1,960 Northumberland Volunteers picked up 9,800 kilos of trash during week in April
Article by Valerie MacDonald
After a two-year hiatus, the return of the Mayors’ Keep the County Clean Challenge in Northumberland resulted in about 1,960 volunteers picking up about 9,800 kilograms of litter during the week-long event held in April.
This 12th year saw the highest number of volunteers coming from Cobourg with Alnwick/Haldimand showing up with the hardest working who picked up an average of 42 kilograms of roadside trash per person.
“The registration was higher than expected after the two-year hiatus,” the presentation to Northumberland County’s public works committee stated.
In other committee news held at the meeting July 4, Northumberland County’s public works committee members decided to recommend that the county support Hamilton Township in permitting all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) until Nov. 30 of this year on sections of the county’s roads within the township. The matter still must be voted on at the county council meeting July 20.
“During the pilot project, Township of Hamilton staff will work closely with community stakeholders, such as local businesses, residents, ATV Associations, and the Northumberland OPP, on an education campaign to ensure riders and non-riders alike are aware of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) on the roads, the pilot project, riding etiquette, and the rules for riding on Township of Hamilton roads. The Township of Hamilton reached out to the County to request support for the use of ORV’s on specific sections of County Roads, to be utilized as connecting links,” states a county staff report to the public works committee.
In another matter, the hiring of an individual to focus on writing funding requests has resulted in a commitment of $53.1-million dollars in new money for Northumberland County, its corporate services committee learned the next day, July 5. This is money that doesn’t have to be raised by the tax levy directly by county residents.
“The money has been approved….It’s the real deal,” chair and Deputy Warden Mandy Martin said as committee members praised the report by Jennifer Hardy-Parr who called it a team effort.
The majority of the funds are for broadband service, Martin added.
The County’s Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Moore said this figure represents projects this year, plus others that are multi-year.
The money comes from provincial and federal governments, and private sources. There were five of nine successful applications during the first six months of this year. Five of the grants totalled $8.1-million (for economic development, lands planning and tourism, plus information technology and paramedics) and two were for broadband infrastructure totalling about $45-million.
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