Archive for April, 2023
Talk highlights tips to create healthy compost without banana peel sludge and bugs
By Sharon Harrison Local residents who work to keep the County’s ecology viable gathered at an environmental volunteer open house, as part of Earth Week, at the Wellington and District Community Centre. A collaboration between the West Lake Community Association (WLCA) and the County’s operations department, WLCA co-chair Cathie Coultis shared a little about the […]
Public health seeing increase in suspected drug poisoning deaths
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH) has received notification of five deaths in the region last week, suspected to be drug related. As not all drug poisonings are reported, HPEPH states it expects the number of poisonings being experienced in the community is higher. At this time, HPEPH does not have information on the substances […]
Hospital auxiliary matches donations to help buy an x-ray machine
Thanks to the generosity of more than 500 donors, $300,000 has been raised through a matching gift incentive to help purchase a new x-ray machine for the County’s hospital. This past fall, the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Auxiliary committed to making a 1:1 match for all new donations to the hospital foundation’s x-ray […]
Modern look for council chambers in first update since late 1970s
County council returned to holding its meetings at Shire Hall Tuesday, April 25, marking official completion of a renovation project that began last fall. Last spring, council had shelved the extensive renovation project, asking staff to investigate other uses for grant money previously received ($130,000 municipal modernization funding), noting a $428,627 project may be premature […]
School board reports “toughest budget year” with estimated $4 million shortfall
Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board is citing its “toughest budget year” as it battles balancing by June with a $4 million shortfall for the 2023-2024 school year. “This is the toughest budget year that I can recall,” said Nick Pfeiffer, Superintendent of Business Services. “It’s going to be very challenging to present a […]
Prince Edward County to extend hand in friendship to Ukraine
Prince Edward County will reach out to establish an official municipal friendship with Krasyliv Territorial Community, Ukraine. “Friendship” was chosen over “twinning” as agreements are less formal and focus on comradery, support and solidarity instead of commercial, trade and culture. They come at little or no cost to the municipalities and tend to work with […]
Audience chooses County’s must-read book of the year
By Sharon Harrison Operation Angus is the book everyone in Prince Edward County should read, that according to local resident Andrew Janikowski who admirably, humorously and successfully defended the title at the 2023 County Reads debate with the winning book title written by Terry Fallis. Forming part of the County Reads Authors Festival, the 14th […]
Traffic changes include 40km/h through Bloomfield, safety and calming measures in several areas
Council adopted several recommendations from the Traffic Advisory Committee at its meeting at Shire Hall, Tuesday night. Among them is dropping the speed limit on Bloomfield Main to 40 km/h from 50 km/h from near the Quaker cemetery and through town to Stanley Street. Councillor Phil Prinzen noted the move will add 18 seconds to […]
Three business awarded contract to cut County grass at 155 locations
Three businesses will be contracted to look after grass cutting for 155 locations in the County this summer. Council approved awarding Enviro sweep, Pitt Crew Landscaping and Martin’s Construction and Demolition the $282,514.36 contract on an annual basis, including a fixed 1.5 per cent annual price increase over the three-year contract. The costs are spread […]
Virtual schooling ending in June
Virtual schooling created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, will end in June. The Hastings District Board of Education noted the ongoing, annual decline in the number of K-12 students making the program financially unfeasible to continue the ongoing, yet limited public demand. When the program started in 2020-2021, there were 1502 elementary and 805 […]
