Municipality of the District of Clare
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
Wednesday, December 16th, 2015 at 7pm

PRESENTS: Council: Deputy Warden Brian Comeau; Councillors, Lester Doucet, Nil Doucet, Danny Hill, Hector Thibault, Russell Comeau and Robert Thibault.
Staff: CAO Connie Saulnier, Administrative assistant to the CAO, Alain Poirier and new CAO Stéphane Cyr, Director of Department of Community Development, Pam Doucet.
Public: Renewable Energy and Climate change Coordinator for the Municipality of Digby, Terry Thibodeau, Nicole Pothier, Blerina Berberi & Kevin Tummers and few residents.
ABSENT: Warden Ronnie LeBlanc.

__________________________________________________________________________________

1) Call to order
Deputy Warden Brian Comeau called the Council Meeting to order at 7pm.

2) (a) Approval of the agenda
MOVED BY Councillor Hector Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor Danny Hill that the proposed agenda be adopted as presented.
MOTION CARRIED

(b) Declaration of conflict of interest
Deputy Warden Brian Comeau asked for any declarations of conflict of interest.
None declared

3) Presentation
3.1 PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) - Terry Thibodeau
Mr. Terry Thibodeau, Renewable Energy and Climate change Coordinator for the Municipality of Digby, presented a new municipal program called “Property Assessed Clean Energy” (PACE). The program consist of helping residents to improve the efficiency of their homes but the cost would be distributed over several years on their municipal taxes.
Councillor Robert Thibault asked if there is a reason why a non-profit organization cannot be part of the program. Mr. Thibodeau answered that there is no reason, it’s only that when they did their by-law, they did not include the non-profit organization. However, there is no reason to not accept them in the program.
Deputy Warden Brian Comeau thanked Mr. Thibodeau for his presentation and mentioned that Council will discuss this subject at a later date.

3.2 Endangered music in St-Mary's Bay – Blerina Berberi & Kevin Tummers
Ms. Blerina Berberi and Mr. Kevin Tummers presented a request of $1,000 regarding their project on Endangered music in St-Mary’s Bay. Their project consists of collecting information regarding, bands, single artist, etc. and share it with people, to help these artists to be recognize. They want to complete a timeline of music in Clare starting from 1768 until today. They are looking to preserve the music of artists that are not well known.
Deputy Warden Brian Comeau asked if the project is only relating to music or also to artists. He then mentioned that the project is really interesting because music is a big part of the Acadian Culture.
Council decided that the request will be added to January 6th, 2015, Committee of the whole Agenda for further discussion.

4) Adoption of the minutes from previous council meetings
4.1 November 18th, 2015 Regular Council Meeting
MOVED BY Councillor Danny Hill and SECONDED BY Councillor Lester Doucet that the Minutes of November 18th, 2015, be accepted as circulated.
MOTION CARRIED

4.2 December 2nd, 2015 Council-in-Committee Meeting
MOVED BY Councillor Nil Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Lester Doucet that the Minutes of December 2nd, 2015 be accepted as circulated.
MOTION CARRIED

5) Business arising from previous meetings
5.1 Saint Bernard Fire Department
CAO Connie Saulnier gave an update about the request that has been made through the gas tax to help cover the cost of part of the construction, of the community component of the new Saint Bernard Fire Hall, saying that she should have an answer soon. She added that for the next Council-in-Committee meeting, she will have a budget prepared related to this construction.

6) Warden’s Activity Reports – Warden Ronnie LeBlanc
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc was absent, there is no report.

7) Official statements from the members of the council
Councillor Hector Thibault mentioned that he would like to wish Happy Birthday to
Edith Thibodeau who will be celebrating her 101 years old next week.

8) Correspondance
Nothing to report

9) C.A.O. Report – Chief Administrative Officer Connie Saulnier
(see attachment)

10) Committee Reports
10.1 Building Permits Reports: Councillor Danny Hill
Councillor Danny Hill presented the building permits reports for the month of November as submitted by the Building Department.

