4feb2010: MLA Hurlburt at the centre of pervasive and irresponsible MLA expense spending, slammed by media... Yarmouth MLA big winner in provincial "Expense Lotto"... named in Auditor General's report to speaker regarding expense account spending... The just-released Auditor General's Report points out that, even though the NDP government has made some inroads in curbing excesses in MLA spending, problems remain and Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt is apparently named as one of the culprits for having an $8000 generator installed at his home. Some of the most serious offenses include $43,000 in "excessive" spending for computers, furniture and cameras, plus $6,000 for one MLA for web design. >> full story

3feb2010: To Haiti with love Feb 5 at Th'YARC.... the fundraiser will showcase many talented individuals from the area with ALL funds going directly to Haiti. The Putz Brothers, Ashley MacDonald, Sandy Ackles, Chimera, Arden and Suzanne Gaudet, Connie Salulnier, James Ogden, Tic, 6 Hours. 7:00pm. Donations.

2feb2010: Shelburne County cash goes to pay off SWSDA legal debt... After recently losing a legal battle it instigated ten years ago, the South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) will be bailed out of a large cash settlement with Ocean Produce International for a cessation of the suit and counter suit.
     In their closed-door, January 28 "Team Shelburne" meeting, the Shelburne County mayors and wardens agreed to contribute to SWSDA an "agreed amount" from the Shelburne Youth Centre Fund. In actuality, such a fund does not exist, as SWSDA lawyers testified in a Yarmouth court in 2008 that, under CEO Frank Anderson's direction, all of the funds from the sale of the Youth Centre, plus the remaining administrative fund supplied by the province, was spent by SWSDA and remained only as a "bookkeeping entry".
     The judge ordered SWSDA to place $780,000 of other funds in a separate account until the legal action was over. A court order from Justice Allan Boudreau releasing the funds was delivered to the Yarmouth Court on Friday. Team Shelburne also voted to have SWSDA release the funds to the Town of Clarks Harbour for safekeeping, but clerk Brian Crowell says it may be weeks before the "banking procedures" provide for the transfer of the funds.
     One economic specialist familiar with SWSDA's operation told SCT, "Given the past record of Anderson and SWSDA deducting all sorts of costs from Shelburne County project funds, I'd be surprised if there was much, if anything, left when they finally turn the remainder over to Team Shelburne." Anderson has recently admitted that at least $181,000 in "project funds" were charged against the OPI legal costs. As for Team Shelburne's expectations that they will receive monies from the "Youth Centre Fund", the specialist thinks that is "wishful thinking."

2feb2010: Yarmouth council attacks province for "punishment" in "personal" CAT decision.... Members of Yarmouth town council are keeping up that offensive against the NDP government surrounding the recent decision to cut off subsidies to the CAT ferry owners after $20 million over less than five years.
     Councilors say they believe the province’s decision to discontinue funding of The Cat ferry service is personally motivated. “This is a choice to cause strife and hardship,” Councillor Esther Dares was quoted in the Yarmouth Vanguard. “How can we read that any way but personal? It’s punishment.”   >>> full story

