Victoria Municipal News - 25 May 2023

Welcome to our new newsletter for the Rural Municipality of Victoria! You are receiving this because you have previously been subscribed to receive notifications of Council meetings.

We will send you at most 1 newsletter like this one per month. We may also send additional brief notifications of special Council & committee meetings when required.

We hope that this newsletter can be a source of community information for all who love this place. If you have information to include in a future newsletter, please email us at victoriamunicipalitypei@gmail.com

In today’s newsletter:

1 - Summer Student Position - applications now open!
2 - Municipal Volunteering & Donations
3 - Upcoming Council Meetings
4 - Deputy Mayor’s Report
5 - A New-to-Victoria Fire Truck
6 - Community Corner

 Visit RMV online 

1 - Summer student position - applications now open!

The RMV has recently been approved for a Summer Student Grant, for a person between the ages of 15 and 29 to take on general maintenance tasks around the town during the summer season. Although it’s been done by just one person the past few seasons, it really is a two-person job. So, we are glad to be able to add this student position to our seasonal team in 2023.

If you know anyone who would enjoy this role, please share the job posting with them! https://workpei.ca/job/rural-municipality-of-victoria-victoria-4477-assistant-maintenance-person/

2 - Municipal Volunteering & Donations

Municipal Volunteer Team

This community is deeply committed to keeping this place beautiful. As staff, we rely on the community to alert us to maintenance tasks requiring attention. And already this year, some residents have voluntarily taken on tasks around the town, sometimes before staff were even aware of the need, and sometimes after. This is always a pleasant surprise.

We would love a system that allows us to more easily identify the required work, to more fairly share the responsibilities, ensure that materials can be paid for, and to formally recognize the voluntary contributions that so many community members make to the town. As such, we invite expressions of interest in joining a Victoria municipal volunteers team.

We hope that it will not only help our town function, but also build community and be enjoyable for all involved. The exact shape that this team will take will depend on the people involved, but we imagine it could include things like:

  • organizing community clean-up days

  • taking on garden maintenance or town beautification responsibilities

  • organizing community events

  • supporting staff with administrative tasks, like minute-taking, research, or… compiling this regular newsletter!

If you are interested in joining a team like this, please email victoriamunicipalitypei@gmail.com. We will invite you to an initial planning meeting.

We also recognize and appreciate the volunteer commitment from our current and past Firefighters, and the members of Council and its Committees. Beyond Council, volunteering is alive and well in Victoria in so many community-based organizations here.

Donations for key projects

When Council approved the town budget in March, they defined what tasks would be able to be achieved within our known funding. We have now identified two projects that we could additionally achieve, should additional contributions be received either from residents, or from lovers of the town who live beyond the municipal borders. We are able to issue charitable tax receipts for donations to the municipality.

Two projects that could be achieved with additional donations inlude:

  • Professional lawn care for Victoria Park on the Causeway, for the summer season: $2300

  • Exterior painting for the Community Hall/Theatre: $2625 (Being 25% of the project expense, with the remaining 75% being covered by a provincial grant.)

If you - or someone you know who loves Victoria from outside the municipal bounds - would like to make a donation towards these projects, large or small, please email victoriamunicipalitypei@gmail.com.

3 - Upcoming Council Meetings

As always, you can find information about upcoming meetings on this page of our website: https://www.rmvictoria.com/agendas-and-minutes

Meetings currently scheduled in June include:
- Council, 12 June at 6:30pm (Open to the public)
- Planning board, 5 June and 19 June at 4pm. Both of these meetings will be closed to the public, as they are considering legal advice received and are therefore in camera under the Municipal Government Act.

Meeting packages, containing the agenda and any reports or background information for issues to be discussed at the meeting, are posted on the Agendas & Minutes webpage 2 days in advance of the meeting, or 24 hours before if the meeting is called urgently. Zoom links to observe the meeting virtually are also posted on that page shortly before the meeting begins.

4 - Deputy Mayor’s Report

Hello Victoria By The Sea Community,

Spring has definitely sprung in our little village! I am so happy to see the snow gone, the beautiful spring flowers coming to bloom, the boats setting out to fish and our amazing local businesses opening for the season. Such an exciting time of growth and a feeling of things coming alive. This past month has been a busy one for everyone, as I see people out working on their yards. Council too has seen a busy month.

First, I will start with an update related to Mayor Ruben, as he has indicated his return to the role in person as planned for July 1, 2023. We welcome you back to the role Martin! More importantly, to you and Leslie-Ann, we are happy to welcome you back to Victoria when you are ready.

We, as Council, want to welcome Jean McCardle to our Team and look forward to working together on many projects ahead.

