Municipality of the District of Clare
COUNCIL-IN-COMMITTEE MEETING
Wednesday, December 6th, 2017 at 7:00 pm
PRESENT: Council: Warden Ronnie LeBlanc, Deputy Warden Nil Doucet, Councillors, Hector Thibault, Carl Deveau, Brian Comeau, Eric Pothier and Yvon LeBlanc.
Staff: CAO, Stéphane Cyr; Administrative Assistant to the CAO, Alain Poirier, Director of Finance, Ginette Cheff, Community Development Officer, Réanne Flynn and Tourism Manager, Larry Peach.
Public: Clare 250th Committee
ABSENT: Councillor Danny Hill
1) Call to order
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
2) (a) Approval of the agenda
The Warden asked that the following items be added to the agenda
- 6.9 Cape Saint Mary’sRoad under “New Business”
- 6.10 By-Law - Wells and Cisterns under “New Business”
MOVED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc and SECONDED BY Councillor Carl Deveau that the proposed agenda be approved with the above noted additions.
MOTION CARRIED
(b) Declaration of conflict of interest
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc asked for any declarations of conflict of interest.
None declared
3) Presentations
3.1 Clare 250th – Working Committee
Réanne Flynn, Natalie Robichaud & Larry Peach provided an overview of the proposed activities for the Clare 250th. (See attached) The Clare 250th working committee is comprised of:
- Réanne Flynn (Chair) – EDO, Municipality of Clare
- Rachel Amirault - Communications Officer, Municipality of Clare
- Pam Doucet - Director of Community Development, Municipality of Clare
- Larry Peach - Tourism Manager, Municipality of Clare
- Natalie Robichaud – Executive Director, Société acadienne de Clare
- Daniel LeBlanc – Executive Director, Festival acadien de Clare.
4) Staff reports
4.1 Financial Report – Ginette Cheff, Director of Finance
The Director of Finance provided an update on the Municipality`s financial position. (See attached)
4.2 China Tourism Initiative – Tourism Manager, Larry Peach
Tourism Manager, Larry Peach provided Council with an update on the China Tourism Initiative (ADC Pilot Project); a joint initiative between the municipalities of Digby, Clare and Annapolis focusing on the development of visitor packages and itineraries targeting the Chinese tourism market. The draft project budget is $54,000 including a proposed contribution of $6,000 from the Municipality of Clare. Council thanked Mr. Peach for his presentation and passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Hector Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor Eric Pothier that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend contributing $6,000 to the ADC Pilot Project, contingent upon confirmation of balance of funding.
MOTION CARRIED
5) Business arising from previous meetings
None
6) New business
6.1 Funding Request – Leaf Cultural Project
The CAO presented a funding request submitted by the Maple Grove Education Center. The project consists of decorating large maple leaves (made of paper) to represent various cultural groups. The Center is asking the Municipality of Clare to sponsor the Acadian leaf in the amount of $500. Although the project has merit, Council mentioned that they haven’t traditionally supported individual project funding requests from schools since the Municipality already contributes significantly to the education system. Case and point, in 2017/18, the Municipality contributed $1,733,449 or 19.2% of its total operating budget to the school board.
Council asked staff to develop a policy to formalize Council’s position regarding these types of requests.
6.2 Economic Development Initiative – Funding Application
In speaking with various business owners in the fishing industry, the issue of language (i.e. Mandarin) was identified as a barrier to trade. In speaking with the local ACOA representative, Brianne LeBlanc, the possibility of Agency support to aid in the hiring of a resource person, fluent in both English and Mandarin, was raised as a possible means to overcome this barrier. Council passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc and SECONDED BY Councillor Hector Thibault that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend applying to ACOA for funding to hire a staff resource for 52 weeks, fluent in both English and Mandarin, to aid with the ADC Pilot Project and other related initiatives focusing on private sector development.
MOTION CARRIED
6.3 Official Presentations from Members of Council
In addition to congratulatory messages, the Warden recommended Councillors use this portion of the agenda to report on activities they attended throughout the month which may be of interest to Council.
6.4 Sidewalk Assessment
Councillor Eric Pothier heard mention of a potential paving project along route 1, slated for summer 2018, from the Meteghan River Bridge to the Meteghan Connector. In light of this possibility and in order to both ensure efficiency and minimize disruption, he recommended Council initiate a process to assess the condition of those sidewalks in the affected area and plan to conduct the necessary repairs in conjunction with the Province’s paving project. Council agreed and passed the following motion:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Eric Pothier and SECONDED BY Councillor Carl Deveau that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend authorizing the CAO to commence an assessment and issue a request for proposal for the repair of sidewalks in Meteghan.
