PC40 - Best Feature/Unit Pages - 1st place - NotL, The Lake Report by Ontario Community Newspapers Association

Lake Report

NOTL remembers soldiers’ sacrifices

Museum’s massive Poppy Project expands to RiverBrink Art Museum

Remembrance Day ceremonies

Read about what’s happening in town for Remembrance Day. Page 15

Project decorates town In Flanders Fields

Volunteers meticulously create and plan the NOTL Museum’s massive Poppy Project. Page 3

Library asks town for $66,000 to cover budget shortage

Wayne Scott, the library board co-chair, said he would support council raising resident taxes to get these funds. In a message to The

The NOTL Public Library is asking for the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake to cover around 81 per cent of its $81,000 shortage for its budget next year.

Lake Report, Coun. Erwin Wiens explained that every $161,000 increases the town’s budget by about one per cent. The increase the library asked for would require around a half-per cent bump to property taxes, he said. The Lake Report later confirmed that the requested amount of just under $66,000 would require even less of an increase than Wiens estimated. Scott confirmed in an

email to The Lake Report that the request the library demanded is a 7.4 per cent increase in the library grant from this year which would be about a $5 increase in library funding for the average taxpayer.

“We are comfortable with 4.5 per cent of the town levy going to the library — which is only about one per cent of the average total tax bill,” Scott said.

Continued on Page 2

Hilary Bellis and Liz Klose help set up the poppy display at the NOTL Museum on Monday. It’s one of four Remembrance Day locations this year. DAVE VAN DE LAAR

Read the iconic poem by John McCrae alongside Remembrance notes from local businesses. Page 15

Poppy

Poppy Project gets it done, rain or shine

Julia Sacco

Local Journalism Initiative

The Lake Report

After a slight delay due to windy conditions, the fourth iteration of the Niagara-onthe-Lake Museum’s Poppy Project was fully installed Monday morning.

Displays at Legion Branch 124 and RiverBrink Art Museum in Queenston were installed before high winds postponed the museum and the old Court House’s installations.

On Monday morning, project volunteers were out and ready to assemble displays alongside help from Davey Expert Tree Company.

Rain was expected to start shortly after the museum’s installation began, but it didn’t stop the dedicated team of poppy makers from getting the job done, ahead of Remembrance Day on Monday, Nov. 11.

“Even when it’s bad weather, we remember that all those boys in the trenches dealt with so much,” said Barbara Worthy, the museum’s community engagement coordinator.

“When we’re putting it up and we’re cold and we’re wet, we’re doing it in the spirit of remembrance.”

In its fourth year now, the Poppy Project has more

than 7,000 poppies attached to 18 nets, each more than 14 feet long.

Worthy thanked Davey Expert Tree Company for volunteering its efforts to help hang up the massive nets.

“We couldn’t do this without them. This is thousands of dollars of love labour,” she said. A rborists with the company also cut down extra dead branches off of a tree outside the museum to ensure the safety of volunteers.

D enise Ascenzo, a member of the Niagara Historical Society, has been helping out with the

poppy project for all four years.

“It’s an honour to be able to show respect for the men and the women who went ahead of us to fight for the peace we have here in Canada,” she said.

Ascenzo helps out with poppy and net-making alongside other volunteers.

“We make sure that after (the displays) are done we dry them before we wrap them in sheets and tuck them away for next year,” she said.

With many poppies and nets to make by hand, the poppy brigade is always looking for more volun-

teers— and have had a wave of new members this year, she said.

This year marked Diane Fovargue’s first year of helping out with the poppy project.

She volunteered to help make poppies after hearing about the project from one of her friends in the brigade, she said.

“So in the evening, watching television— I made poppies,” Fovargue said.

The poppy project is always looking for more volunteers for the coming years, especially younger people, Ascenzo said. juliasacco@niagaranow.com

Top candidate for NOTL CAO doesn’t pan out

Richard Wright

Local Journalism Initiative

The Lake Report

Efforts to find a new chief administrator for the town of Niagara-on-the-Lake have hit a snag, leaving the possibility of being unable to fill the role permanently by the end of the year.

After failing to secure the top candidate out of approximately 70 people who applied, the town’s selection committee is being forced to renew its efforts.

“We had one that we were pleased with but we weren’t able to make terms with them, which is disappointing,” said Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa who, along with councillors Erwin Wiens, Sandra O’Connor and Maria Mavridis, made up the town’s hiring team.

Bruce Zvaniga is currently serving as the interim CAO. He replaced Marnie Cluckie last December and made it clear he would not take the job on permanently.

Cluckie left to become Hamilton’s city manager.

going to be possible,” he said.

In an Oct. 30 press release, the town announced that Zvaniga has agreed to remain in his acting role until a permanent CAO can be found.

Zalepa is pleased the veteran municipal civil servant has agreed to remain at the post.

Recruitment efforts for that permanent replacement began in earnest earlier this year and hit a near-end point early last month with the identification of a group of top candidates.

The town hired Phelps Group, a Toronto executive search firm, to help identify those qualified individuals. With this new setback, it is doubtful Zvaniga’s replacement can now be found before Jan. 1 — the date Zalepa said was his goal.

“We were hoping to have this wrapped up for this year. I don’t suspect that’s

Zvaniga, who has over 40 years of municipal administration experience, has been commissioner of public works for Niagara Region and Brampton, and spent 27 years working for the City of Toronto.

“It is so vitally important to have somebody like that, with not only the expertise and the experience from his past, but the commitment to the community,” said Zalepa.

The lord mayor added that he understands Zvaniga’s desire to call it a day on his career and hopes a suitable replacement can be found soon.

“We know that our interim CAO is at a point in his

career where he’s looking to take more personal time,” he said.

“But we really value his ability and how he’s done things. The community is really lucky to have somebody like that.”

Zalepa is confident that with the continued help of Phelps Group another top candidate will be found.

“We are definitely ahead in the process because the work we put in with the consultants to identify for council the right skill set. That kind of thing is all done,” he said.

“We just really have to recast and hopefully we get some interviews going and get back to where we were a lot quicker than the first time.”

Zvaniga declined to comment on the matter.

The town’s communications department said he “is open to providing an interview once the new CAO has been appointed and a transition plan is in place for his departure.”

wright@niagaranow.com

Volunteers help set up the poppy display at the Court House. DAVE VAN DE LAAR

Bruce Zvaniga, the town’s acting chief administrator, will also be on the search committee for his long-term replacement. FILE

NOTL Remembers

What’s on in Niagara-on-the-Lake for Remembrance Day 2024

• Remembrance Day service at the Queen Street cenotaph, 10:45 a.m.

• Remembrance Day service at the Queenston War Memorial, 1 p.m.

• Chili lunch at Legion Branch 124 following the Queenston ceremony, free or by donation. All welcome.

• Poppy campaign, running now until Nov. 11, raises funds to support veterans and their families in need. Available at Legion Branch 124 and storefronts around NOTL.

• Youth remembrance contest, multiple branches including visual art, writing and video. More information available for teachers and principals at legion124@gmail.com or 905-468-2353.