Bay Bulls councillors told to take ATIPP training

By Mark Squibb/July 22, 2022

Members of Bay Bulls council and town staff will be undergoing mandatory ATIPP training later this summer following a recommendation from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commission.

“There was a privacy complaint filed, and following an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, the recommendation that has been sent is that council must complete ATIPP training,” explained Town CAO Jennifer Aspell during the last public meeting. She added the office had followed up with the Town looking for an update.

Aspell said based on scheduled availability, training will likely take place towards the end of August.

Councillor Jason Sullivan asked if the training is mandatory, and Aspell said that it will be.

Sullivan, who said he wouldn’t be in Bay Bulls for the end of August, argued that the Office recommended, not demanded, that all council members attend the training.

“But anyway, you can go ahead and do it,” said Sullivan.

Acting Mayor Jason O’Brien said the Town could look at other options, and Aspell agree they can look at rescheduling the training.

O’Brien called for a vote, and councillors Keith O’Driscoll and Shannon O’Driscoll both voted in favour of the recommendation. Neither Sullivan, nor the Acting Mayor could be heard to register their votes on the motion, though O’Brien deemed it had passed.

Two sections of the Southern Shore Highway between Cappahayden and Portugal Cove South are in the process of being rebuilt, with new culverts spanning brooks and streams as part of the work. Farrell’s Construction of CBS has the contract for the work, which includes about 10 kms of high way altogether.

O'Brien steps down

By Mark Squibb/July 15, 2022

Neil O’ Brien is no longer mayor of Bay Bulls.

“As of July 8, Mayor Neil O’Brien has put in his notice of resignation from his position on council,” said Deputy Mayor Jason O’Brien at the beginning of this week’s public council meeting. “This is effective as of July 8 as per the Municipalities Act 1999. Deputy Mayor Jason O’Brien will assume the duties of mayor until council decides on how to precede to fill that position.”

The announcement was made at the start of Wednesday’s meeting, and council then carried on with regular business without further discussion on the matter.

Former Mayor O’Brien was not present at the meeting. He, along with the four other current members of council, was elected this past October in the 2021 municipal election.

Residents voted out all previous members of council, including former mayor Harold Mullowney, who had held a seat on council for nearly three decades until losing out this past election, in favour in a new slate of council members.

Out of the five successful candidates, Neil O’Brien landed square in the middle, coming in third place according to the vote count.

Another shuffle at Witless Bay Town Hall

The Town of Witless Bay has appointed Town Clerk Geraldine Caul to the position of Acting Town Manager in light of Town Manager Shawn Kavanagh’s recent leave of absence.

Caul has been on leave since at least last summer, and as of July 14 was still listed on the town’s website as being ‘On leave.’

The Town had hired Katherine Doyle in May to fill the Town Clerk position in Caul’s absence.

Kavanagh, meanwhile, was hired in February of this year to replace former Town manager Kevin Kelley, who quit in October, just a month after he had been hired to replace chief administrative officer Pat Curran.

Kavanagh went on his leave of absence in June, and told the Irish Loop Post he wasn’t at liberty to discuss the matter further.

The Irish Loop Post tried to reach Doyle, Caul, Mayor Trevor Croft, and Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard inquiring as to whether Kavanagh was still being paid while on leave, but did not receive a response. A call to the Town Hall was not answered.

Doctor shortage dire, but not without hope: MHA

By Mark Squibb/July 15, 2022

Fast on the heels of a demonstration held in Trepassey two weeks ago, Ferryland MHA Loyola O’Driscoll says the doctor shortage is a worry in his district.

“It’s certainly a big concern,” said O’ Driscoll. “It puts a lot of stress on people. Along with the ambulance issue we’ve had for the last year, now there’s the doctor issue. And I think it could be resolved if they just sat down at the table, I think it could be figured out.”

O’Driscoll’s comment on ‘ambulance issue’ was a reference to the Department of Health and Community Services’ decision to pull one of the two ambulances out of Trepassey and relocate it to Ferryland Emergency Services based in Cape Broyle.

