Municipality of the District of Clare
SPECIAL SESSION OF COUNCIL
Monday, April 9, 2018 at 6:00 pm
PRESENT: Council: Warden Ronnie LeBlanc, Deputy Warden Nil Doucet; Councillors, Danny Hill, Hector Thibault, Brian Comeau, Carl Deveau, Eric Pothier and Yvon LeBlanc
Staff: CAO Stéphane Cyr, Director of Finance, Ginette Cheff, Director of Community Development, Pam Doucet, Recreation Manager, Réanne Titus, Tourism Manager, Larry Peach, Community Development Officer, Réanne Flynn
Public:
ABSENT:
1) Call to Order
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm
2) (a) Approval of the Agenda
The Warden asked for the approval of the Agenda
MOVED BY Councillor Danny Hill and SECONDED BY Councillor Carl Deveau that the proposed agenda be approved as circulated.
MOTION CARRIED
(b) Declaration of conflict of interest
The Warden asked for any declarations of conflict of interest.
None declared.
3) New Business
3.1 Review of Draft Budget
The session commenced with a review of the sub-budgets pertaining to the Department of Community Development.
The Director of Community Development presented the budgets for Building Services, Community Development and Economic Development. These were very similar to the previous year’s budgets. Council had no issues with these proposed budgets. It was however agreed upon that efforts would be made over the course of the next year to consolidate the community development and economic development budgets. Administratively, this would yield gains in terms of efficiency and ease of use.
The Recreation Manager presented her draft budget for 2018-2019. Again, this was very similar to the previous year’s budget. Revenue was down slightly due to the elimination of the MPAL position. Recreational grant expenses are projected at $10,000, down from $13,000 in 2017-18. As per usual, Recreation will be hiring 4 summer students. Council had no issues with the budget as presented.
The Tourism Manager presented his draft budget for 2018-2019. This to was very similar to the previous year’s budget in terms of both revenues and expenses. Conference / trade shows were down slightly however familiarization tours have increased by the same amount. In terms of special projects, the Founding Families project will not be proceeding. As for the ADC Pilot Project, an amount of $10,000 has been budgeted however the project itself is facing growing uncertainty. Council had no issues with the budget as presented.
The Community Development Staff presented the proposed budget for the 2018-2019 Gran Fondo which called for an increase of roughly $32,000 from the previous year, most of which was tied to hospitality and marketing/branding, and a request to the Municipality for a $15,000 contribution. Council remains very supportive of the Gran Fondo and recognizes it as a signature event for Clare. As such, it approved both the proposed budget for the event and the requested contribution of $15,000. This notwithstanding, Council did stipulate the need for a breakeven analysis to ensure proper planning and cost management. As for the $15,000, $10,000 will be made available to the group. The remaining $5,000 will be placed in a newly created reserve for the Gran Fondo and be made available to the group when/if required, subject to Council approval.
The CAO and the Director of Finance presented the remainder of the Municipality’s proposed $8,969,731 operating budget for 2018-2019. The budget is balanced and calls for the residential and commercial property tax rates to remain unchanged from 2017-2018 levels, specifically $1.04 and $2.07 per $100 of assessment respectively.
Council was pleased with the proposed budget and staff’s efforts to have this exercise completed prior to the April 2018 Regular Council meeting.
4) Closed Session
PROPOSED BY Councillor Yvon LeBlanc and SECONDED BY Councillor Eric Pothier that Council proceed to an in-camera session.
MOTION CARRIED
Topic discussed:
4.1 Grants to Organizations
4.2 CAO Evaluation
PROPOSED BY Councillor Nil Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Danny Hill that Council proceed to the Regular Council Meeting.
MOTION CARRIED
5) Date and time of the next Regular Council Meeting
The next Regular Council Meeting will be held on April 18, 2018 at 7:00 pm.
6) Adjournment
MOVED BY Councillor Nil Doucet to adjourn the meeting at 9:40 pm.
Submitted by:
Stéphane Cyr, CAO