feb2010: Editorial: Lobbying is NOT the name of the game in economic development ...
Over the past decade, the South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) has increasingly interjected itself between populations and the municipalities in our area, not to mention the provincial and federal governments. A gradual process, SWSDA inserted itself by establishing itself as “the Authority” through which all funding was funneled and either acquired or controlled. People and officials actually began to believe that funding approval was contingent on SWSDA making the application.
     SWSDA’s control of funding applications to both provincial and federal agencies resulted in the eventual replacement of municipal governments in their efforts to plan and control their own socio-economic development in the geographic areas covered by the RDA .
     Additionally, SWSDA imposed itself in the funding and program relationships between individuals and non-government organizations and federal and provincial programs like Community Access Program (computers in communities), provincial immigration programs, human resources programs, seniors programs and community services through their designation by federal and provincial agencies and by the creation of subordinate agencies controlled entirely by staff with little or no accountability even to the SWSDA board pf directors.
     This made it increasingly difficult for individuals and NGOs to establish dialogues with government bodies and access funding from these bodies. It became not uncommon for civil servants to refer citizens to SWSDA if they were seeking funding or access to a program. A good example of this is the CAP program that is dominated by SWSDA with the active support of staff of the provincial Library system.
     The result has been a concentration of transformational power in the hands of SWSDA staff that is unfettered by the normal checks and balances imposed on governments by the electorate, its elected officials or public servants. In so doing, the RDA has dramatically weakened the relationship between populations and municipalities in South Western Nova Scotia and provincial and federal government bodies. The result is a weakening of local capabilities to plan and manage their own development.
     This destructive behaviour has further exacerbated the negative impact of SWSDA over our communities and citizens over the past decade. The recent examples of SWSDA contributing to political fund-raising, initiating letter-writing to provincial ministers by municipalities, leaking complaints to opposition parties and the press have now been compounded by SWSDA’s blatant efforts to generate negative press respecting the decision about subsidies for the high-speed ferry by taping local populations for YouTube.
     Neither the public consultation that led to the creation of RDAs or its enabling legislation anticipated that RDAs would take control and exclude people, organizations and municipalities from control of their own development. Nor did it expect that RDAs would become lobby groups using its resources to put pressure on governments or to moblize public opinion against governments. Neither the next RDA established to service Shelburne County or the “new” RDA being designed on the old SWSDA model should adopt any of these bad habits that defined our previous RDA for so long.  

31jan2010: Mink stink Song video debuts on YouTube.... A catchy ditty, Nobody's Listenin' written by John Horton and performed by Chett Buchanan and Family, appeared on YouTube Sunday.  The song is a light-hearted poke at the serious situation plaguing Tusket-area homeowners, as offal from up to one million mink appear to be fouling the region's waterways with blue-green algae.  >>> View video here. For more information about the mink stink.

20jan2010: Legal bills still outstanding... According from sources from within South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA), at least $50,000 in legal bills for the 10-year civil suit are outstanding to top-end Halifax law firm McInnes Cooper. Two of the firm's top litigators - Gavin Giles and Bob Belliveau - led the McInnes Cooper team until the suit was recently settled just days before a six-week trial was to begin.
     At a recent Shelburne Municipal Council meeting, warden Sherm Embree described the fees as SWSDA's primary liability and the controversial $1.75 mortgage on the Shelburne Sound Stage property as the primary asset. SWSDA has been order by the province to wrap up their affairs and cease operating by March 31. 
     The legal fees over the ten years are estimated to be more than $300,000, but SWSDA accounting reports have never shown the fees as a line item. Previous reports appeared to have the fees lumped in with paper and copy supplies and recently CEO Frank Anderson created a "dummy" project called "Shelburne Sound Stage/Park", which now shows a $181,000 deficit. Anderson has told board members and others that the project account is really to cover the legal fees. 

29jan2010:Shelburne Town out of SWSDA orbit.... The Shelburne Town Council voted at a special meeting Wednesday evening to decline participation in any new regional development agency organized by the current staff and board of the South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA). The town joins Clarks Harbour and Municipality of Shelburne in separating from the troubled, Yarmouth-based development group.
     SWSDA has been the subject of an extensive investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman and has been on the two losing end of several legal actions recently, including claims that they refused to properly disclose expense accounts and that they misappropriated assets subject to a $5 million civil suit. The 10 year-old suit was settled just days before a 6-week trial was to have begun. Those familiar with the suit anticipate that the settlement ranged between one and two million dollars.
     $800,000 development funds to be released...  The settlement will release a court hold on almost $800,000 destined for economic development in Shelburne County. "I wouldn't be surprised," said a local economic development specialist, "if those funds disappeared into SWSDA's bank account within minutes of that court order being lifted." Previously, more than $700,000 from the sale of the Shelburne Youth Centre was spent by SWSDA and, according to lawyers for CEO Frank Anderson, became just an "accounting entry."

