have a number of programs running in my department for Come Home Year. For the Cultural Economic program we’ve allocated an additional $3.5 million dollars. We’re seeing applications from all over the province. I’m encouraging towns in my district to get involved and get those applications in, because we’ll have an opportunity with Come Home Year to amplify some of our events that we would normally see around our district and around the province. This is a way for communities to augment their events and attract our friends and relatives’ home, attract new people to Newfoundland and Labrador. I think you’re going to see a big focus on our cultural and arts industries.”

Apart from the Come Home Year campaign, the province is hosting a non-resident tourist campaign, ‘Leave No Song Unsung.’

“This is a bucket list destination, and people have had time to reflect on what they want to do coming out of COVID, so we want to make sure we’re front and centre in people’s minds,” said Crocker.

While the summer tourist season is still a ways’ off, one issue that does seem to be front and centre in many constituents’ minds is the question of staffing at Carbonear General Hospital, something that has been ongoing for several years.

“It’s not isolated to Carbonear Hospital, or the hospital in Old Perlican, or the Hospital in Whitbourne, or the Health Sciences Centre,” said Crocker. “It’s a provincial, national, and global challenge in a lot of ways. And it’s by far the number one issue. And as someone who lives in the district, and who plans on, hopefully, living in the district for a long time, it’s challenging. Its challenging for myself. Right now, in my own family, there are four of us, and the only one right now with a family doctor is my wife, and her family doctor is retiring in March, so we’ll become a family of four with no family physician.”

Crocker pointed out that the province has opened a new provincial recruitment office, and that the release of the Health Accord in the near future should provide some guidance moving forward.

“Our medical system here in the province is based on the 1960’s, and we haven’t really done a full refresh since the 1960’s,” said Crocker. “And I think this is what you’ll see coming out of the Health Accord, is a glimpse of what some of our options are.”

He said that while it’s the province’s job to create a pool of doctors, it is the responsibility of regions and communities to attract those doctors.

“And I’ve seen some pretty inventive things from towns around the province,” said Crocker. ‘A lot of towns are actually packaging themselves and going out and selling themselves. It’s about selling ourselves, and when I say ourselves, I mean our region, to prospective health care professionals.”

He said one area to look at is modernizing the health care field, including the use of virtual or phone appointments, as has become common during the pandemic.

“Throughout COVID, on two occasions, I had to avail of 811 for some care, and I did it virtually,” said Crocker. “Now, that being said, there is a lot of stuff that can’t be done virtually.”

He added that health care is everyone’s responsibility, as it affects everyone.

For Crocker, the year 2021 started off on a high note.

“If you think back to the beginning of 2021, we did go into an election, and that was affected by the pandemic, as has pretty much everything in the last, almost two years now, but one of the highlights that came out of that was that I was very fortunate that the people of Carbonear- Trinity-Bay de Verde gave me one of my largest victories to date,” said Crocker.

As the Liberal candidate, Crocker, who first came to office in a by-election in November 2014, and has held the riding ever since, earned almost 68 percent of the vote last year, handily defeating three other candidates.

“So, I was very pleased to see that vote of confidence from the constituents in the district. And with that comes the responsibility to work hard on their behalf,” said Crocker.

It's a go! Winterfest in CBS returns

By Mark Squibb/February 3, 2022

Mark your calendars because Conception Bay South’s Winterfest is just around the corner.

Ward 1 councillor and recreation committee chairperson Shelley Moores said planning for the event began before the Christmas holidays — and before a rising number of COVID cases pushed the province into a modified Alert Level 4.

“At that time, we were full steam ahead for an in-person Winterfest, because at that time we were at a good place with COVID,” said Moores. “We probably spoke too soon and jinxed it all, but anyway we were planning and coming up with all kinds of ideas, of things we could do differently, things that were really popular in the past, and then of course when we met after Christmas all of that had changed.”

As Covid cases rose and the province moved into the new alert, the question facing the Winterfest committee was whether to offer both in-person and online events, port the entire festival online, or cancel the festival outright.

The committee, which is comprised of about a dozen community volunteers, a handful of town staff, and Moores, the council representative, decided to move ahead with Winterfest and offer as many in-person events as possible.

“We feel that we needed this, and that in our community people are exhausted and tired of being inside,” said Moores. “We needed something to lift people’s spirits.”

Folks looking to attend the many in-person community events, such as family skates, snowshoe treks, and campfires, will have to pre-register and stick to their bubble. The town will also offer many virtual actives, such as cooking lessons and bingo.

“We all have done so much to prevent COVID from going through our communities, and we have been following all the guidelines, and I just think that everyone is really missing those community activities,” said Moores.

One event Moores is particularly excited about is a comedy night with John Sheehan.

