Municipality of the District of Clare

REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING

Wednesday, November 18th, 2015 at 7pm

PRESENTS: Council: Warden Ronnie LeBlanc; Deputy Warden Brian Comeau; Councillors, Lester Doucet, Nil Doucet, Danny Hill, Hector Thibault, Russell Comeau and Robert Thibault.
Staff: Administrative assistant to the CAO, Alain Poirier
Public: CEO for the WREN, Angelique LeBlanc, Dolores Atwood from YMCA Yarmouth and a few concerned citizens regarding the break ins in Clare.
ABSENT: CAO Connie Saulnier.

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1) Call to order
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc called the Council Meeting to order at 7pm.

2) (a) Approval of the agenda
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc asked that the following item be removed
11.3 Motion to rename Saulnierville Legion – Clare Veterans Memorial Centre

MOVED BY Councillor Lester Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Hector Thibault 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) Presentation
3.1 Immigration – Angélique LeBlanc
Mrs. Angélique LeBlanc, CEO of the WREN, was asked to present on the Western REN and immigration. She spoke of the WREN and their roles and different programs they have launched. She spoke of immigration and the issues we are having to keep immigrants in our region and bring back Nova-Scotians. She mentioned the Ivany report’s first three goals relate to increasing the population of working age people in Nova Scotia. Warden Ronnie LeBlanc thanked Mrs. LeBlanc for her presentation and mentioned it’s important for people to realize this problem and he hopes to work together to make things happen.

3.2 Immigration programs – Dolores Atwood
Mrs. Dolores Atwood who is the Immigrant Settlement Office for the region was invited to speak about the different immigration programs they offer. She and her team help navigate newcomers into the community in hopes of retaining them. By doing this, they help families get situated by finding housing, showing them around, helping with school registration and connecting them with community partners. Mrs. Atwood mentioned different programs they offer for immigrants such as Teach Immigrants English programs, identifying their work qualifications to help find employment and connecting families with other families from the same country. Mrs. Atwood also mentioned she speaks in schools on immigration and the importance of accepting everyone and their cultural differences. She mentioned that there hve been improvement in schools between the Canadian students and the immigrant students. Councillor Thibault mentioned that it is hard for smaller businesses to get involved in the programs and would be great to find a way to work with those smaller businesses to find immigrants with the right qualifications to work in those fields. Warden Ronnie LeBlanc thanked Mrs. Atwood for her presentation.

3.3 Concerned Citizen regarding Break In in Clare – Claude Alain Comeau
Mr. Claude Comeau came to speak to the Council on behalf of residents who are concerned with the break and enters around the community during the past 8-9 months. The public is asking the Council as well as the RCMP and anyone who is able to help to answer the appropriate questions that were not addressed during these past months. There was a big miss-communication through the media and it took a long time before the RCMP were able to put the case together. A lot has been done by the RCMP operations and investigations and they understand the public can’t have all details. They shared a success story earlier this week but the public has never heard any news of what happened throughout Digby, Clare and Yarmouth during the time of the break and enters. It would have been less hurtful to the public if they saw the concerns in the media. All resources were available but not used. Warden Ronnie LeBlanc gave an update on the break and enters after he spoke with an RCMP officer. Councillor Robert Thibault mentioned that if people have complaints on our officers and the way they are being treated, to use the public complaint resource that not enough people know about.
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc thanked Mr. Comeau for being the spokesman for all those concerned.

4) Adoption of the minutes from previous council meetings
October 21st, 2015 Regular Council Meeting
MOVED BY Councillor Danny Hill and SECONDED BY Councillor Lester Doucet that the Minutes of October 21st, 2015, be accepted as circulated.
MOTION CARRIED

5) Business arising from previous meetings

5.1 Maintenance of the Monument for those lost at sea
Administrative Assistant to the CAO, Alain Poirier, read a letter received by the Honourable Zach Churchill. Deputy Warden Brian Comeau mentioned that the next step should be for the committee responsible for the monument to choose a person responsible for the maintenance. Once that person is chosen, they could communicate with the municipality and the province to let them know who will be responsible. He suggested they wait for the committee to address the Council.

6) Warden’s Activity Reports – Warden Ronnie LeBlanc
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc listed the meetings and events he attended since the last Council Meeting
October 22nd – Participated at a UNSM session on PPP.
October 23rd – Participated at the AGM of the FANE in Dartmouth
October 27th – Meeting of the Villa Acadienne
October 29th – Participated at the Networking for francophone regions in Quebec
November 4-6th Attended the annul UNSM meeting in Halifax
Novembre 9th – Attended a meeting for Dr. Recruiting in Weymouth
November 11th – Remembrance day at the Saulnierville Legion, that night he spoke at the banquet.
November 17th – Meeting with Peter Hogan, president of ACOA, at the Rendez-vous de la Baie.

