ST. LAWRENCE, N.L.— Funding for student workers in St. Lawrence was one of the issues on the agenda when members of the St. Lawrence Town Council sat down for a recent meeting with Bonavista-Burin-Trinity MP Churence Rogers.
“The town operates a town-owned swimming pool and if we don’t get students to operate it, we can’t offer lessons to our children in the community,” explained Mayor Paul Pike.
Pike added that council is concerned with the amount of funding the town received for student positions, noting that the amount was only sufficient enough to hire one worker.
“That’s not enough for us to carry out our summer program,” he said.
Pike noted during the discussion with Rogers that they asked to see if there were any additional funds available that could be allotted to the town in an effort to employment more students for the summer months.
Recreation centre
Other issues brought forth during the meeting was funding for interior renovations to the town’s recreation centre.
“The building was built in 1972,” Pike said. “The building has not had any renovation to the interior since then, so we are looking to start doing the interior.”
The Mayor noted the centre is used by a number of community organizations and the renovations would allow them to better meet the needs of the community.
“We’re looking at doing the floors, the ceiling, the walls, creating office space for CYN (Community Youth Network) and other groups, as well we are looking at build a space so that we could possibly put (in) a Burin Peninsula Soccer Hall of Fame there,” he said.
Pike said there was no timeframe discussed for a decision, however, the town’s engineer is assessing the building to see what upgrades are needed.
The town also inquired on the status of an application they have on file with the provincial and federal government.
“We have an application on file (regarding) putting an industrial park in, with six to eight service lots at this time, with room for another four to five,” he said.
The park would be located in an area of land near the mining operation by Canada Fluorspar Inc.
He added that spaces would be available to business wishing to set up in the town and provide goods/services to the community and businesses in the area.
