Library Network Seeks County's Help With COVID-19 Cleaning Costs

PETIT DE GRAT - Councilors and staff for the Municipality of Richmond County will consult with officials from the Eastern Counties Regional Library (ECRL) about the potential for the municipality to contribute towards the costs of cleaning two local ECRL branches to help them remain compliant with Nova Scotia's COVID-19 restrictions. 

Two formal requests for such an agreement regarding the ECRL branches in St. Peter's and at Centre La Picasse in Petit de Grat came to the desk of Richmond Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Don Marchand in late August and again on September 14, hours before the CAO presided over Richmond Municipal Council's most recent Committee of the Whole meeting.

Marchand noted that the janitor for Centre La Picasse that was carrying out cleaning at the facility's ECRL branch "did not want to do it anymore," prompting a call to the Petit de Grat operation's building manager. According to the CAO, the building manager was able to secure an independent cleaning person for the library itself. However, he added that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ECRL, Laura Emery, still had concerns about the overall cleaning process.  

"Laura had indicated that there was this huge requirement to deep-clean, and to clean excessively, which I can understand," CAO Marchand told the Committee of the Whole session, which was conducted virtually via Zoom. "But we weren't aware as to how much that would cost."

With this in mind, Marchand contacted the executive director for Centre La Picasse, Janine Lacroix, and the two reached a mutual agreement that the county would continue to pay its quarterly costs for cleaning services but would not yet commit to further payments above and beyond this typical transaction. 

Warden Brian Marchand told the meeting that his conversations with St. Peter's library officials brought forth an estimate of $250 per month, based on a concept of 20 extra hours of cleaning at an hourly rate of $12.50. He noted that the facility's current monthly cleaning costs stand at $150.

The warden noted that the ECRL has specifically asked the county to look into the specific costs of funding an extra day of cleaning at each of the ECRL's Petit de Grat and St. Peter's branches, and municipal councilors subsequently agreed to allow municipal staff to seek out this information.