Seeker Coverage of the City Council Meetings by Neil Macmillan

The regular public meetings of Cornwall City Council continue to purr along nicely under the all-female leadership of Mayor Bernadette Clement, Chief Administrative Officer Maureen Adams and City Clerk Manon Levesque.

At the regular public meeting on February 11, enhancing the initial visitor experience to Cornwall at both the south and north ends of Brookdale Avenue was very much on the Councillors’ minds.

Streetscape

At the southern approach from Canada Customs, it is proposed to create a pair of gateway features at the corner of Water Street and Brookdale Avenue in order to welcome U.S. travellers to the city and direct traffic to the waterfront and the two commercial districts of the Downtown and Le Village.

At a total cost of around $100,000, these features would include:

• wayfinding signage at the pumphouse
• new triangular banners promoting the two districts on both existing and new light standards on the Water Street median
• the addition of greenery to augment beautification work along this corridor.

The respective design for each district’s banner has already been approved.

At the north end of Brookdale Avenue from Tollgate to Cornwall Centre Road, preparatory work is proceeding on the Brookdale Avenue North Sanitary Sewer Extension project at an estimated ultimate cost of around $7 million.

The current stage is the required consulting, engineering and construction administration services at an estimated cost of $850,000.

The main argument in favour of this project is that it will support ongoing efforts to attract new commercial and retail development along the Brookdale Avenue North Corridor which is currently inhibited by a lack of sanitary sewer services.

In other business, Council:

• heard from Staff Sergeant David Michaud and Project Coordinator Carmen Cousineau on the preparation of a provincially-mandated Community Safety and Well-Being Plan by December 31, 2020;
• considered the establishment of an annual “week of remembrance” in honour of all Cornwall Council members and municipal employees who passed away during the previous 12 months – to replace the current practice of lowering the City Hall flag to half-mast on each individual occasion;
• broached the possibility for physically absent Councillors, committee members and so on to participate in meetings “electronically;”
• awarded a $271,200 two-year contract for leaf, branch and yard waste collection to HGC Management Inc. with no assurance that the company, which recently lost the City’s main curbside waste collection and recycling contract, would still be operating locally after April 1.