“This is going to be an in-person event, so I think it’s going to be exciting to have that,” she said. “Everyone needs a good laugh right now after everything we’ve been through the last couple of years.”

Tickets for the 19+ event can be purchased for $25, plus HST, from the town.

There will also be a number of ongoing activities and initiatives held throughout the week, such as the business passport program. When folks show their passports at a participating local business, they in turn receive a sticker. Completed passports can be turned into the Town Hall for a chance to win a prize.

The festivities begin on February 12 and run through February 20. For a full schedule of events see pages 9 to 11 in this week’s Shoreline.

CBS hopes to become day trip capital of the Avalon

By Patrick Newhook/January 27, 2022

Conception Bay South is aiming to position itself as the east coast’s number one day trip destination.

The idea was discussed at a virtual tourism workshop, that was held as town’s ‘Tourism Development Plan.’ It was the fifth workshop since the start of the plan back in 2018.

Councilor Christine Butler, who chairs the town’s tourism committee, said the workshop was a success.

“The objective was to understand how visitor experiences, the featured cultural elements, are developed,” said Butler.

The objective is to make CBS the definitive place to go for a day trip on the Avalon.

“We have lots of different things, like businesses, that can attract people to come here for the day,” said Butler. “There are a lot of different one day trips that can easily be done in our town and by all the different people working together we could do this as an itinerary,”

A number of possible itineraries were discussed during the workshop.

Butler said the town’s geography and location near St. John’s makes it a good destination for tourists.

“When they come into Newfoundland, most of them are either coming in by ferry or plane or they’re driving,” said Butler. “We want to capture people. A lot of people think ‘Wel,l what can you do if you’re only in St. John’s for a day or two?’ And this is why we want to do this, because we want to let people know, we’re only 20 minutes away from downtown, a day trip destination for the town of Conception Bay South where you can do so many things.”

Butler said the goal is attract staycationers as well as tourists from outside the province.

Bay Roberts goes to the bank

During a public council meeting last month, Bay Roberts council approved two motions to request funding.

The first was for $750,000 for a portion of the Shearstown Road project. The remainder will be financed through operations. The loan will have a five-year fixed term, with a 15-year amortization period.

The second was for $500,000 to convert short-term borrowing into longer-term borrowing, with the same term as the initial loan (five years with a 15-year amortization.)

The requests will have to be forwarded to the Department of Municipal Affairs for final approval.

Both motions passed unanimously.

The loan amounts were agreed to in the 2021 budget.

Run-off, rocks, pandemic adds costs to Paradise public works projects

By Mark Squibb/January 27, 2022

Paradise council approved multiple change requests last week, some big, and some small, as part of its regular public works housekeeping.

The first on the agenda was a change order to the 2021 Street Rehab program.

“Prior to the rehabilitation of Hussey’s Road, residents had made repeated pleas to council to upgrade the road to address water run off issues, and resulting road defects,” explained infrastructure and engineering committee chairperson Deborah Quilty. “Residents were requesting a full rural-to-urban upgrade that would introduce a full storm system. As an upgrade of this nature was not planned or budgeted, staff determined the introduction of drainage ditches, designed in place to suit conditions during the rehabilitation, would be the best cost-effective solution to address all concerns.”

Quilty added that if the drainage issue wasn’t addressed, the life span of the newly rehabilitated road would be greatly reduced. And so, the ditch was installed in 2021, along with the necessary supports such as culverts, riprap, and a manhole.

The work was not included in the original tender, and the final cost could not be determined at the time of construction because the ditch was designed in place and final unit prices were not known until the work was completed.

“Weir’s Construction provided the following unit prices, which were well within expected costs, or even below this type of work,” said Quilty. “For example, the culvert installation, $12,350.50, the riprap installation, $7,500, the ditching at a cost of $5,257, and the cast in-place manhole, which was one at a cost of $2,608.69.”

The total cost of the additional work is $31,873 including HST, which was unanimously approved by council.

The next change order was for a fence on Diane Whalen Drive.

Quilty explained that on June 1, 2021, council awarded Pro Edge Construction and Maintenance a contract to build a privacy fence. The contract was valued at $41,630, including HST.

However, when the work began in December, construction crews found the soil was too rocky. The decision was made to switch building materials, opting for concrete instead of sonotube concrete foam. The concrete also required frost protection due to the cold temperatures.

The fence was completed by December 17, and the town received a revised invoice reflecting the additional costs, which totalled an extra $3,284.80, including HST. That brought the total contract value to some $44,914, including HST.

Council approved the change order unanimously.

The next change order was for phase 4 of the Paradise Road project.

The town had hired Pinnacle Engineering to complete a design and provide contract administration and full-time inspections of phase 4 construction.