MOTION CARRIED
6.5 Naming of Road – Rocky Shore Road
The Municipality has received a request for the naming of a road. The road in question is the section of the Placide Comeau Rd., from Route 1 to the shore. The proposed name is “Rocky Shore Road” in English which translates to “Chemin de la Côte rocheuse” in French. Staff has verified compliance with the Municipality’s road naming policy. Council passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Brian Comeau and SECONDED BY Councillor Carl Deveau
that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend that the road shared by the properties PID (Property Identification Number) 30059406, 30059455, 30059331, 30059356, 30059304, 30059315, 30059299, 30059323 and 30208094 be officially named as follows:
In English: Rocky Shore Road
In French: Chemin de la Côte rocheuse
MOTION CARRIED
6.6 Immigration Pilot – Recreational Activities
The Warden attended a session focusing on immigration and the importance of inclusion. Building on this dialogue, he mentioned that he would like to see the Municipality (i.e. Recreational Services) reach out and organize social / recreational activities specifically for immigrants and their families in order to further integrate them into the community. Council agreed. The CAO will discuss this with both the Director of Community Development and the Recreation Manager to determine how best to address this need.
6.7 Letter to Federation of Nova Scotia Municipalities
The UNSM has recently completed a rebranding exercise and is in the process of changing their name to the Federation of Nova Scotia Municipalities (FNSM). In response to this effort, the Municipality of Saint-Mary`s sent a letter to the FNSM and all municipal units in Nova Scotia expressing its disagreement with the proposed name change. Council agreed that the branding process seemed rushed with little opportunity for discussion and that the new name has a federal connotation. Despite these concerns, no further action was recommended at this time.
6.8 Funding Request – Cultural Hub
Municipal staff has approached ACOA to extend the project completion date to allow the remainder of the exterior work to be completed in the Spring. During the course of this discussion, it was suggested that additional funding up to $30,000 may be available to complete other renovations, outside of the original scope of the project. However, in order to access these funds, the Municipality must commit to matching this amount. Given the leveraging involved, Council was in favor of proceeding with the proposed funding request and passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Deputy Warden Nil Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Hector Thibault that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend approving up to an additional $30,000 towards the Cultural Hub project, contingent upon matching funding from ACOA.
MOTION CARRIED
6.9 Cape Saint Mary’s Road
Councillor Yvon LeBlanc mentioned that the signage for the Cape Saint Mary’s Road was incorrect and should read Cape Saint Mary Road. Staff has confirmed that this is in fact the case and have indicated that a motion from Council is required to correct said error. Council passed the following motion to recommend.
PROPOSED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc and SECONDED BY Councillor Eric Pothier that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend amending the name of “Cape Saint Mary’s Rd.” to “Cape Saint Mary Rd.”
MOTION CARRIED
6.10 By-Law, Wells and Cisterns
Councillor Yvon LeBlanc mentioned that in response to last year’s drought, the Municipality of Yarmouth has recently adopted a new by-law regarding wells and cisterns. With this new by-law, residents will be able to borrow funds from the Municipality to dig a new well or install a cistern. The amount in question will be amortized over a specific number of years and the annual principal instalment will be added to the owner’s property taxes. Councillor LeBlanc asked if Council was interested in exploring the possibility of adopting such a by-law for the Municipality of Clare. Although uncertain as to the demand for such a by-law, Council was interested and referred the matter to the by-law committee for further study.
7) Questions and comments from the public
None.
8) Closed Session
PROPOSED BY Deputy Warden Nil Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc that Council proceed to closed session.
MOTION CARRIED
Topics discussed:
- 8.1 Clare Veterans Centre
- 8.2 Rural Internet
- 8.3 Highway 101 Signage
PROPOSED BY Deputy Warden Nil Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc that Council proceed to the Regular Council Meeting.
MOTION CARRIED
9) Date and time of next Council-in-Committee Meeting
The next Council-in-Committee Meeting will be held on January 3rd, 2018 at 7:00 PM.
10) Adjournment
PROPOSED BY Deputy Warden Nil Doucet to adjourn the meeting at 9:51PM.