29jan2010: NDP cash grab charged in Cat Ferry cancellation...dead cat to cost $3 million.... The Cat Ferry could still cost Nova Scotia taxpayers up to $3 million this year, even though it won’t be running, according to Economic Development Minister Percy Paris... >>> full story.
    Liberal party leader Stephen McNeil told an online news conference on Thursday that the sudden decision to de-fund the Cat Ferry to the USA was really "a cash grab" by the government, who is exaggerating the economic condition of the province. McNeil was also critical of the government's decision to unilaterally remove up to $15 million in subsidies to the ferry operator in 2010. "They did this with no consultation with the citizens or government officials in the area affected," says McNeil.
     An ACOA-funded transportation study of southwest Nova Scotia is due to be delivered within weeks. The study is likely to address several possible iterations of ferry service for the regions, including how to protect the essential needs of the fishing and fish processing sectors to get product to markets in the USA and upper Canada. 

28jan2010: Shelburne County says NO WAY JOSE ! to SWSDA... Councils for the Municipality and Town of Shelburne met Wednesday evening to discuss the fate of their respective relationships with the South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) and its controversial CEO, Frank Anderson. "Same head, different hat," was the comment of one municipal councilor, as the discussion turned to the possibility of joining up with Yarmouth-area municipal units in a "revised" SWSDA with Anderson at the helm.
     The municipal council voted unanimously to reject an offer from SWSDA chair Rod Rose to join the new group and voted unanimously to reject Frank Anderson's separate plea for a $30,000 funding commitment to the current SWSDA, which the provincial government will cease to fund as as March 31, 2010. "Throwing good money after bad," was a side comment heard during the debate. The Municipality has extended almost $200,000 in loans and guarantees to SWSDA, which might be lost if the agency's finances are as bad as has been reported.
      Municipal warden Sherm Embree announced that, on behalf of the five Shelburne County governments, earlier in the day he had sent a letter to Economic Development Minister Percy Paris requesting guidance in forming a county-wide Reginal Development Agency and had spoken with Economic Development executive director Neal Conrad, who offered the province's assistance in the County's efforts toward self-directed economic development.
     Previously, the Town of Clark's Harbour council voted unanimously to opt out of SWSDA's new development scheme and the Barrington Municipal Council has said that they would not commit "one red cent" to a new Anderson-led Agency until all of their questions had been answered. The Town of Shelburne met in closed session Wednesday to discuss the growing financial and legal entanglements with SWSDA. Previously, Mayor Al Delaney said the Town was not happy with SWSDA's recent performance on their behalf.
     Only the Town of Lockeport has agreed to continue with SWSDA. Mayor Darian Huskilson told and economic development summit recently that, despite all of the problems with SWSDA, it was "still a good investment for $3000." 

26jan2010: Not one red cent for SWSDA from ShelCo munis... at least three of the five municipal councils in Shelburne County have decided not to invest any monies in the core funding for the new Regional Development Authority being created in Yarmouth by Frank Anderson and his former SWSDA board of directors until Anderson and company can provide answers to a slew of questions directed at him by the councils. One councilor said his colleagues will not provide SWSDA "one red cent" until stringent conditions are met.
      The Town of Lockeport previously committed $3000 in funding to the new group and the Town of Shelburne expects a decision after a special meeting called for Wednesday evening. The various "in or out" SWSDA positions were announced at a brief economic development summit held in Shelburne Tuesday.
     In a letter to Anderson from all of the Shelburne County units, the SWSDA chief was put on notice that any involvement in the new RDA he has been pressuring municipalities to join would only be considered if the units felt assured about the issues of accountability, transparency, board structure, financial management, compliance with the development act and implementation of recommendations arising from the Ombudsman's investigation and report.
     The tone of recent meetings in this area and the reportedly hostile and fractious tenor of the recent SWSDA meetings in Yarmouth make it unlikely that Anderson will see anyone but Lockeport supporting a new RDA under his leadership. 

