Town of Lunenburg Welcomes New Deputy CAO

Published: September 22, 2017, 3:30 pm

The Town of Lunenburg is pleased to welcome its newest staff member, Amy Wamboldt MA CMM, who began her role as Deputy CAO on September 5th.

Amy joins us from the Town of Bridgewater, where she served as the Strategic Initiatives Coordinator for the past 11 years. Amy brings to the Town experience in policy, research services, organizational development, and government administration.

Amy holds a designation as a Certified Municipal Manager, and is a Level II graduate of Dalhousie’s National Advanced Certificate in Local Authority Administration, as well as a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Saint Mary’s University. Amy has served as a board member for the Association of Municipal Administrators and the Women in Local Government committee. Amy is from the South Shore and currently resides in the Mahone Bay area with her husband Jeff, and three children.

Lunenburg Town Council Meeting Digest

Published: September 22, 2017, 3:08 pm

Re September 12, 2017

Public Presentations
• The new Deputy CAO, Amy Wamboldt, was introduced. She will assume the role upon Peter Haughn’s retirement this month.
• Tall Ships 2017 Report: Attendance is estimated at 14,954, with good coordination among emergency services departments. The Lunenburg Board of Trade’s interactive map and an online contest were successful, although a survey of local businesses indicated mixed economic results. The Folk Harbour Festival commented on the excellent cooperation between events, and noted that they saw a record-breaking year. Congratulations to all organizers!
• Lüneburg, Germany: Dr. Alexander Grabowski presented information about Lüneburg and common ties with Lunenburg, and provided Council with a number of ideas for consideration. Council agreed to express interest; Councillors McGee and Risser will meet further and report back to Council.
• WSP Engineering: The project manager, Ivan Bishop, reviewed the scope and status of the infrastructure project, noting that it is 75% complete and scheduled to be completed by the end of October.
Correspondence and Committee Reports
• Garden of Grace: Council agreed to proclaim October 15th as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day.
• South Shore Regional Library Board: The Lunenburg Lit Festival is being held on September 29 & 30 at various locations around town. Schedule and tickets are available at www.lunenburglitfestival.com.
Unfinished Business
• Electric Utility: Exterior repair work was completed on Bluenose Drive commercial properties in August. While the onus is on private property owners to pay for and/or privately contract increased load and system changes, nevertheless the Town is helping to coordinate these changes.
• Public Works: Wastewater Treatment Plant testing results were shared; reports are in the full Minutes package. The Town Engineer noted that representatives from the NS Dept. of the Environment recently toured the plant and had no notes for process improvement.
Summer testing of Lunenburg Harbour water quality was discussed, taking place every Wednesday until the end of September. This is an effort to find correlation between weather, boat traffic, or other events and the variable contamination levels.
New Business
• Corporate Services: Our newest Councillor Risser was added to the Planning Advisory, Recreation, General Government, and Audit Committees.
• Protective Services: Council approved the Fire Department’s request to withdraw donated funds to purchase equipment for their fire/rescue boat.

Hitting the Chowder Trail

Published: September 22, 2017, 9:02 am

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New Lunenburg Arena Helmet Policy

Published: September 20, 2017, 2:41 pm

Lunenburg Fishermen’s Memorial Service

Published: September 13, 2017, 10:10 am

The annual Lunenburg Fishermen’s Memorial Service was held on Sunday, September 10, 2017 on the waterfront in honour of the many men who have lost their lives while pursuing their livelihood in the fishery. 

The Bridgewater Fire Department Band provided the music assisted by the voices of a massed choir of various local churches. Mayor Bailey read the Roll of Honour which included the names of those fishermen lost in the years ending in seven (7) covering the last century.

Those present proceeded to a working fishing boat where wreaths were placed aboard to be taken out to sea. The ceremony continued as the wreath-bearing vessel steamed to open water where the clergy aboard performed a prayer of committal and the wreaths were deposited in memory of the lives lost.

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Town of Lunenburg Harbour Water Quality Improvement Efforts

Published: September 1, 2017, 8:03 pm

Lunenburg’s Mayor and Council are committed to a clean environment for the community, including its historic Front Harbour. 

The Town of Lunenburg has actively pursued and implemented a range of projects over the past two decades to improve the quality of the harbour waters. While the harbour falls under Federal government jurisdiction, Mayor Rachel Bailey says, “Lunenburg Harbour is the lifeblood of the community, and we need to do whatever we can to look after it.” 

Lunenburg has had a sewage treatment facility since 2003. This facility has undergone a number of significant upgrades in recent years, including the installation of a sludge dewatering system in 2015 to improve treated effluent and reduce costs, and a new interior ventilation system in 2016. At construction, it was expected that an exterior odour control system would not be necessary due to the treatment technology, but now an odour control “Biofilter” system at an estimated cost of $1.3 million is planned, for which Town Council is awaiting senior government funding. 

Aging 100+ year-old sewage and water pipes serving the Town’s 2,300 residents and approximately 400,000 annual visitors have required significant investment. This year’s separation of storm and sanitary sewers, and new water mains along three major streets, were at a cost of $4.4 million with support from the Federal and Provincial governments’ Clean Water and Wastewater Fund.   

The Town has also worked with the Harbour Authority of Lunenburg, in response to the concerns of local fishermen who operate from the Inshore Fishermen’s Wharf, to study options for extending the adjacent treated and overflow sewer outfall pipe further offshore. The 2014 cost estimate for the completion of this work is $775,000. 

In the interim, Town Council approved the following motion at their August 22, 2017 meeting to pursue additional options to improve the quality of treated effluent from Lunenburg sewage treatment plant: “…draft a terms-of-reference for a full wastewater treatment system study with recommendations to determine what improvements and new technologies could be implemented for Council to review.” 

The Town continues to conduct regular tests of all treated wastewater leaving the treatment facility, and consistently meets Federal and Provincial treatment standards. In addition, the Town began testing the Lunenburg Harbour water quality last year, then this summer expanded the voluntary testing to a variety of locations along the Lunenburg waterfront to determine Enterococci recreational use levels (a bacteria present in marine conditions) to share with the public. 

“We look forward to continuing our work with the Harbour Authority of Lunenburg for ongoing improvements. We are committed to helping to ensure our working waterfront’s prominence in Nova Scotia and around the world as a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” says Mayor Bailey. 

For more information please contact:

Mayor Rachel Bailey
Town of Lunenburg
(902) 634-4410
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

For testing results from five locations around Lunenburg Harbour, including the latest report from August 30th, please see: the attachment above or https://goo.gl/2QqNED  or test results

For general information on wastewater treatment in the Town of Lunenburg, please visit: https://www.explorelunenburg.ca/wastewater-treatment.html