Municipality of the District of Clare
COUNCIL-IN-COMMITTEE MEETING
Wednesday, September 6th, 2017 at 7:00 pm
PRESENT: Council: Deputy Warden Nil Doucet, Councillors, Danny Hill, Hector Thibault, Carl Deveau, Brian Comeau, Eric Pothier and Yvon LeBlanc.
Staff: Acting CAO / Director of Community Development, Pam Doucet; Administrative Assistant to the CAO, Alain Poirier; Director of Finances, Ginette Cheff and Recreation Manager, Réanne Titus.
Public: Reynald & Karen Poulin
ABSENT: Warden, Ronnie LeBlanc and CAO, Stéphane Cyr
1) Call to order
Deputy Warden Nil Doucet called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.
2) (a) Approval of the agenda
The Deputy Warden asked that the following changes be made to the Agenda
- Remove item 3.1 from the Agenda as Mr. LeBlanc was unable to attend the meeting.
- Add 6.5 Land Use By-law, under “New Business”
- Add 8.1 Clare Fire Fighters Association, under “Closed Session”
MOVED BY Councillor Brian Comeau and SECONDED BY Councillor Hector Thibault that the proposed agenda be approved with the above noted changes.
MOTION CARRIED
(b) Declaration of conflict of interest
Deputy Warden Nil Doucet asked for any declarations of conflict of interest.
None declared
3) Presentations
None
4) Staff reports
4.1 Financial Report – Ginette Cheff, Director of Finance
The Director of Finance, Ginette Cheff provided an update on the Municipality`s financial position. (See attached)
4.2 Department of Community Development -Director, Pam Doucet
The Acting CAO / Director of the Department of Community Development mentioned to Council that the report from her department was lengthy as it included the complete report from the summer students with program details and participation statistics. She then asked the Recreation Manager to address Council regarding a proposal involving the municipality’s annual Christmas tree lighting event. The proposal included changing the event to be held at the Clare Veterans Center with the purchase of an artificial tree and new decorations for the centre. Partnerships were proposed with a few possible community groups in order to expand the event and hopefully encourage more participation. The budget for these changes was proposed at $1500 and these funds would be sourced from the Community Development Administration budget (under Special Projects). Council was in favor of the idea.
The Acting CAO / Director of the Department of Community Development gave a brief overview of some of the municipality’s projects. The new larger LED sign has been installed at the Clare Veteran’s Centre and a wooden box that will provide protection for the posts will be constructed at the base of the sign. The Cultural Hub renovations are going very well with the work on the addition almost complete. Current activities include landscaping, planning for signage, surveying the property to determine the feasibility of an expanded parking lot at the rear of the building as well as exploring the possibility of replacing the on-site septic system. Council thanked her and the Recreation Manager for their excellent report.
5) Business arising from previous meetings
5.1 Major Point Road – Update
The Acting CAO, Pam Doucet, reminded council of their decision at the July 19th meeting to address this matter at this meeting. Deputy Warden Nil Doucet then proceeded to explain to Council that the CAO, the Warden and the Deputy Warden met with two residents of Major Point Road (Gerard Pothier and Peter Evans) on August 17th, and since the CAO and the Warden are both absent tonight, he would recommend pushing this item until these two individuals are back.
The Deputy Warden added that this file has been opened for over 7 years now, and for that reason, he wants to make sure that Council can look at all the possibilities and all the details before taking the final decision.
Deputy Warden gave Mrs. Karen Poulin (a resident of Major Point Road) to speak, and her the opportunity to voice her concerns.
Council thanked her for expressing her concerns and replied that without all the information, a final decision cannot be made.
5.2 Transfer Station Repairs – Update
The Acting CAO explained to Council that the tenders for the repairs at the Clare Transfer Station (including the replacement of four garage doors as well as repairs to the roof of the building) have been issued and will close on September 18th. A recommendation should be ready for the award at the next regular Council meeting.
5.3 Upper Clements Park
The Acting CAO mentioned to Council that the Municipality has received an invoice in the amount of $2,000 from Upper Clements Park regarding bilingual signage. The Deputy Warden explained that Council had been given a presentation by the same group during the year. However, Council did not have any record of a financial request nor of taking any decision regarding the issue. Council asked that staff contact Upper Clements Park to explain the process for requesting financial support from council and ask them to submit a request in the formal manner in order to have the request considered.