26jan2010: Shelburne Town still playing hide-and-seek with SWSDA documents... in an on-going game of cat-and-mouse, the staff of the Town of Shelburne continues to keep certain documents from public scrutiny, especially those connected to the Town's troubled relationship with the South West Shore Development Authority.
    Despite being advised on numerous occasions that Provincial law dictates that "A person has a right of access to any record in the custody, or under the control, of a municipality upon making a request..." the staff refused to make public Tuesday a recent letter to SWSDA chairman Rod Rose and a response to the Town from Rose. 
     Most recently in SCT, as a result of a document request,  it was disclosed that the many public assertions by SWSDA executives and town council that SWSDA was assisting in generating funding for the $5 million harbour project were a complete fabrication. One can only imagine what they are hiding now. 

 21jan2010: SWSDA BLINKS!... $5 million, ten-year civil suit with OPI settled...  in a surprising turn of events, SCT was advised today that the impending trial in the 10-year legal battle between South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) and Ocean Produce International (OPI) is over, based upon a settlement between the two parties. The long-anticipated, high-stakes trial was originally set to start on January 18, but was postponed twice by SWSDA law firm McInnes Cooper, according to SWSDA sources.
     When contacted by SCT, OPI vice president Ed Cayer would only say that "the terms of the settlement were satisfactory to OPI." SWSDA chairman Rod Rose was unavailable for comment. The lawsuit was instigated by SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson soon after the agency acquired the assets of the former Shelburne Park Development Agency (SPDA) and has been a contentious issue among regional politicians and civic leaders. Deceptive and destructive practices by SWSDA and SPDA were alleged in court filings in the case and trial witnesses were expected to include Anderson, Cayer, Hugh Mackay (SPDA) and others.
     It is anticipated that the lawsuit settlement and legal fees to date have cost SWSDA member municipalities more than $1 million. Recently, SWSDA board members were advised by Anderson and his legal team that funds would have to be generated to pay for the upcoming trial. One SWSDA board member told a regional economic summit meeting recently that SWSDA was $120,000 or more in arrears to the lawyers and the SWSDA board had charged Anderson with seeking "funding partners" for the legal costs. Anderson is reported to have told municipal partners over the years that the OPI suit would never be a problem for SWSDA.
     At least $182,000 of the legal fees are thought to be obscured in questionable accounting entries in SWSDA's recent financial filings. None of the municipalities queried by SCT about an entry in the December 31, 2009 "project report" for "Shelburne Sound Stage/Park" could identify the project, purpose or activity related to the mysterious project. The entry shows an unaccounted for $181, 931 deficit against a $75,000 budget with zero income.. 
     A SWSDA board member would only say that "I think that entry is for legal fees," and another municipality agreed to seek clarification from CEO Frank Anderson.  Anderson and Rose have reportedly convened a special "in camera" meeting of his board on January 25 to seek approval for the settlement agreement.    

20jan2010: SWSDA sinks in year-end red ink... mysterious $181,000 project deficit...  the year-end 2009 financial statements filed recently by South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) show a deficit in project funding of $334,000 to year-end, with more than 50% of that amount, or $181,931 levied against a project called "Shelburne Sound Stage/Park". It is the only "planning and research" project with no income connected to it. None of the SWSDA directors contacted could identify the project and it has not appeared previously in any of the voluminous "staff reports" the agency produces. The Sound Stage property was sold by SWSDA more than two years ago.
     A regional economic development expert familiar with the operations of SWSDA told SCT that one strong possibility for the mysterious project is that it was created as a line item for charges for legal fees in SWSDA's 10-year, $5 million battle with Ocean Produce International. The case goes to trial one week from today and is estimated to cost SWSDA more than $500,000. A loss for SWSDA and judgment could add millions to the cost. "If it isn't purely illegal," said the expert, "it is certainly a deceptive way to hide expenses from prying eyes."
     Recent meeting minutes show that the board of directors instructed CEO Frank Anderson to seek "funding partners" to underwrite the legal costs. No announcement has been made about any success in this area.

