Electoral Boundary Open House Meeting October 8th

At the end of the last Council of Community Organizations meeting, Wednesday September 21st, it was put forward that an Open House type information meeting could be very beneficial to help residents understand why we should care about HRM's Governance and District Boundary Review 2010 that is under way at this time.   This meeting would focus on the concerns of the communities now designated as Districts 22 & 23.

I have received confirmation that Councillors Reg Rankin, and Peter Lund (Districts 22 & 23) might be available to participate, and provide insights into how district boundary changes may affect governance processes, and community linkages.  I believe that the information that the councillors have with this regard is vital to facilitating anyone making an informed recommendation to HRM, or the NSUARB.

• Next HRM sponsored public information meeting about the changes to HRM Electoral Boundaries: Lakeside Fire Hall, 26 Myra Road, Timberlea; Wednesday, September 28th at 7:00 p.m;
• Five more HRM sponsored public meetings will occur after that; public submissions must get to HRM by Friday, October 14th;
• Public submissions are supposed to facilitate the boundary review committee in making changes to the proposed boundary Scenarios 1 & 2;
• HRM Council must decide which boundary scenario they will recommend prior to their October 21st submission date to the NSUARB; at this time HRM will publish the recommendations made to the NSUARB for public consumption; and
• Interested parties can submit letters of comment to the NSUARB up to October 31st; NSUARB sponsored public hearings will be held starting November 7th. 

Additional info here: http://www.halifax.ca/BoundaryReview/index.html

The date for our community sponsored open house meeting is on Saturday, October 8th; an evening-weekday meeting has been determined too hard to coordinate with this short notice.  Note that this is not an HRM sponsored meeting, rather it is a community sponsored event.  We also realize that this is the long weekend, but unfortunately our options are limited.  This type of electoral boundary review will not occur for another 8 years, so it is important for us to work together to try to get it right at this time.

We need the following information to proceed with organizing the Open House:

• which location on Saturday, October 8th:
  • the Prospect Road Community Centre, morning only 9am-12noon, or
  • the Tantallon Library, afternoon only 1:30-4:30pm
  • if there is enough interest we might do both locations;
• Everyone, will you attend?  Please indicate if only one or both locations are acceptable?
• Please respond no later than Friday, September 30th 2011?

Please forward this message to any, and all rate payer/home owner associations & their members community groups, residents, and other interested parties located within Districts 22 & 23 that you may know.

Best Regards, Cas (John Cascadden)

McDonald Lake Residents Association

Five Bridges Wilderness Heritage Trust

148 McDonald Lake Drive
Hatchet Lake, Nova Scotia
Canada  B3T 1R7

Home : (902) 852-4886

Mobile: (902) 471-4631

E-mail: jdcas@slccc.com