The End of SWSD

NS: SWSDA ceases operations
By Michael Gorman, Transcontinental Media

Source: The Yarmouth County Vanguard, June 11, 2010

[YARMOUTH, NS] — The era of the South West Shore Development Authority is over.

The group’s board of directors has just given word that SWSDA officially ceased operations as of yesterday at 5 p.m.

Phil LeBlanc, chairman of the board, said the CAOs and clerks of the nine member municipal units would work now to resolve any outstanding issues and begin laying the steps for a new regional development authority.

“The old SWSDA has to be wound down and then a new RDA will be started,” he said. LeBlanc said he doesn’t know what kind of timeline will be involved in such a process, but the board has requested the aid of the province’s Department of Economic and Rural Development in ensuring the proper steps are followed.

The shutdown means seven people, including SWSDA CEO Frank Anderson, are out of work. Both Premier Darrell Dexter and Percy Paris, minister of economic and rural development, have said recently that they aren’t interested in funding the local RDA if Anderson is involved.

SWSDA has been mired in controversy for some time and recent reports on the group have raised questions about the group’s lack of transparency and close ties to the Yarmouth and Area Industrial Commission, for which Anderson also serves as CEO.

Steps had been taken to create a new RDA, which would be known as the Southwest Regional Development Agency, however that group had yet to be incorporated by the province. Without that incorporation, the group is ineligible to receive funding, which means little can be done in the way of economic development.

LeBlanc said this is the first step is making the new RDA a reality and meeting the requirements of the provincial government.

“We definitely need the RDA back in operation as soon as possible with the economic situation that we have in this region.”

In the meantime, the business of economic development for the area will have to be left to other agencies such as the industrial commission, Team Southwest and Team West.

Asked what contact they’ve had with the province to this point, LeBlanc said the board forwarded the press release about the decision to the province to serve as notice that they are taking the situation seriously.

“It shows them what action has been taken,” he said. “It’s something they were looking for — to wind things up — as a condition to start the next (RDA) up.”

Meanwhile, the Yarmouth Area Industrial Commission continues to operate from its headquarters at 233 Water Street in Yarmouth.

“The commission has no connection to the South West Shore Development Authority, other than a shared contract for the services of one individual,” commission chair Roger King said today in a news release. “The demise of SWSDA will have no impact on the ongoing initiatives and operations of the commission.”

The industrial commission is the owner/operator of the Port of Yarmouth, the medical clinics at Harbour South and Pubnico as well as several other properties in Yarmouth County.

“All of our operations are being looked after by dedicated and competent staff that has the full confidence of our member municipalities and the board of directors,” said King.