Rice unveils City’s ‘Accessibility Plan’

By Chad Feehan / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After two years of working on it, the City of Mount Pearl has unveiled its 2024-2026 Accessibility Plan.

During this past week's council meeting, councillor Mark Rice outlined some key points of what he described as a “living document” that will be updated through its three-year tenure.

“This plan is the accumulation of the extensive work of countless individuals of our community including staff, residents, advocates, associations, and persons with disabilities,” Rice said.

“There is no doubt that we are committed to accessibility because part of the accessibility plan for the city includes creating accessible boardrooms at City Hall and plans for an accessible stage at the Reid Community Centre and Glacier Arena to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to engage with community events.”

In the document, Mayor Dave Aker noted there is an estimated 4,800 people in the city who face challenges impacting their freedom of movement, independence, or quality of life.

“This is why creating a barrier-free and inclusive community is a top priority for our City Council and staff,” he wrote.

Other goals mentioned in the plan include equitable access to amenities such as the T’railway, support for disability groups, and a commitment to an inclusive and diverse workforce where accommodations are provided in line with the Human Rights Act.

“A great city is one where everyone regardless of age, ability, or background can actively participate in the community,” said Rice. “As council, we are committed to developing an inclusive community that ensures all individuals have access to Mount Pearl’s programs, services and spaces in a way that respects their dignity and independence.”

City Clerk Stephanie Walsh took the time to thank Kathy Walsh, executive director of Inclusion NL, for her contribution to the plan.

“She was integral in assisting us with this plan,” Walsh said. “She took the lead in one of our discussion groups that we had with the committee. Being the expert in accessibility and accessibility needs, she really guided our way through it.”

Many residents also helped, providing feedback on the draft and ideas for accountability measures they’d like to see implemented.

Councillor Jim Locke highlighted the City’s previous accomplishments in the realm of accessibility, including auditory signals on crosswalk lights, and other adjustments to crosswalks to allow for safer and easier access.

“Mount Pearl has always had a vision of increasing accessibility, but this gives us a formalized plan, and a key component of the plan is education,” Locke said. “You do the best you can until you know better, but when you know better, you do better. I think this council and our staff embraces that.”

Other achievements noted in the plan include the St. David’s Park ‘Smart Accessible Playground’ and washroom, a weekly sensor-friendly public swim at the Summit Centre, and the presence of two inclusion workers at the City’s summer camp program, which is free of charge to the participants.

The City has also committed to conducting an audit to identify barriers to accessing public spaces, technology or information.

Parsons celebrated 76th birthday

Once a month, the Freemasons Hall in Mount Pearl invites members from any lodge, as well as community members in general, to breakfast. This past Saturday, Lodge member and chef of the day Barry Parsons celebrated his 76th birthday and was treated to a warm happy birthday celebration from a full house. On hand for the celebration were, from left: Gary Rose, Art Mercer, Ches Saunders, Larry Bradley, George Caul, Barry Parsons, Derek Banfield, and Lloyd Winsor. Chad Feehan photo

O’Donel's impresario preparing for his final curtain call

Sean Carroll is surrounded by posters of musicals he’s worked on during his career at O’Donel High School, all of which have a special place in his memories.

By Chad Feehan / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Fame was the first musical O’Donel High School music teacher Sean Carroll worked on after joining the school’s staff just one year before in 1998.

Now, 25 years later, Shrek the Musical is to be his swansong before his retirement at the end of the school year.

Even though he’s ready to draw a curtain on his classroom time, the looming end of his career as both music teacher and theatrical musical director still feels like a shock to him.

“I don’t really feel like I’ve been teaching that long,” he said. “Everybody says how quickly it slips by. But it’s so true. I’ve been teaching for over 30 years.”

Upon reflection, which he’s been doing more than usual lately, Carroll said it’s the students who have walked through his doors and across his stage who are foremost in his memory.

“I get a little emotional thinking about it because I’ve been so lucky to experience the lives of all these students,” he said. “It’s a lot of quality time where you’re really working with students on what they love.”

Former students of his have gone on to perform in successful bands, and have won prestigious prizes including Junos and NL Music Awards.

Carroll considered taking it easy and exiting stage left without doing a musical this year, but felt it would be a wasted opportunity given the significance of the occasion.

The school's last production, The Wedding Singer, managed to get on stage just before the first Covid lockdown in 2020. If they didn’t do Shrek the Musical this year, students graduating this summer would have missed their opportunity to participate in a big school production completely.

“I’m so thrilled that this is going to be revitalized and hopefully it’s going to be something that continues for many years because there’s so many positives and benefits that come from it,” Carroll said.

Shrek may seem like a goofy musical to put off before calling curtains on one's career, but Carroll could not be happier with the decision, noting how beloved the character and story has become, in addition to its positive messages within.

“It’s all about embracing everyone's individuality,” he said. “We really want to embrace everyone's uniqueness and let them be who they are, whatever path they’ve taken.”

The team also wanted to put off a family show that would bring everyone together, rather than cater to a specific audience of theatergoers.

Working on Fame in 1999 showed Caroll a side of his students he didn’t think was possible before doing a musical, perhaps brought out by its subject matter of suicide, drug abuse, and literacy.

Each show thereafter would continue to hold something special for Carroll, who noted the unparalleled cast of The Wizard of Oz and the almost unexpected success of The Wedding Singer.

