Mayor Brett Todd, Town of Prescott
360 Dibble St. W. K0E 1T0 Prescott, ON, Canada

Please like and follow this page for all of the latest information on our new Prescott arena and recreation complex! Everything will be posted here so the public and interested donors can access all information in one ready place. Thanks again to everyone in the community for such amazing support! But even with the federal and provincial grants now in place, we are still raising money locally to ensure that we build the best facility that we can and reduce the final cost. Please help if you are able to contribute! Every little bit counts! https://www.facebook.com/Town-of-Prescott-Recreation-Complex-Fundraising-103421975248649

I can't thank Barry enough for his tremendous service to Prescott over the past 11 years as chief and beyond that for so many years as an officer and member of the Prescott Volunteer Fire Department. His dedication to the community has been unparalleled, and he will be very much missed at the fire hall and town hall. Pandemic restrictions have prevented us from having a proper celebration, but we will organize something when we can to pay full tribute to our former chief for all he has done for the Fort Town. Thanks again, my friend!

Arena announced! We did it, folks! Full funding from the federal and provincial governments for our new $15 million arena complex (the numbers on the federal press release do not include some other municipal project expenses that the town is incurring for design, etc.) with soccer fields, ball fields, skateboard park, dog park, and more. Shovels in ground in July. We can’t estimate a completion time quite yet, but we are moving as quickly as possible here so we can get everyo...ne back on the ice and onto our new fields as soon as possible. Huge thanks to our entire community for rallying together with us at town hall to make this happen! Special thanks to Minister Steve Clark for all his tremendous backing, to Mayor Doug Malanka and his council with Augusta for their awesome partnership, and of course to Judi Baril and David Beatty for leading the charge and securing nearly $3 million in donations (and countingwe’re going to hit our target there and surpass it!). Thanks to everyone for their personal support as well. It was an awfully tough time when we lost the Leo Boivin Community Centre in 2018. Anyone who knows me knows well how much that arena means to me, and how much losing the ice in there was devastating. I had a lot of sleepless nights. But we resolved to turn this crisis into an opportunity. And the end result is a new arena and recreational complex that will be second to none in Ontario! https://www.canada.ca//canada-and-ontario-invest-in-new-re

Join us live on YouTube at noon for an exciting announcement for Prescott and the entire area!

Halloween 2020 at the front walkway here on Dibble. Will miss answering the door, but this is the safest way to go this year. With the town home trick-or-treat deliveries and the huge hit at Trunk or Treat at O’Reilly’s, we’ve got things covered well in Prescott so kids can enjoy today with a lot of safe options. Take care everyone, stay safe and well by following the Health Unit recommendations, and happy Halloween!

Halloween is not a No in Prescott! Despite what some may have seen on CTV Ottawa News, the town is not taking any stance here on trick-or-treating. While the general health recommendation is not to go door to door this year due to the pandemic, as I’ve always said this is up to the individual and we would take no firm position on this. I’ve called CTV to correct this. That said, Prescott is offering a number of Virtual Halloween events this year. This includes a trick-or-trea...t bag delivered right to your front door on Friday or Saturday, so please check the links on the official Prescott FB page to register. And we’ll be giving out candy at home this year, as always. We’ll be doing it contactless, with the treats on a table at our front walkway, but we’re as committed to treats this year like every year. I also sure hope we get lots of little ghouls and ghosts, too, because I don’t need to be taking care of any leftovers... Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Helped with the contactless delivery of Town of Prescott trick-or-treat bags this afternoon, with more going out tomorrow. Enjoy Halloween, everyone, but follow all health protocols and stay safe!

Live music! Having a great time at the Kinsmen Amphitheatre enjoying the tunes of the Upper Canada FolkFest. Thanks to George Tierney and his team for putting on this fantastic outdoor event, that will be hopefully the first of many. And for doing such an excellent job working with the town and the Health Unit on full C-19 safety procedures, including mask wearing, social distancing, and limited ticket sales.