November
Year Permit Construction Value
2014      9       $181,840
2015     10       $179,373

10.2 Community Development Department: Director, Pam Doucet
(see attachment)

10.3 Planning Advisory Committee: Councillor Danny Hill
Councillor Danny Hill reported that the discussion of the last meeting was mostly related to Clare watersheds

10.4 Villa Acadienne: Deputy Brian Comeau
No report

10.5 Waste Check: Councillor Robert Thibault
No report

11) New business
11.1 Motion for tax write off
PROPOSED BY Councillor Lester Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Russell Comeau that Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare write off the following noted tax amounts for the reasons described herein.
MOTION CARRIED

Compte /          Montant /        Année /          Raison /
Account #        Amount           Year               Reason                
08540713        $43.87          2013             Registry of deed cancelling account
08540713        $1.09            2014             Registry of deed cancelling account
08540713        $1.09            2015             Registry of deed cancelling account
08540713        $14.84            int               Registry of deed cancelling account       
08540861        $2.18            2015             Registry of deed cancelling account
08540861        $0.09             int                Registry of deed cancelling account     
01966316        $587.24        2015             Hectanooga Fire Station on Leased land
01966316        $26.43             int              Hectanooga Fire Station on Leased land      
05643392        $1351.50      2014             To write off 2014, because of fire Dec, 8 2013
05643392        $184.19         int                To write off 2014, because of fire Dec, 8 2013

11.2 Motion to appoint Stéphane Cyr on WREN L&O Committee
CAO Connie Saulnier explained she was on this committee because she is the CAO now, the new CAO should be appointed to take her place on the committee.
Council passed the following motion;

PROPOSED BY Councillor Hector Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor
Danny Hill that the Council for the Municipality of the District of Clare appoint
Stéphane Cyr as a member of the Western Regional Enterprise Network (WREN) Liaison and Oversight Committee.
MOTION CARRIED

11.3 Motion to appoint Lynette M. Muise as new municipal solicitor
Deputy Warden Brian Comeau thanked Solicitor Hugh Robichaud for all his past years of service representing the municipality and explained that Council need to appoint a new solicitor. Council passed the following motion;

PROPOSED BY Councillor Robert Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor
Russell Comeau that Lynette M. Muise of Muise Law Inc. be appointed as the Municipal Solicitor for the Municipality of the District of Clare.
MOTION CARRIED

11.4 CAO By-law No. 35 – First Reading
CAO Connie Saulnier explained that there is no CAO by-law that currently exists and that one has now been prepared. Council passed the following motion;

PROPOSED BY Councillor Danny Hill and SECONDED BY Councillor Lester Doucet that the Municipality of the District of Clare read By-Law No. 35, a By-Law Respecting the Chief Administrative Officer and that the By-Law be read for the first time by title only.

By-Law No. 35 a by-law respecting the chief administrative officer
MOTION CARRIED

11.5 Motion to rename the Saulnierville Legion
PROPOSED BY Councillor Robert Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor
Russell Comeau that Council of the Municipality of District of Clare rename the Saulnierville Legion, the Clare Veterans Center.
MOTION CARRIED

11.6 Resolution regarding Boundary Review.
Ms. Nicole Pothier, who was hired to conduct a study regarding the Boundary Review gave her report (attached). Council passed the following resolution;

PROPOSED BY Councillor Robert Thibault and SECONDED BY CouncillorRussell Comeau that WHEREAS every eight (8) years, Section 369 of the Municipal Government Act of Nova Scotia requires every municipality to conduct a review of the number and boundaries of the polling districts within its territory;

AND WHEREAS after the study is completed, and before the end of the year in which the study was conducted, the council shall apply to the Board to confirm or to alter the number and boundaries of polling districts and the number of councilors;

AND WHEREAS an application was submitted to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board on December 17th, 2014.

AND WHEREAS in a Decision of the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board dated October 7th, 2015, Council was instructed to conduct an appropriate public consultation, with adequate notice of public meetings and a meaningful opportunity to discuss the appropriate number of councilors for its Council.

AND WHEREAS three (3) public meetings were subsequently held on November 9th in Saulnierville, on November 12th in Salmon River and on November 16th, 2015 in St. Bernard.

AND WHEREAS all correspondence and remarks from the public sessions were discussed and considered by Council during a meeting of the Committee of the Whole on November 26th, 2015.

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Council of the Municipality of Clare make an application to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, as per Section 369 of the Municipal Government Act, to confirm the number of councilors at eight (8) and to make some minor changes to the polls’ boundaries in order to be within the 10% variance as mandated by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board.

12) Closed Session
PROPOSED BY Councillor Robert Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor Hector Thibault that the Council proceed to an In Camera Session.
MOTION CARRIED

Topic discussed: Snow Removal Contract – Sidewalks

PROPOSED BY Councillor Robert Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor Lester Doucet that the Council proceed to the Regular Council Meeting.
MOTION CARRIED

13) Date and time of next Regular Council Meeting
The next Regular Council Meeting will be held on January 20th 2015 at 7PM.

14) Adjournment
PROPOSED BY Councillor Nil Doucet to adjourn the meeting at 8:33pm

Submitted by

Alain Poirier,
Administrative Assistant of the CAO