“At the time of the signing of the agreement, there were 90 working days based on the funding amount at the time,” said Quilty. However, once the design was completed and the project issued for tender, the construction time had increased from 90 days to 135 days to reflect issues which arose during the design period, such as the contract spanning two construction seasons due to delays created by the pandemic.

“In addition to the 135 working days, the town has also approved an additional seven working days in contractor change order number one, which brings the total approved working days to 142 days,” she continued.

Despite adding the additional days, construction lasted even longer due to changes that became necessary during construction, such as the narrowing of the road and reinstatement agreements with some residents.

As a result, Pinnacle requested a contract change order for an additional 112 extra days, 52 of which were already approved. The remaining 60 days, said Quilty, is for time that has been worked, but not yet approved by council.

“The contractor, Modern Paving, will be liable for any additional engineering fees incurred beyond the approved working days,” Quilty noted.

The project was planned with some $410,000 in Gas Tax funding earmarked for it. Currently, the project is costing an additional $259,590, although Quilty said she hopes savings from unused line items can be applied to it.

“There is potential to apply for additional gas tax funds to decrease the deficit once all project costs have been finalized,” she added.

That change order was also approved unanimously.

Southern Shore tourism operators cautiously hopeful for 'Come Home Year'

By Patrick Newhook/January 20, 2022

With the province in Alert Level 4 and COVID-19 cases still higher than last year, tourism operators are wondering how this will impact their summer season. 

Since 2020, businesses have seen numerous setbacks due to COVID-19. Restrictions put in place to slow the pandemic have impaired their ability to work as normal. 

If the case numbers do come down, 2022 could be a busy year for tourism businesses. With the province promoting it as a Come Home Year, hopes are high this summer will be a busy one. 

Bay Bulls is home to several popular tourism businesses. 

Jonathan Earle is the co-owner of The Outfitters Adventures and Recreational Services. The business has a store in St. John’s and offers sea kayaking adventures in Bay Bulls. Since the start of COVID-19, their outdoor adventures have been halted. 

“Basically, our traffic stopped,” said Earle. “We really depend on people visiting Newfoundland, coming from outside of the province, outside of the country, around the world to visit and explore, and with travel bans in place, and people’s uneasiness with traveling, our traffic just dropped off and we decided not to operate our kayaking business from Bay Bulls.” 

The business hasn’t held its sea kayaking tours since 2020. Hopes were high for the business as it saw the upcoming summer as it’s comeback, but now with Alert Level 4, it’s not so certain anymore. 

“You know, if you had asked me this a month ago, we were starting to make plans and put things in place and have conversations with people,” said Earle. “We were feeling confident about this summer. With the Omicron variant that’s rolling around, we’ve sort of stopped and are wondering again. (We’re) less excited. It’s still five, six months away from that season and a lot can change and hopefully it will, but it’s hard to stay positive with the current situation.”  

Earle likes the idea of a provincial ‘Come Home Year,’ but isn’t sure if it will be enough for the sea kayaking business. 

“I think it’s a good initiative. I think there needs to be something to drive people home to visit Newfoundland or drive visitors to Newfoundland,” he said. “Will a ‘Come Home Year’ give us the kind of boost we really need? It will draw traffic, but I don’t know if it will give really the required traffic or the volume of traffic we’re used to, or that we would want when we decided to go into the sea kayaking tour business.”  

Earle is hoping to restart the kayak tours, but is expecting fewer tourists. 

“I think we’ll be operating on a reduced schedule. I don’t think we’ll have the volume that we had other years, typically late June, through July, August early September (when) we’re operating seven days a week, twice a day,” said Earle. “I could see us moving to a reduced schedule of three to five days a week, once maybe twice a day. I don’t think the volumes will be there to have a traditional operation. But the whales will be there, and the puffins will be there and likely the icebergs and the attractions will still be there. Maybe people will surprise me.”  

Bay Bulls is also home to several boat tours operations. Gatherall’s Puffin and Whale Watch is one of the oldest and most popular boat tour operators in Newfoundland. Co-owner Mike Gatherall said that prior to COVID-19, business was great. 

“In 2017, -18, -19 business was actually increasing,” said Gatherall. “2019 was a fabulous year and 2020, prior to the onset of COVID, was set to be the busiest year yet.”

When COVID-19 hit, it impacted the business hard. Gatherall teamed up with rival boat tour operator, O’Brien’s Whale and Bird Tours, to help keep each other weather the downturn. 

“It was one way we decided to work through COVID,” said Gatherall. 

This year, Gatherall is feeling ‘cautiously optimistic,’ saying that if cases are low and people can travel without isolating, then things will continue to look good. 

“Right now, advanced bookings and everything are back on par with what they would’ve been in the start of 2020. We are seeing that rebound, but again it’s going to come down to whether or not people are able to travel in or out of the province without restrictions,” said Gatherall. 

As for the Come Home Year, Gatherall welcomes it. 

