Tar Ponds Agency Fills Five Positions

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The Sydney Tar Ponds Agency has added five staff members as it gears up for a busy construction season in 2006.

Carol Cunningham, Sydney, and Jerome MacNeil, Glace Bay, will serve as contract managers. Roy MacDonald, Sydney Mines, will be risk and scheduling manager. John Chesal, Big Bras d'Or, will serve as communications officer, and Lorraine Munroe, Marion Bridge, will be the agency's library clerk and receptionist.

Acting chief executive officer Frank Potter said he is delighted to have such capable Cape Bretoners to fill the positions.

"John, Carol, Roy, Lorraine, and Jerome bring an exciting mix of experience, talent, and enthusiasm to our team," Mr. Potter said today, Feb. 22. "We look forward to their contributions as the big cleanup begins in earnest."

The agency will undertake three projects this summer: the clean up of the cooling pond off Inglis Street, the construction of a barrier between the North Tar Pond and Sydney Harbour at Battery Point, and completion of the re-routing of Coke Ovens Brook, a project that began last summer. All three jobs will be completed this year.

Ms. Cunningham has worked for 10 years as an engineer. She arranged logistics for shipping materials to the Caribbean, Panama, and Greenland, before starting her own consulting business, providing energy conservation services to several companies and government agencies.

For the last 12 years, Mr. MacDonald supervised construction projects for the Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Public Works. Prior to that, he supervised several large construction projects in the private sector. He will be responsible for keeping the cleanup project on schedule, and for identifying and assessing risks as the project proceeds.

Mr. MacNeil has been an environmental engineer for 11 years. He worked on such projects as the Sydney waterfront development, and the No. 11 landfill cleanup in Glace Bay.

Mr. Chesal, a former executive producer of radio programming at CBC Cape Breton, has 25 years experience in radio and television news and current affairs. He will carry out a variety of communications and community engagement duties involving the agency's website, www.tarpondscleanup.ca , its quarterly newsletter, the Cleanup Times, and the community liaison committee. He will also serve as the agency's main media contact.

Ms. Munroe is well known to visitors to the Tar Ponds Agency office on Inglis Street, where she has worked as a temporary employee since 2004. She holds a diploma in executive secretarial sciences from Cape Breton University.

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FOR BROADCAST USE:

     The Sydney Tar Ponds Agency has added five people to its

staff in preparation for a busy construction season.

     Carol Cunningham, of Sydney, and Jerome MacNeil, of Glace

Bay, will serve as contract managers. Both have more than a

decade experience as engineers.

     Roy MacDonald, of Sydney Mines, will be risk and schedule

manager. He has worked the past 12 years as construction

supervisor for the provincial Department of Transportation and

Public Works.

     John Chesal, of Big Bras d'Or, will be the new

communications officer. A former executive producer with CBC

Radio in Sydney, Mr. Chesal has been a broadcaster and journalist

for nearly thirty years.

     Lorraine Munroe, of Marion Bridge, is the agency's librarian

and receptionist. She has worked as a temporary employee since

2004.

     Acting chief executive officer Frank Potter says he is

delighted to have such well qualified Cape Bretoners fill these

positions.

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Media Contact: Parker Donham
              Sydney Tar Ponds Agency
              902-567-2759
              E-mail: parker@tarpondscleanup.ca