18jan2010: Clarks Harbour says no to SWSDA.... by a unanimous vote last week the town council of Clarks Harbour decided to withdraw from any future role with the Yarmouth-based Regional Development Agency which has performed very poorly for Shelburne County in its 14-year existence. “There’s been a lot of baggage with SWSDA,” said mayor Leigh Stoddart to the Coast Guard. He noted controversial land sales, a lawsuit and difficulties with finances as some of the past problems. A recent down-graded performance audit by ACOA and the Department of Economic Development noted that SWSDA "barely met expectations" in Shelburne projects while they exceeded in projects for Yarmouth County and that Shelburne County required "considerably more attention." >>> full story

14jan2010: Sinking SWSDA likely to leave munis on the hook for $1 million-plus... in what could play out as a financial disaster for some of the municipal "partners" of the faltering South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA), the looming bankruptcy of the development agency would mean that the various loan guarantees and loans and grants to the agency would be unrecoverable, resulting in further economic hardship for some municipal governments. The Municipalities of Argyle and Clare are on the hook to banks for $116,000 each, while the town and municipality of Yarmouth have combined liability of $239,200. The Municipality of Barrington would have to write off $99,2000 and the Municipality of Shelburne has two guarantees outstanding for a total of $154,000. Additionally, SWSDA has an outstanding loan with the CBDC in Shelburne for $150,000. All of these figures include the recent scheme devised by SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson to convert a request for a $200,000 line of credit to a series of "repayable grants". 
     The justification for the lines of credit proffered by Anderson was for short-term support for programs underway for which payments had not been received from funding partners. There is no indication in financial data presented to the municipalities that any of the monies were used for programming. "We can pretty much count on writing off these SWSDA guarantees," said one local warden at a recent meeting discussing the SWSDA relationship. "These guarantees were intended to be used to add flexibility to SWSDA in carrying out programming," he added, "not to be used up immediately."
     If a SWSDA bankruptcy occurs after or as a result of the $5 million civil suit instigated by Anderson ten years ago against a former SWSDA tenant and coming to trial in ten days, the costs of the litigation, legal fees and judgments could increase SWSDA's debt into bankruptcy by several million. Several board members have said they were told by Anderson that SWSDA is effectively teetering on the edge of having no monies for day-to-day operations.
     In the light of a government mandate for the current SWSDA to cease doing business as of March 31, 2010, one scenario being discussed by some in the area now is to have SWSDA declare bankruptcy immediately, which would forestall any further debt incurred by SWSDA relating to the civil suit or other outstanding liabilities. "It is crazy for them to continue under these circumstances," said one local official.
     Any bankruptcy action by SWSDA would have a court-appointed trustee oversee the collection and distribution of assets to major creditors, who are likely to include Ocean Produce International (OPI) and the law firm of McInnes-Cooper, (worked for several years under Anderson's direction on the 2001 SWSDA suit and OPI counter-suit), Province of Nova Scotia ($450,000 mortgage on SeaCoast Studios property) and agencies, firms and individuals who hold unsecured loans with SWSDA. The most likely assets would include $780,000 set aside by Justice Allan Boudreau (also overseeing the up-coming civil trial) in a court action in 2008, a $1.75 million mortgage on the Sandy Point property adjacent to OPI's facilities and the building owned and occupied by SWSDA in Yarmouth.
     The trial was suddenly put on hold last week by McInnes-Cooper lawyers, but is scheduled to resume on January 25. SWSDA is reported by board members to be in arrears to the lawyers in amounts ranging from $50,000 to $122,000, with an additional minimum of $150,000 needed immediately to complete the trial. Any costs for a likely appeal in the case would be additional.

