'It's chaos': Rush is on to prepare new school for Milltown students

The small community of Milltown-Head of Bay d'Espoir is still reeling following a string of fires that struck key buildings this week, but just down the road, preparations are kicking into high gear.

A major clean out is underway in nearby St. Alban's.

Its town hall has become a hotbed of activity, as work begins to build a school atmosphere in the building which will likely house 250 displaced students.

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"It's chaos," says Cindy Cox, who is working hard to clear out a portion of the building. "The town is just steady on the phone, trying to make arrangements for storing, moving."

"It's non-stop, everybody is doing something."

Bay d'Espoir Academy in Milltown — along with the town council office and the RCMP detachment — were heavily damaged in fires that police say were deliberately set early Tuesday morning.

Newfoundland and Labrador's English School District (NLESD) is eyeing the town hall building in St. Alban's as a temporary school for the displaced students.

For some, a move could come as early as next week.

That's put Cox, who manages St. Alban's heritage museum, into overdrive. The museum occupied a few rooms in the town hall, but now it's being packed up.

Cox says she has just a few days to remove almost everything from the town hall building, which itself is a former school.

"Everything has to be properly labeled, boxed, stored, catalogued to be moved out of the building in the next three days," she said. "Nothing is to be left. Everything has to be removed."

"There's desks, there's chairs, there's hundred-year-old pianos."

Down the hall, teachers from Bay d'Espoir Academy are meeting, and deciding what they are going to need to begin teaching once again.

Darrin Pike, the CEO of the NLESD, said the district is focusing on providing the essentials for students in the short term.

The NLESD says if the town hall is chosen, and everything goes well, high school students could begin classes in St. Alban's by the end of next week. It would mean a 20-minute drive for Milltown students.

"If we can get this straightened away enough to get the kids back into a class again in the short term, I think that would take a lot of pressure off the community, and we'll try to move on from there," said Clarence Kelly, deputy mayor of Milltown.

"Our main focus right now is on the school."

Alleged arsonist appears in court

Donald Craig MacHaight, 48, is charged with three counts of arson over Tuesday morning's fires in Milltown.

He appeared briefly in court Thursday afternoon in Grand Falls-Windsor. The matter, though, was set over to Jan. 27.

MacHaight will remain in custody. During the hearing, he told the presiding judge he did not want to be released on bail.

The judge replied MacHaight needed to speak to his lawyer.

• Man charged after Milltown school, town hall, RCMP station burn
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Meanwhile, community leaders are figuring out how to take steps forward and rebuild morale. 

"That's gonna be a tough one," said Kelly.

Town officials and community members met Wednesday night with MHA Tracey Perry, Minister of Municipal Affairs Eddie Joyce and Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame MP Scott Simms to discuss what to do next.

"I'm really grateful that we were able to have this meeting. All of us of course on council have a lot of concerns of how we're going to proceed with this," said Kelly.

Government has offered to help the Milltown town council find temporary shelter while it searches for a new permanent home.

Kelly said the office appears to be a total loss — with the exception of the fire hall, which is in good condition.

Extension on insurance claims

Some records were lost, including various government documents and insurance claims relating to damages the town suffered during the remnants of Hurricane Matthew.

"All the information was contained in the clerk's office. We don't know what kind of condition that is in at the moment, so we're basically asking for some leniency in deadlines," said Kelly.

"A lot of the bills that were associated with the hurricane recovery [were] paid for right now out of the operating funds of the council. We need to get some of those funds released back to us so we can move on the things we've got to do."

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It's also municipal budget season, and Kelly said the computers containing those documents have yet to be recovered and assessed.

The provincial government has granted the community a leniency for their budget deadline as a result.