There may have been a big Digital Main Street program announcement today in Spencerville, but Prescott has gotten a jump start! While we are involved in the project announced today as the lead with Augusta and Edwardsburgh-Cardinal supporting us, we lucked out and were the recipient of a Digital Main Street program this summer. Katarina's Coffee Shop was the lucky beneficiary of this project, run by Professor Charlie Mignault and his students at the Smith School of Business a...t Queen's University in Kingston and funded via Invest Ottawa and Launch Labs. Congrats to Nicole Hudson and her team at Katarina's and thanks to Charlie and his students for choosing to start this work in Prescott! Charlie posted this on LinkedIn this week: Smith Business Consulting partnered with Invest Ottawa and Launch Lab to develop a Future Proof Playbook for student teams to leverage as they support participating businesses in the future. Future Proof DMS aims to expand clients and revenues for retailers while creating lasting change for small businesses across Eastern Ontario. The SBC team also completed the first Future Proof Pilot in Eastern Ontario; developing a transformational digital strategy for entrepreneur Nicole Hudson of Prescott’s Katarina’s Coffee Shop. Nicole, to borrow her words was, blown away by the insights, recommendations and implementation plan that the SBC consultants provided. The plan includes website upgrades, UX enhancements, buyer process improvements and customer access and acquisition platforms all will helping maintain clients, jobs & revenues and drive economic recovery. This project is a collaboration of partners. Thanks to Launch Lab's Stephen Beamish, Scott Runté & Michael Tkautz, Economic Development manager Dana Valentyne & Prescot's Mayor Brett Todd. Congratulations to the @SBC consultants, Jared Griffith , Janane Nagasivakumaran, Matthew McLean & Scott S. who performed high impact consulting advisement that will transform business processes and generate new clients. https://www.recorder.ca//digital-main-street-boosts-busine

Really enjoyed meeting Bill today and accepting this very generous donation in memory of his wife, Doreen. We will be putting this painting up in a prominent location at town hall and acknowledging the gift with a plaque.

New job opportunity in Prescott!

Very productive Zoom meeting this morning with Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair and our group of Ontario border mayors headed by Mayor Christian Provenzano of Sault Ste Marie! Great to be joined by my good local friends, as well, in Mayor Bernadette Clement of Cornwall and Mayor Ted Lojko of Gananoque. Greatly appreciated the engagement and candour from Minister Blair. We are all united on the need to maintain closure of the US border, with exceptions for family/compassionate reasons.

Thrilled to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tim Hortons in Prescott today with the Lockett family, Councillors Jansman, Shankar, and Young, and representatives from our BIA and Chamber of Commerce! Thanks so much to Steve, Ruth, Shawn, Lisa, and their entire amazing team on reaching this milestone and for doing so much for the community!

On garbage at the beach... Town does not have the larger garbage cans there because too many people were dumping household bags in them and filling them up. The town also added more of the smaller cans at my request a few weeks' ago. So there are plenty of places to put trash now even without the bigger cans. That said, I'm asking about adding the newer garbage/recycling bins now in the downtown to the parks (would almost certainly be next summer at this point, as they need ...to be ordered and aren't cheap), as they have smaller openings to prevent people dumping household trash. And we now have attendants working down there throughout the day to keep everything clean, empty the cans, etc. as a number of beach-goers asked about this. We can't stop people from littering, but we're doing everything we can to clean up, even for those who won't clean up after themselves. Thanks to our CAO for following through on my request, and to the staffers themselves doing such a great job looking after the whole area during this very busy, hot summer.

Since people seem to be focused on town affairs even on a sunny summer Saturday, I thought I’d join in the fun and wade into the Forwarders’ Museum discussions. Some very lengthy, so grab a snack and settle in points follow: 1. The issues with the Forwarders’ Museum date back decades. There have been problems there likely going back to when the town first restored the building in the 1970s, hidden under the stucco (no insult meant to those who did this restoration, as the...Continue reading

On garbage at the beach... Town does not have the larger garbage cans there because too many people were dumping household bags in them and filling them up. The town also added more of the smaller cans at my request a few weeks' ago. So there are plenty of places to put trash now even without the bigger cans. That said, I'm asking about adding the newer garbage/recycling bins now in the downtown to the parks (would almost certainly be next summer at this point, as they need ...to be ordered and aren't cheap), as they have smaller openings to prevent people dumping household trash. And we now have attendants working down there throughout the day to keep everything clean, empty the cans, etc. as a number of beach-goers asked about this. We can't stop people from littering, but we're doing everything we can to clean up, even for those who won't clean up after themselves. Thanks to our CAO for following through on my request, and to the staffers themselves doing such a great job looking after the whole area during this very busy, hot summer.

Two more store openings in Prescott today! I cut the ribbons to officially welcome Morgan Marshall at Ares Athletics (formerly BATS Fitness) on Churchill Road and Kaitlyn and Michael Morehouse, who have taken over Cardinal Flowers and Gifts on King St. in the Downtown RiverWalk District. Big thanks to our new business owners for their investment in the Fort Town! And thanks to MPP Steve Clark and MP Michael Barrett for bringing congratulations and scrolls, Councillors Teresa Jansman, Lee McConnell, Mike Ostrander, and Ray Young, SG Chamber President Bonnie Cougler, BIA members Kevin Bunce, Lacey Casselman, and Tracey Young, and everyone else for attending. Great Fort Town Team we have here! Doing all we can, together, to emerge from Covid stronger than ever. Stay tuned for more! #shoplocal

A very happy 95th birthday to Edith VanDusen! All the best for many more happy and healthy years, and thanks so much for being such a huge part of Prescott for all these years!