13jan2010: $320,000 SWSDA legal bill unpaid - trial postponed.... In a surprising announcement at a Shelburne County economic development summit on Tuesday, it was disclosed by South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA) board members that the embattled agency has yet to pay its legal team a reported $172,000 spent to date and $150,000 or more needed for a six-week, $5 million civil trial scheduled to begin on Monday, January 18. The agency is represented by Halifax-based McInnes-Cooper senior partners Bob Belliveau and Gavin Giles. The costs of just the legal fees for the pair during trial is expected to be $15,000 per week and it is estimated that real costs of the case to SWSDA and its member municipalities is closer to $500,000. Trials of this nature almost invariably include "expert witness" reports, which would add $150-200,000 to the costs.
     It was also announced Tuesday that SWSDA's lawyers had asked for a postponement of the trial for at least one week. Trial was precipitated by a suit filed ten years ago by SWSDA against local firm Ocean Produce International (OPI), who also filed a counter suit and another separate action, with claims totaling $5 million. Board members say they were not advised by SWSDA executives about the reasons for the delay.
     Meeting chairman Sherm Embree suggested that OPI had recently refused an offer to settle by SWSDA, a claim denied by OPI vice president Ed Cayer, who was present at the meeting. "The exact opposite is true, as SWSDA refused our recent offer, but never bothered to respond with a counter offer." If SWSDA board members are being so misled by its executive managers about so important an issue, added Cayer, "what else are they not being told about SWSDA's legal action and other circumstances?"
     The five week trial is being heard by Justice Allen Boudreau. None of the allegations in the suit have been proven in court. 

13jan2010: SWSDA chiefs meet with ministers to get emergency cash...  SWSDA board chief Rod Rose and CEO Frank Anderson reportedly met with Economic Development Minister Percy Paris and Fisheries Minister Sterling Belliveau on Tuesday to plead for a $500,000 emergency loan to prop up the faltering development agency. SWSDA board members have been reporting for weeks now that the agency was "bankrupt", even before Tuesday's disclosure of the overdue legal bills. "The province would be crazy to give them more cash to feed directly to Halifax lawyers," said a political observer familiar with SWSDA's current state of affairs.   
     At an unusual special SWSDA board meeting over the holidays, according to board members, it was suggested that, rather than the legal fees being paid by SWSDA, the municipal units in Shelburne should front the legal fees. Clarks Harbour mayor Leigh Stoddart suggested that one scenario would have the five Shelburne County SWSDA members advance the $300,000-plus in legal fees and be reimbursed from the $22,000 monthly mortgage payments from "the base" (former CFS Shelburne, now owned by SeaCoast Entertainments) due beginning May 1. 
     Those familiar with the property sale and activity of SeaCoast owners Jim Kendrick and Mary Barstow in the past two years think this scenario unlikely. The pair have reportedly failed to pay even property taxes on the site and have established a number of failed businesses at the property since taking control. Currently, the property appears to be abandoned, with battered vehicles in ditches and some of the buildings left open to the elements, including piles of blowing snow. (see photos HERE)

13jan2010: CAT ferry company wanted additional $5 million, says deputy minister.....  at a media scrum following testimony to the public accounts committee in Halifax on Tuesday, economic development deputy minister Ian Thompson told reporters that Bay Ferries Ltd wanted a subsidy of $5 million in 2010 to operate the high-speed ferry between Yarmouth and Maine.
     The government subsidies to the private firm were $1.3 in 2005 and grew by more than 900% to $12 million in 2009. Ridership during the same period plummeted, from more than 100,000 passengers to 76,000 in 2009.  The increase in per-passenger subsidy grew by more than 1200% in the same period. 
      According to AllNovaScotia.com, when asked by Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt whether Thompson or his department consulted with Yarmouth-based SWSDA on the ferry subsidy issue, the deputy replied in the negative. Anderson has reportedly been working behind the scenes in trying to influence the outcome of the ACOA transportation study for the region now underway. One of the scenarios presented would be a year-round service from the USA to Yarmouth, which is not likely sustainable without considerable subsidy, but which some observers fear would also result in the end of the Digby-St John ferry currently in service.
     Anderson reportedly also was trying to persuade his board to fund the CEO and SWSDA staff to prepare a "business case" for the Yarmouth ferry but has also reported to his board that he would be  virtually unavailable during the six weeks of the civil trial.
     The $2 million government subsidy given to the failed Maine-Yarmouth Starlink Aviation service amounted to a per-passenger subsidy of more than $550. The government also funded the failed airline by pre-paying blocks of tickets for then-minister Hurlburt and others to travel from Yarmouth to Halifax and return.