“Almost every show was a highlight for these students when they graduated,” he said.

As his retirement draws nearer, Carroll reflects on the time and energy involved in staging a major production like Shrek, which includes squeezing in time on weekends, evenings and lunches.

However, the enthusiasm of the students and staff makes it all the easier.

“I’m not 34, I’m 54,” said Carroll. “You don’t have the same energy. But what I’ve realized, especially in the last week or two, is that it’s giving me energy back.”

Carroll expects to look back on this year and his career on the whole with the satisfaction of going out with a bang.

“I certainly have no regrets taking this on, and it’s really lifted me in my last year of teaching,” he said. “You don’t realize in the moment how much it is going to mean to the rest of their lives, so how can you not do it?”

Aker laying his brain on the line for Frosty boasting rights

By Chad Feehan / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Frosty Festival is receiving a helping hand from The City of Mount Pearl this year in the form of a subsidy to go towards its operations.

In anticipation of next month's annual festival, the council has approved the first installment of the annual event’s operating grant, totalling $32,000.

The money is part of a memorandum of understanding between the non-profit’s festival organizers, and the City, and similar agreements have been brokered between the two in the past.

“We support the Frosty Festival like we always have,” said Mayor Dave Aker.

The festival has been an annual staple of Mount Pearl since 1983, but was put on hold in 2020 and 2021 due to pandemic restrictions.

This year's festivities will run from February 9th to the 17th and will be host to a variety of events including a parade of lights, a block party, and a Saturday concert featuring Shanneyganock, The Masterless Men, and The Irish Descendents.

“Looks like we’re going to have a double weekend and full week, chockablock with activities,” Aker said.

The Frosty Festival’s board of directors will also be hosting a trivia night titled “Battle of the Brains” at the Reid Centre. That event already has Mayor Aker talking smack.

“Council will win the trivia Battle of the Brains this year,” he declared. “Just throwing that out there.”

Councillors hoping residents will take their Pulse

By Chad Feehan / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mount Pearl residents curious to know all the happenings in their community will find a helping hand in their mailbox this week.
Councillor Mark Rice said the Mount Pearl Pulse, a winter city guide with a variety of information about everything from municipal enforcement and youth programs to a calendar of events and a waste guide is in the mail.
Rice said a physical guide is a good way to reach residents who may not be online.
“It’s something new we’re trying in the city to try to get more information to the residents in the city… At least we know it’s getting in their hands,” he said.
Rice also encouraged residents to come forth with suggestions about information they would like to see in the summer edition of the Pulse, which will be released in July.
“We’ll see what we can do for you,” he said.
Other information included in the guide includes snow clearing regulations and information about the City’s new citizen alert system.

Rice offers snowclearing primer for benefit of residents

By Chad Feehan / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Councillor Mark Rice took some time at Tuesday’s public council meeting to acknowledge complaints he’s been hearing about snow clearing in Mount Pearl.
Rice noted that a number of concerned citizens reached out to him over the Christmas break, wondering when their streets would be cleared of snow.
Rice took the opportunity at council to clarify the current snow clearing system as it stands.
“If we get anything under 25 cm of snow, the flyers are going to be out doing the main drags and the street,” Rice said, referring to dump trucks with blade attachments at the front and side. “The plows don’t come out until 12 o’clock in the night.”
Director of Public Works Glen Dollimont elaborated further.
“Based on our level of service right now within the city, anything under 25 cm of snow we’ll be in that area within four to six hours once the snow ends,” he said. “Any less than five cm we’ll handle it with our flyers. Anything five cm and above we will call out our full load fleet and put a loader on every one of our 14 routes to push and clean up the snow as required.”
Anything above 25 cm will get the same level of service but within a six to eight hour time frame.
“The residents think the plows should be out there 24/7 and that's not the case,” said Rice.
After Councillor Jim Locke requested further clarification on details of the snow clearing service, Dollimont explained that even though there is a loader for each of the 14 routes, a snowfall measuring under five cm is generally combated with any number of the City’s fleet of 10 flyers and a salting.
“Eight of those are tandem trucks with a blade on the front and the wing and two of those what we refer to as single axles with a blade on the front but they still do the same job as a tandem truck,” Dollimont said.
Locke then repeated his understanding of the policy to make sure he had understood it right.

“Under five you’re not going to see the same number of pieces of equipment on the street, so it will be a little bit longer before you see a flyer,” he said. “But over five cm we have a dedicated piece of equipment to each of the 14 routes, so you might see equipment a little sooner as opposed to when we we’re going around salting with our flyers. If you only had six units out, it’s going to take a little bit longer to traverse the entire 14 routes in the city.”
“I think you got it,” said Dollimont.
Mayor Dave Aker pointed out that five cm of snow may not look the same every time it falls, which can be affected by a number of environmental factors.
“There’s always a plan, and Director Dollimont, you’ve told me many times that sometimes the plan you end on is not the plan you started with,” observed the mayor.
Dollimont agreed, stating that five cm of snow with 100 kilometer per hour winds is a totally different monster than if no winds are present.
“It’s an orchestra, I guess, at times,” he said. “Every snow event is different.”
Residents looking for more information can find the City’s snow plow trackers on its website, which interactively displays the current and past movement of municipal vehicles throughout the city.