The Town of Port Hawkesbury has offered its support to two projects looking for funding from the provincial government.
Chief Administrative Officer Terry Doyle said the Eastern District Planning commission is asking that the town back its proposal for funding from the Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing to hire, on a term basis, someone to complete a municipal planning document.
Doyle said the Office of Regulatory Affairs has been working on a pilot project which found unnecessary discrepancies between planning by-laws among Cape Breton municipalities, and this is something the EDPC is required to do.
For the EDPC’s plan to proceed, the department requires the approval of its member municipalities, which town council provided.
The next project seeking support was an initiative trying to create shared information technology among local municipalities.
The town’s director of finance, Erin MacEachen, told the virtual meeting that the town is working with the District of St. Mary’s, the counties of Victoria, Inverness and Antigonish, and the Town of Antigonish on a joint IT project.
The towns hired a consultant last year who reviewed the inventories and networks, as well as the unique needs of all municipalities, and they came up with a preliminary framework.
Through the municipal innovation program, the group is looking for funding to get to the next stage, which involves detail costing and a more detailed operational plan, something MacEachen said is not a big cost.
In response to a question from Deputy Mayor Blaine MacQuarrie, MacEachen confirmed that approval for 95 per cent funding from the province depends on the number of municipal partners.
After council approved their support, Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton said the project is a “wonderful” example of municipalities working together.