7) Official statements from the members of the council
Deputy Warden Brian Comeau wished to congratulate Elie and Shirley Melanson who are celebrating their 60th anniversary on November 19th, 2015. He asked that a certificate be made for them.

8) Correspondance
8.1 Saint-Albert School
L’École Saint-Albert wrote a letter to the Municipality of Clare asking to sponsor $200 for their lunch fundraiser.
Councillor Robert Thibault suggested that Council donate $100 without being a sponsor and that they donate the same amount to all 4 other elementary schools in the Clare community.

PROPOSED BY Councillor Robert Thibault and SECONDED BY Deputy Warden Brian Comeau that the Municipality of Clare donate $100 to all Clare elementary schools for their lunch fundraisers.
MOTION CARRIED

8.2 Letter from Clean Ocean Action Committee (C.O.A.C)
Administrative Assistant to the CAO, Alain Poirier, read a letter from Clean Ocean Action Committee. Warden LeBlanc mentioned that they are not asking for anything in particular, just to build awareness.

9) C.A.O. Report – Chief Administrative Officer Connie Saulnier
No report.

10) Committee Reports

10.1 Building Permits Reports: Councillor Danny Hill

October
Year Permit Construction Value
2014 31 $986,080
2015 22 $578,260

10.2 Community Development Department: Director, Pam Doucet
Deputy Warden Brian Comeau read the report in absence of the Director Pam Doucet who was at the Entrepreneurship Symposium. He also read the report of the Active Living Coordinator, Réanne Titus and the report of the Tourism Manager, Larry Peach.
(See attachment: Clare Tourism Manager Report, Economic Development Report, MPAL, Recreation Report)
Councillor Nil Doucet read the Recreation manager report from Andrea Gaudet.

10.3 Planning Advisory Committee: Councillor Danny Hill
No report

10.4 Villa Acadienne: Deputy Brian Comeau
No report

10.5 Waste Check: Councillor Robert Thibault
No report

11) New business

11.1 Motion to Award Heating Tender at the Saulnierville Legion
Assistant to the CAO, Alain Poirier, mentioned that Arnold Comeau, the building inspector sent out invitational tenders and received 2 tender bids.

PROPOSED BY Councillor Robert Thibault and SECONDED BY Councillor Danny Hill that the Municipality of the District of Clare award the Heating Tender for the Saulnierville Legion to Comeau Fuels in the amount of $20,004.25 ($17,395.00 plus $2,609.25 HST) for the purchase and installation of two (2) new oil fired hot water furnaces, fuel tank, and associated work.
MOTION CARRIED

11.2 Motion to Approve 5-yr Capital Investment Plan
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc read the 5 year Capital Investment Plan (see attachment).

PROPOSED BY Councillor Danny Hill and SECONDED BY Councillor Nil Doucet
that the Municipality of the District of Clare approve the attached 5-year (2015-2020) Capital Investment Plan (CIP) for submission to Municipal Affairs as per Gas Tax expenditure requirements.
MOTION CARRIED

11.3 Motion to rename the Royal Canadian Legion Building in Saulnierville
This item has been removed from the Agenda.

11.4 Motion to Appoint New CAO
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc explained the process of hiring the recruitment firm of Gerald Walsh and Associates for the new CAO.

PROPOSED BY Councillor Hector Thibault and SECONDED BY Deputy Warden Brian Comeau that the Council for the Municipality of Clare appoint Stéphane Cyr as the new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Municipality of Clare, effective January 4th, 2016.
MOTION CARRIED

11.5 Motion to Purchase new ¾ ton truck
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc explained that in the past years there were tenders for snow removal and in effort to reduce costs this year, the snow removal would be done by Jody Comeau, an employee of the Municipality of Clare with the newly purchased truck.

PROPOSED BY Councillor Lester Doucet and SECONDED BY Councillor Danny Hill that the Municipality of Clare accept the tendered bid of $40,000 ($34,782.61 + $5,217.39 HST) from Belliveau Motors for the purchase of a new 2016 Ford SD F250 4x4 Regular cab ¾ ton truck.
MOTION CARRIED

11.6 Dr. Westby's Retirement Function – St Mary's Bay Academy
Warden Ronnie LeBlanc mentioned that Sunday, November 22nd, 2015, there will be an Open House held at Saint Mary’s Bay Academy for Dr. Westby’s retirement. Everyone is invited. It is an opportunity for the public to thank him for everything he has done for our community.

12) Closed Session
None

13) Date and time of next Regular Council Meeting
The next Regular Council Meeting will be held on December 16th 2015 at 7PM.

14) Adjournment
PROPOSED BY Councillor Nil Doucet to adjourn the meeting at 9:19 PM.

Submitted by

Alain Poirier,
Administrative Assistant of the CAO