 2dec2009: Yarmouth McDonalds Nova Scotia's dirtiest fast-food restaurant?... A review of the online food safety registry from the Department of Agriculture shows that the Starrs Road McDonalds is one of the biggest violators on record in the periodic inspection reporting system instituted last year by the provincial government.
     The burger joint racked up seven violations in one inspection, ten times the average rate for all other McDonalds in the province. Only Tim Hortons shops rated worse than the average McDonalds in fast-food violations, with almost fifty percent more average dings. Burger King rated best overall, with .25 violations per inspection, followed by A&W with .33, Wendy's with .42 and Boston Pizza with .5.
    The inspector at the Yarmouth McDonalds cited the restaurant for inadequate general maintenance, inadequate design or maintenance of filters or other grease extracting equipment, failure to provide sanitary conditions of food contact surfaces, failure to provide sanitary conditions of non-food contact surfaces, failure to store potentially hazardous food at proper temperature, inadequate sanitation of non-food contact surfaces and inadequate construction and/ or maintenance of walls and ceilings.
    There were 4500 listings on the government web site and no other restaurant report accessed had as many violations as McDonalds. The average violations for all fast food operations was .62, less than one tenth of the Yarmouth site and the average for random samplings was 1.37 violations, or one fifth of that number. The results are gained from periodic unannounced inspections described on the government web site as "part of a comprehensive, three-prong approach to food safety".  >>> see web site here

1Dec2009: Audit called for as Starlink Air shuts down after gutting $2 million provincial fund.... Quebec-based charter service Starlink Aviation flew its last flight into and out of Yarmouth on Monday after going through a $2 million, 4-year provincial contingency fund in nine months.  The subsidy amounted to almost $7,500 per day of operation. The carrier had flights to and from Yarmouth, Portland, Maine and Halifax.
     Bill Estabrooks, acting minister of economic and rural development, told the Halifax Herald Monday that he has asked staff to get an answer. "Not to imply that there was money misspent, but the intent was this money was to help over a four-year period, and nine months later, they’re out of dollars," he said. "Clearly, there’s something gone awry with the business case that was presented to the previous government," Liberal leader Stephen McNeil told the Herald. "It would be wrong-headed to go and just continue to pour more money into this without knowing the business case."
    David Rankin, executive director of the Yarmouth International Airport Corp. said the corporation will account for the money in the provincial loan. The corporation board has strong ties to the previous Tory government, who approved the $2 million outlay based on what they assured  was a solid business plan.
     The board is populated by many who are considered by some as a "network" of powerful Yarmouth business interests who are also seen as the power brokers behind the Yarmouth Development Corporation, Yarmouth Port Commission, Yarmouth Waterfront Development Corporation, Yarmouth Area Industrial Commission (YAIC) and South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA)
     The YAIC and SWSDA have been subjects of a year-long investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman, the report for which is due within days.  >>> see Herald story here

