The Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre may get a new name.
Past town employees, residents and family members would like to rename the building in memory of former mayor Billy Joe MacLean as he was instrumental in it being built.
Former Deputy Mayor and councillor Steve MacDougall remembers when MacLean approached him with the idea of the facility.
“He suggested that our old rink was getting in bad shape and that we were going to have to do something pretty soon,” said MacDougall.
“He said it might be far better to build a whole new facility, so we had that discussion and he said it’s always been a dream of mine to leave something behind in Port Hawkesbury to prove that we were there and we did something while we were sitting on council, and this was the project that he had in mind.”
There is a plaque hanging up in the Sports Wall of Fame inside the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre honouring him.
His daughter Trish MacLean shared with us what it means to commemorate his legacy.
“He would have been proud to know that the Town and its people recognized his hard work and dedication to the people here,” she shared.
“Us as a family and our kids and grandkids, you know, would be very proud to see all his hard work being acknowledged and paying tribute to the fact that he dedicated so much of his life to the town and its people.”
Along with being the mayor, Billy Joe MacLean served as a town councillor, provincial MLA and cabinet minister for over 50 years.
“Years from now when Billy Joe is a distant memory, this would be good for him to be a real memory, and people will remember what he accomplished when he was the Mayor Port Hawkesbury,” shared MacDougall.
“I think that it’s important to acknowledge anybody in town who contributes to significantly to the growth of the town and Billy Joe did that.”
MacLean’s family and community members mourned his death last April.
The current council is in the process of changing the Town’s naming policy to remove the three-year waiting period after someone has died.
