ARICHAT - The bulk of Richmond Municipal Council's latest Committee of the Whole meeting was taken up by an update on the county's new Active Living Strategy and Recreation Plan, which is coming together with the assistance of two independent consulting groups that the municipality has contracted to assist them with this plan's development.

Carol Jamieson and Max Chauvin or REConsulting Group joined the November 14, 2022 meeting at the Richmond Municipal Building in Arichat via phone, to update their progress on the plan their organization is designing in conjunction with Richmond officials and Upland Planning and Design Studio, which recently assisted the county in fleshing out its official Strategic Plan for the coming year. 

Chauvin explained that the process of developing the new Active Living Strategy and Recreation Plan will soon see REConsulting and Upland officials speaking specifically to municipal staff - including Shannon Mury, who took on Richmond County's Recreation Director post this past summer - as well as councillors, community representatives, and other members of the general public. This process, which consists of an online survey as well as direct conversations with Richmond residents and officials, will continue for the duration of 2022 and will be followed up in January and February with the distillation of these conversations in the run-up to a draft presentation from RECConsulting to the county in the early spring of 2023. 

Other issues that hit the council table in this month's Committee of the Whole meeting included funding requests from the Village On The Canal Association (VOCA) to help launch its latest Festival of Trees event this coming weekend in St. Peter's, as well as the Administration Portuaire de Petit de Grat, which is preparing to launch a new monument to celebrate the community's Acadian culture, heritage and history. Both requests - in the amounts of $1,000 and $10,000, respectively - were approved by Richmond councillors in attendance at the Arichat meeting.