As we start to see the businesses in our village open, I welcome everyone to support our local community members as for some, they start another successful business season. We are so lucky to have the businesses we do in our village. Support local!

We are making gains related to many important Municipal agenda items. Although at times it may seem that things are taking time, I want to assure everyone that our team (all Municipal staff and Council) work daily at moving things forward. This includes the water/sewer generator quotes, the Causeway repair planning, Boardwalk posts repairs, Official Plan, Emergency Preparedness Plan, as well as the possible acquisition or long term lease of what is now the Provincial Park along the Causeway. We have now received funding for summer employees/students to work with our Municipality helping with Maintenance. We applied and have been granted funding from the Province related to a “Beach Grant”, allowing us to use these funds to help with the restoration and repair of this beach areas. I encourage residents to take a walk to the Park and see the improvements made. We have been working with the Victoria Business Association and some local business owners to ensure Municipal Buildings are generating funds through rental agreements, in order to sustain these buildings (“Welcome Center”, Community Hall, Victoria School, Lighthouse, etc.). These are just some of the tasks at hand that we are working on to help our Community.

As most likely are aware, we had some development begin on Rovis Beach Lane this past month. I want to ensure all residents are aware of the facts related to this development as I know there has been some concerns raised since the development began. There is an approved Development Permit which was approved in 2022 and allows the development to occur. The developer has voluntarily ceased building at this time, and is working with the Municipality to clarify concerns and ensure all relevant permits required are in effect or actioned.

What I have learned through this process is that there will never be a time when we can all be happy with any one decision. I wish that was the case, but it never will be. What some like/support, others don’t, and visa versa. This is nothing new, it is in fact life. However, as the acting Mayor, I do want to hear concerns of residents and want to assure you all that I take these concerns very seriously. Likewise, comments of support are welcomed! I want to reiterate that it is in the best interest of the Municipality to not respond to such concerns irrationally, quickly and without all the information to justify the actions. Gathering all of the information and making informed decisions allows our Municipality to function well, without the risk of incurring significant legal costs. This is something we have learned in the past (unfortunately learned the hard way) which we did not want to see happen again in this case, thus our Team gathering information, while hearing the concerns, and ensuring the safety of our community. It is important for policies and procedures to be followed, created if needed, and explained when needed. Please know, we as a Team have put a lot of time and effort into this particular concern, which is ongoing at this time, and are working to ensure all policies and procedures are followed.

I also want to take this time to welcome all new and potentially new residents to our Community.

Victoria by the Sea is a place like no other. Our Community values the true treasures we have in our Village and want to both maintain the heritage that has been created while also welcoming growth and development to allow us to be sustainable for many generations to come. Please know, everyone is welcome in our Community and we look forward to showing our potential new residents just how amazing our Village is. Congratulations to the Victoria Historical Association who organized a spectacular event over the long weekend in May at the Victoria School. We gathered to celebrate 100 years of teaching at the School, which included special guests who were some of the teachers who taught in the school in the years prior to closing. We were also in the presence of The Honourable Lieutenant Governor Antoinette Perry who shared her memorable words with the audience. I felt honoured to be involved in this event and definitely left feeling my spirits were high with pride for our Community.

As with the nicer weather, we are starting to see our streets come to life with visitors, which is likely only to get busier over the next few months. I remind everyone to be cautious when using our streets and roads in any capacity. This includes the use of the wharf for fishing, boating, swimming, etc. Stay safe all!

I look forward to seeing many of you out and about as the weather continues to be nicer and we can enjoy the beautiful outdoors.

Shelley Trainor

5 - A new-to-Victoria Fire Truck

We wish to recognise and thank the Victoria firefighters association for their gift of a new-to-Victoria fire truck, to the town’s fire service!

This truck replaces the oldest truck in the fire service’s fleet, a 1983 vehicle that was long in need of replacement. The need for this truck was presented to Council during the budget process in March, however it was outside of the municipal budget to achieve, and no known grants were available.

Most newer trucks are too long to fit our small firehall, so when an appropriately-sized truck came up for sale, at an affordable price, from the fire service in Sutton, Vermont, the firefighter’s association jumped at the chance. Victoria’s fire department team then coordinated the delivery with the Sutton team, at the US border.

Congratulations to the fire department, and thanks again to the firefighter’s association for this upgrade to the Department’s fleet.

6 - Community Corner

There are many ways to keep track of what is going on in Victoria.

Aside from the Municipality’s local-government website, www.rmvictoria.com, and the Fire Department’s Facebook page, you can also follow the following community-led Facebook pages and websites, to stay informed:

Kind and supportive feedback on this first edition of our newsletter is welcome. victoriamunicipalitypei@gmail.com

Rural Municipality Of Victoria