“We certainly welcome people to come back home,” said Gatherall. “It’s a marketing initiative, we do have a lot of expat Newfoundlanders and a lot of them do come home anyway and I would anticipate a lot of people who were unable to come home in either 2020 or 2021 would be anxiously chomping at the bit to come home, ‘Come Home Year' or not.”  

While the ‘Come Home Year’ may help, Gatherall is still focusing on the traditional tourism market for customers. 

“It certainly wouldn’t hurt by any stretch, but it’s not necessarily what we are relying on,” he explained. “A non-resident, a person with no affiliation to Newfoundland who comes on a holiday, is probably going to spend in the order of five to seven times what a resident or expat returning home would spend. There is a considerable difference in the returns and revenue models. Of course, we are open to everybody.”

Greenslade brothers lease parking spaces to Town for new Long Pond park

The Town of Conception Bay South has entered into a lease with local property owners to provide additional parking for the new community Park in Long Pond. The fully-accessible, ocean-front park is under construction and expected to open late this summer, provided no construction delays occur due to COVID-19.

“The lease agreement with Doug and Derek Greenslade will provide approximately 90 spaces designated for park users when it opens later this year,” said Mayor Darrin Bent. “The park is an exciting addition to our community and ensuring adequate parking is available to residents for this multi-purpose venue is a priority of this council.”

The two sites, which are located at 196-198 and 200-202 Conception Bay Highway respectively, will be rented, starting this month, until January 1, 2026, for $2,000 per month, at which time the agreement may be renewed. The spaces are unpaved and mostly unused. They are located between the former Avalon Club and T & T Auto on Route 60. It’s not clear in the lease if the owners will be responsible for paving the lots. However, there is a clause that the tenant, in this case the Town, “will pay the cost of all alterations, additions, or maintenance...” The Town will also pay the property taxes on the lots.

The Town has first option to buy the property, should the Greenslade brothers decide to sell it.

The park’s adjacent parking lot can be accessed off Bishops Road and has 15 parking spaces.

The leased lot, which is a three-to four-minute walk to the park along Route 60 and then down Bishop’s Road next to Dominion Supermarket, or straight along Route 60 to the park entrance between Dominion and Jungle Jim’s Restaurant, means that more than 100 spaces have been made available for parking. The lease also allows the Town to designate more accessible parking.

The Town is continuing to look at the best parking solutions to ensure safety for families and visitors accessing the park, noted a town spokesperson. 

The lease was approved by council at the public meeting on December 21 and a copy is available on the Town’s website.

The park will include a playground and a dual-recreational, year-round surface, consisting of a splash pad in summer and ice-skating surface in winter. The park will have washrooms and change rooms, walking trails, a performance stage, and lighting.

Provided there are no unforeseen supply chain issues due to Covid-19, the splash pad will be ready for use this summer and the ice surface ready for commissioning next winter, said the spokesperson.

The park has been funded jointly by the federal government and the Province, which are each contributing $1 million, and the Town, which is spending $2.3 million for a total cost of $4.3 million.

Harbour Grace hoping for a big year in tourism

By Patrick Newhook/January 20, 2022

Harbour Grace council is hoping the provincial Come Home Year takes flight this spring so that the local tourism sector can benefit from the town’s aviation heritage.

At last week’s public council meeting, the chairman of council’s tourism and heritage committee, councilor Randy Wrice, discussed how the town is preparing.

“Over the last couple of months we’ve had many meetings with different interests and with people excited about the Amelia Earhart anniversary celebration happening from May 20th into August,” said Wrice. “It’s also our Come Home Year and we want all the committees input on taking part in the process of getting everyone involved on the same platform and how to proceed forward and to make it all a success. We have a zoom meeting tomorrow for a discussion on including the Harbour Grace Regatta into the Come Home Year events, and I guess that will have to do to with raising funds for the whole celebration. We have a lot of preparation ahead for all events and hopefully COVID restrictions will not limit progress.”

Mayor Don Coombs expressed confidence that 2022 is going to be good for the town.

“I’m looking forward to one of the best years ever in the history of Harbour Grace,” said Coombs.

He added that he has a positive feeling about Come Home Year. After two years of dealing with COVID-19, this is a chance to get the town moving and get some traction.

“We’re excited. We see so many opportunities and so many things happening in our town,” Coombs said. “Our economic development officer, again, is reaching out to the business community and we’re actually trying to get the business community in (for discussions)…. We’re making it attractive so that everyone can come in. The economic development officer and the committee that was put in place to spearhead that are doing a good job. We’re reaching out to everybody.”

Seeing the regatta go ahead will also be a benefit to the town, he said.

“It’s going to be exciting times, and it’s going to be a full schedule for kids, and adults, for seniors, for everybody and we are trying to tie in everyone which is important,” said the mayor.