1 Dec 2009: Deputy Minister to meet with SWSDA board about Shelburne Sound Stage mortgage and loan guarantees... As a follow-up to his letter in May to the Mayors and Wardens in the region informing them of the government's decision to disband the current South West Shore Development Authority (SWSDA), deputy minister Ian Thompson of the Department of Economic and Rural Development will meet December 11 with voting members of the SWSDA board, most of whom are mayors, wardens and councilors.
      The meeting, according to Mayors Darian Huskilson of Lockeport and Leigh Stoddart of Clarks Harbour, is designed in large to discuss the government's position on a recent request of SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson for a $500,000 additional line of credit, backed by the Department of Economic and Rural Development. SWSDA, according to Stoddart and others who have discussed the matter with Anderson, is on the brink of bankruptcy and will not last into the new year without a major cash infusion. The topic of a new RDA for Shelburne County is also likely to be discussed, according to Stoddart.
      Another item on the agenda, according to the mayors, is Anderson's request for the government to take over the $1.75 million second mortgage of the former Canadian Forces base in Sandy Point. In seeking permission of his board in 2007 to sell the parcel to a pair of American real estate speculators operating as Seacoast Entertainment Arts, Anderson told his board the government had agreed to carry the mortgage, as they hold a $450,000 first mortgage on the property.
     "The large mortgage is an asset to SWSDA," a real estate specialist told SCT. "I can't see why they would possibly want to dispose of it unless they felt that the mortgagees were at risk of not making payments or that there was some other unspoken liability with the property. It's like money in the bank." Americans Jim Kendrick and Mary Barstow have had a troubled tenancy at the sound stage property and have instigated several failed businesses there, including a video production firm, audio recording studio, candle-making firm, hotel, mini-market, mini-golf, drive-in movie, newspaper and calendar publishing firm.
     Anderson negotiated a mortgage with 2 years of no payments, but the $32,000 per month rates begin in 2010 and the couple have reportedly had trouble making the facility pay for itself and are rumoured to be in arrears on their $50,000 per year property taxes. They have sold off ten prime lots from the parcel and have the property listed on several internet web sites as for sale for $5 million, but valued at $20 million. Despite the general lack of any business at the site, they claim $1.2 million in revenues in their prospectus. One potential buyer told SCT that they appeared to be "desperate to unload the property."
     Some additional factors in the government's decision about the property are likely to be the impending Ombudsman's Report, expected to be highly critical of SWSDA and Anderson in a number of areas, but especially in their handling of the sale of the base and the former Shelburne Boy's School. The Base property is also connected to an on-going legal battle between SWSDA and Shelburne-based Ocean Products International. SWSDA was charged by OPI with "fraudulent conveyance" of the proceeds from the boys school. When Anderson and SWSDA admitted that he funds had been spent, a court issued a consent order protecting an amount equal to those from the sale of the base. This effectively keeps SWSDA from "dispersing" or manipulating assets into an "accounting entry" which are subject to claims in the $5 million suit. That case goes to trial in Halifax on January 18. 

30Nov 2009: SWSDA ultimatum meets strong resistance... The response to a recent letter from SWSDA chief Frank Anderson demanding letters of loyalty from political leaders by December 11 is being met with almost universal distain in Shelburne and Yarmouth County.
      The letter appears to be designed to short-circuit efforts by the various town and municipal councils to assess their options to choose an appropriate development agency to meet their current needs. In May, the deputy minister of economic development told all SWSDA members they had until March 31, 2010 to inform him of their intentions about an RDA association.
     "Who the $%#@ does he think he is," said one senior official. "I can't imagine any council in their right mind agreeing to those terms." When discussing the letter at a meeting last week, the Yarmouth Municipal Council had many questions for SWSDA board member Trevor Cunningham, whose consistent response apparently was "I'll have to ask Frank."  The council decided to have Frank Anderson appear at a future council meeting to answer questions about the demand and about the operation of SWSDA.

November 7, 2009: Yarmouth eateries rack up food inspection violations..... Of the 78 Yarmouth area food service facilities listed on the Nova Scotia Food Inspection online database a total of 117 violations were listed for inspections in 2008 & 2009. The most serious violators included the MacDonalds franchise on Starrs Road, which rated a whopping seven violations during one inspection this past May. The reports cited hazardous food storage, unsanitary conditions and inadequate maintenance.
     Other South Shore towns had fewer violations per capita, with Shelburne showing 16 for 33 eateries and Liverpool with 6 from 16, one-third the violations per capita than the Yarmouth units listed.
   The Food Establishment inspections and online reports, according to the Department of Agriculture web site, "are part of a comprehensive, three-prong approach to food safety in the province of Nova Scotia."

November 7, 2009: SWSDA staff dodging requests for financial information results in formal FOIPOP request... A series of internal memos from staffers at the embattled South West Shore Development Authority shows that some of the officials at the agency are colluding to withhold information regarding the agency's finances.
    A simple request from a Yarmouth citizen for information regarding what may be in excess of $500,000 in legal fees was met with internal emails in which a senior development officer and the financial manager agree to ignore the request. The citizen followed up with a formal request under the Freedom of Information legislation. >>> full story