5.4 Project PG - Update
The Acting CAO explained to Council that Mr. Comeau has requested that the funds allocated towards his project be disbursed in slightly different amount than were originally requested and subsequently approved by council. She proceeded to explain that Mr. Comeau’s project did not receive the full amount they requested from the federal government but they are confident that they will secure the balance through other funding programs. Mr. Comeau’s request was to change the funsing allocation from Council to the following amounts (which represent a chamge from the previous motion that allocated $2500 per year for the 2017/2018 2018-2019 fiscal years):
• $2,220 for 2017-2018
• $2,780 for 2018-2019
Council passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Brian Comeau and SECONDED BY Councillor Eric Pothier that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend adjusting the allocation of the funds granted to “le Projet Clare PG” as follows:
• $2,220 for 2017-2018
• $2,780 for 2018-2019
MOTION CARRIED
6) New business
6.1 Motion to rescind a motion – Clare Fire Fighters Association accounts receivable.
The Director of Finance explained why a motion passed on November 16, 2016 should be rescinded. This motion was originally introduced to reduce the Clare Fire Fighters Association (CFFA) debt towards the Municipality with surplus collected by area rate outstanding from years 2008-2009 & 2009-2010. Following an extensive research on expenses paid to CFFA by municipality for those years, there were no extra funds available to apply towards the amount owing. The amount originally approved will be returned to the Capital Reserve.
Council passed the following motion to recommend.
PROPOSED BY Councillor Carl Deveau and SECONDED BY Councillor Danny Hill that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend rescinding the following motion made on November 16/2016:
MOVED BY Councillor Danny Hill and SECONDED BY Councillor Carl Deveau that the Municipality of the District of Clare transfer the amount of $200,000 from the Capital Reserve Fund to the Operating Fund (GL # 32770) for the purpose of reducing the receivables from the Fire Departments to actuals, and that such funds were budgeted and collected through an Area Rate for the Fire Departments’ Capital in the fiscal years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010.
MOTION CARRIED
6.2 Road Naming – Sheep Pasture Road
The Acting CAO explained that the Municipality has received a request for the naming of a road. She added that the staff has gone through the established process for naming a road and has checked for the correct translation in French as requested by the road naming policy. The proposed name is “Sheep Pasture Road” in English which and translates to “Chemin du Pâturage” in French.
Council passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Danny Hill 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) 30322663, 30322671, 30023527, 30023469, 30023279 and 30023238 be officially named as follows:
• English: Sheep Pasture Road
• French: Chemin du pâturage
MOTION CARRIED
6.3 Dog by-law – Impound Fee
The Acting CAO brought to the attention of Council the fact that the Municipality of Clare is the only municipality that charges a flat $200 impounding fee for dogs. The Nova Scotia SPCA has a rate of $35 per day. She then recommended that Council set the same rate as the Nova Scotia SPCA in the interest of fairness and consistency and to avoid confusion for residents and our service provider alike.
Council passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Eric Pothier and SECONDED BY Councillor Carl Deveau that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend amending its impound fee for dogs from a flat fee of $200 to a daily rate of $35, in keeping with the rate currently charged by the Nova Scotia SPCA.
MOTION CARRIED
6.4 MasterCard Account Administrator
The Director of Finance explained to Council that the staff had to call the municipality’s MasterCard provider with questions related to limits/purchases due to numerous expenses that were required towards the Gran Fondo event, and the information couldn’t be accessed as the information on file with MasterCard was outdated-with a former staff person being listed as the only Administrator. She then recommended that Council pass a motion to recommend staff proceed with completing the process to name new administrators for the MasterCard account.
Council passed the following motion to recommend:
PROPOSED BY Councillor Hector Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare recommend proceeding with completing the process to name the following staff as new administrators for the MasterCard account: Ronnie LeBlanc, Stéphane Cyr, Ginette Cheff and Jeannette Doucet.
MOTION CARRIED
6.5 Land Use By-Law
Council asked for clarification on the published deadline regarding comments on the proposed amendments to the Land Use By-Law in order to be able to provide clear answers to the public. The Acting CAO explained that the deadline is Friday, September 8th, because Mr. Zwicker, Planner for WSP Group needs time to review them to address them individually.
Council mentioned the possibility of the amended by-law being returned to the PAC committee for further review depending on the outcome of the meeting.
7) Questions and comments from the public
None.
8) Closed Session
PROPOSED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc and SECONDED BY Councillor Carl Deveau that Council proceed to an In-Camera Session.
MOTION CARRIED
Topics discussed:
- 8.1 Clare Fire Fighters Association
PROPOSED BY Councillor Danny Hill and SECONDED BY Councillor Hector 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 October 4th, 2017 at 7:00 PM.
10) Adjournment
PROPOSED BY Councillor Hector Thibault to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 PM.