🗞 Ticks are out. How many have you seen?

COUNCIL

City Council preview: Tuesday, August 22

City council is meeting tomorrow and there are two notable things to preview for Tuesday’s meeting.

The first is that two councillors are putting forward a variety of motions worth a tip of the hat. Councillor Waye Mason is trying to make it so developers can’t knock down a residential building without building permits in place to replace it. There would also be a deterently high property tax on development lots that stayed empty (more details). Mason is teaming up with councillor Pam Lovelace to start making our city more resilient to the wildfire aspect of the ongoing climate emergency (more details). And Mason’s solo again trying to make city, provincial and private street signs be colour-coded so that after a flood, people know which order of government to contact for repairs (more details). Colour-coded street signs would also help citizens levy complaints or make suggestions to the right order of government in non-emergency times. This is a periodic reminder that democracy is a verb that requires an informed and engaged citizenry. And to be procedurally clear: these motions will generate reports which will lead (likely) to legislation. The reason we report on motions at this early stage is because this is the best time for citizenry to get involved in shaping legislation and not in the public engagement session at the second reading (for now).

The second thing worth pointing out is very nerdy, so put your waders on because we are going into the weeds to explain one aspect of how Halifax is vulnerable to climate change. The audit and finance committee has asked council to award an Alternative Procurement contract to Bell Inc., for the provision of consulting services related to the Permitting, Planning, Licensing and Compliance (PPL&C) Program, in the amount of $559,234 (net HST included). The reason this money needs to be spent is that there are two Senior Business Analysts who have built up so much institutional knowledge that replacing them would be far more costly than paying $21,509 per analyst per month of the 13-year contract. One of the hidden costs of P3 contracting is that loss of institutional knowledge.

When we pay private companies to do our public works, they learn lessons from their mistakes, and then when their contract expires we pay a premium for an institutional education we paid for. This is a self-imposed inflationary premium this paper on governmental procurement calls “shrunken state capacity” which both makes city building more expensive and makes our municipal bureaucracy institutionally worse at doing city building. That study’s worth a read in its entirety, if you still have your waders on.

Need to know

💧 Good news! The untreated wastewater that was flowing into the Northwest Arm has been stopped. Repairs are ongoing and residents in the area are still being asked to limit their flushing and stay out of the water.

🌉 A temporary single-lane bridge on Route 333 in Blind Bay has been set up, putting an end to the long detours that were needed to reach Peggys Cove over the last month.

🎶 Support4Culture is a proud supporter of arts, culture, and heritage in Nova Scotia including Nova Scotia Music Week. See the impact Support4Culture makes here.*

🪲 The hemlock woolly adelgid—an invasive species dangerous to hemlock trees—was recently found in the HRM for the first time.

*Sponsored Post

On The Coast

SPONSORED BY SYMPHONY NOVA SCOTIA

Symphonic Music for Everyone

Symphony Nova Scotia marks its 40th anniversary as the 2023/24 concert season kicks off with Cape Breton fiddler-singer Natalie MacMaster on stage with the orchestra in September.

“Natalie performed with us in 1995 in her first performance with an orchestra,” says Music Director Holly Mathieson. “Audiences are in for a real treat as she brings home many of her favourite songs.” Another Maritime superstar, cellist Denise Djokic, follows in October. “There is symphonic music for every taste,” explains Mathieson.

Visit symphonynovascotia.ca to find your favourite.

In other news

🧑‍💻 A new Dalhousie study is exploring how Canadian youth handle online advances.

💻 An audit of the municipalities cybersecurity has raised multiple concerns over how the city prevents cybersecurity attacks. CBC has the story.

🏠 Rent in Nova Scotia was up 7.5% in July compared to the previous year.

⛺️ It’s been two years since police raided the city’s homeless encampments and locals don’t think there’s been any improvement when it comes to the number of unhoused individuals in Halifax.

🏨 The disabled community is sharing the difficulties they experience when booking accessible rooms in Halifax hotels.

🩺 The Province has updated its healthcare data on the Action for Health website.

⚡️ Having you been noticing more lightning during storms this summer? Here’s the reason why.

COAST POLLS

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