EMILY HSUEH
Mansfield and Fort Coulonge June 30, 2021
The sports and recreation sector in the Municipalities of Mansfield and Fort Coulonge has a new leader who is. . .
aiming to improve the community over the next two years.
Guillaume Lavoie-Harvey has been appointed the new coordinator for the sports and recreation sector for both of the neighbouring municipalities. In his position for the coming two years, he will focus on the arena and bringing new activities to the towns.
“He’s responsible for sports and leisure. He was hired mostly to put the arena back up to par with activities that we can have for both municipalities,” said Debbie Laporte, Mayor of Fort Coulonge. “His main focus is the arena but … any activities in both municipalities where we need help, he’s volunteering to give us a hand.”
In regards to the arena, there is a plan to introduce ringette and rollerblading as new activities. Laporte said that they are looking into renovating the meeting hall in the facility to better serve guests who rent it out for events. She added that Lavoie-Harvey would like to further develop the arena’s canteen to offer more products when hockey season rolls around.
Both municipalities will be contributing $12,500 each per year towards this initiative.
Lavoie-Harvey had done work in the municipality before, as he and members of his family had worked on making the Mansfield beach a reality. He was hired after applying and being the most qualified applicant.
“[The beach] is just beautiful, we have a lifeguard now, it’s very well-maintained, we have volleyball nets set up, it’s fabulous for anybody from the region but anybody passing through Fort Coulonge and Mansfield can visit,” said Laporte.
To begin his position, he sent out a survey by email to residents of the two municipalities to get an idea of what they want to see done in the sports, leisure and recreation sector. Everyone in the municipalities will be able to answer, and if email isn’t an option, they may answer the survey via phone instead.
“Guillaume is the perfect candidate for the job, they’ve done so much for the beach,” she said. “He’s going to go far with the activities he has planned, and I have no doubt he’ll do great things.”