Another day, another store opening in the Downtown Prescott RiverWalk District! I was very happy to cut the ribbon on King St. today for Watergirl Quilt Co. alongside Councillors Lee McConnell, Mike Ostrander, Gauri Shankar, and Ray Young, and representatives of our BIA and Rhe SG Chamber of Commerce. Thanks also to MPP Steve Clark for sending the certificate of congratulations. Welcome to our Prescott family, Michelle Peters and the Watergirl Quilt Girls! All the best for many years of success!

More great news from Prescott! We did the official groundbreaking today at developer Stefano Ferrante’s new $4 million apartment complex at 171 King St. W., the property best known to locals as the Daniels Hotel lot. Big thanks to Stefano for being such a local champion and for this tremendous investment in our Downtown RiverWalk District! And we then headed a little way west on King St. to officially open Katarina’s Coffee Shop under new owner Nicole Hudson! Congratulations... and thanks to Nicole and family for taking over the operation of this downtown icon! Thanks as well to MPP Steve Clark for the certificate I presented on his behalf. Thanks so much to Councillors Jansman, McConnell, Ostrander, and Young for attending, along with members of our Downtown BIA and The SG Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to Augusta Mayor Doug Malanka for the support as well, showcasing the incredible teamwork happening now between Augusta and Prescott!

Some very good news from our Prescott council meeting this evening! TL/DR: New business coming to north end industrial park. COVID relief money funded by council. Augusta-Prescott get deal on Economic Strategy Plan. Council okays move to 40KMH speed limit in Prescott by Labour Day. Council directed the Mayor and CAO to enter into an agreement with Alantra Leasing on the sale of 10 acres of industrial land for the price of $25,000 per acre on the north side of Hwy. 401. The co...Continue reading

Happy Canada Day! I hope everyone has had a great one celebrating with family and friends. Spent much of the afternoon at the very busy beach here in Prescott with friends and am now back home for an evening BBQ. It’s been a quiet, though very enjoyable day. This has been a different Canada Day for us all. It’s the first in well over a decade that I haven’t been attending various events and then wrapping it with our usual region-best Hands fireworks show on the waterfront. I...t feels more than a little strange, like a fairly normal summer Saturday, just decked out in red and white. But we’ve come a long way together over the past few months as community and country, so there still is a lot to celebrate! And please remember that we have the fireworks show and other events all ready to go as soon as we get a green light and can do this safely. We’ll have one great community party at some point. But until then, happy Canada Day to all!

Fantastic video showing that Prescott is reopening in a safe and sensible manner! Big thanks to our own Ben Quenneville for putting this together, and thanks to everyone supporting our great Downtown RiverWalk District businesses here in the Fort Town during these challenging times!

Greatly appreciate this backing from our MPP and Minister of Municipal Affairs, Steve Clark. We need significant federal support now to improve fixed broadband access across rural and eastern Ontario or we will be left out of a huge part of the COVID-19 recovery process. This means rolling out financial funding without the delays presented by application programs and so forth. The need is immediate; the funding needs to be immediate as well. Hoping we can work together at al...l levels of government to make this happen right away. I sit on the Eastern Ontario Regional Network as well. And while the group's current project -- funded by both the provincial and federal governments with grants announced last year -- is solely focused on addressing the mobile cellular broadband gap, fixed broadband is a clear priority as well as we all work hard to bring proper broadband internet access to our entire region. See more

Big thanks to Bonnie Lemaire, the amazing folks in The Row, and of course our one and only Leo Boivin for this fantastic book! Benefits go to our arena build project, so any support would be greatly appreciated.

Effective tomorrow, Prescott Public Library will be open for book exchange Monday to Friday, 1 o 4 p.m. Review the catalogue online or telephone the library for details at 613 925 4340.

Hi all. I've attached the May 20 press release covering the current C-19 state of emergency status here in Prescott following the meeting of our Emergency Control Group this morning. Please note the specifics here regarding the continuing closure of some town facilities, regulations on parks and sports fields, and so forth. And also please note that we are continuing to recommend the wearing of non-surgical face masks in public areas, such as stores, when full social distancing measures cannot be practiced. Take care, all, and stay well! Remember to keep exercising cautions as we head fully into the first phase of the reopening, so we can continue to make progress and move toward the reopening of society overall.