The demonstration was held outside the clinic June 30 to mark the departure of Dr. Heather Cuddy, who had served in the area for the last three years. Cuddy and Eastern Health could not reach an agreement over a position which would see Cuddy working out of Holyrood, but also serving Trepassey and Ferryland.

“It’s hard to get doctors in rural areas, but she was interested in the job, and they couldn’t figure out how to make that happen,” said O’ Driscoll. “I know, they can’t give away the world, but they could certainly sit down and figure this out. And that doesn’t seem to be what they’re doing… Being a doctor in rural Newfoundland is different than being a doctor in St. John’s or Corner Brook or Gander, and those big centres. In rural Newfoundland, the issues are different, but I think they can be rectified, I really do.”

A week after the demonstration, Premier Andrew Furey announced that Minister of Health John Haggie and Community Services Minister of Education Tom Osborne would be swapping seats. Haggie had served as Minister of Health nigh on seven years, being first appointed to the position in 2015, while Osbourne had served as Minister of Education for almost two years, being appointed in August 2020. Osbourne had served as Health Minister for about 10 months in the Danny Williams PC government in 2006-2007.

O’Driscoll welcomed the change so long as it means a call back from the Minister’s office.

“I’ve made calls to Minister Haggie’s office, I’ve sent a text and e-mails, and, well, I hope the new person that’s in there, Minister Osbourne, is going to get back to me quicker than Minister Haggie did,” said O’Driscoll. “He hasn’t responded to me. I’ve sent a text and probably three e-mails over the last three or four weeks, and no response whatsoever. I’m just asking him to call me... that’s disappointing to me. And hopefully this minister will get back to me, and I think he will, just based on dealing with him in Education, he would certainly answer your call or call you back. The previous minister seemed disinterested to me in the last three or four weeks, or month, or last couple of months.”

The next step, said O’ Driscoll, is to arrange a meeting with Osborne.

“I think these problems can be solved,” said O’Driscoll.

In regards to the Health Accord, the Liberal Government’s 10 year health plan (which reminds those interested in reading it that Newfoundland has the worst life expectancy, highest death rates for cancer, cardiac disease and stroke, and highest rate of chronic disease in Canada, along with both the highest per capita spending on health care and worst health system performance across Canada), O’ Driscoll said the PC caucus has met with the plan’s co-chairs Sister Elizabeth Davis and Dr. Pat Parfrey, and while he allows there are good parts to the plan, what is needed now in his district are solutions, not the statement of long-term goals.

“That’s a long-term plan, but we need some solutions now,” said the member.

Witless Bay council turns down money..... twice

By Mark Squibb/July 8, 2022

The Town of Witless Bay is saying ‘no’ to two funding streams that have already been approved by the funders.

Councillors rejected both pots of cash during their June 14 meeting.

First off, councillor Alex Troake motioned that council refuse the funding approved from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for Asset Management. Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard seconded the motion.

“Essentially, what this is is a funding program that allow municipalities to bring in experts who look at every asset in the community and prioritize and look at what repairs and upgrades are needed,” explained Troake. “It would be a great thing for us to have, and the amount approved is $46,560. The unfortunate part is until we got the approval, we knew nothing about it. And so, perhaps in 2023 we can apply again and budget for the $11,640 plus tax that the Town would be responsible for.”

Ralph Carey agreed with Troake’s assessment.

“Unfortunately, because of budgeting, we can’t (accept the funding),” said Carey. “It would be a great thing to take advantage of, and I guess we could try again in the future, but right now our hands are tied in terms of the budget.”

Council was unanimous in its decision to reject the money.

The next funding stream to be denied was capital works funding for a new town generator.

Troake motioned that council reject funding for the capital works project, and Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard seconded the motion.

“The Town applied, at least on information from the town planner, I believe it was, that we would be eligible under a 10 percent cost share which was approximately $10,000, but it was approved under 60/40, so, to spend, $80,000 on two generators when we had budgeted $20,000… for now we will reject it,” said Troake.

Yard asked Troake to clarify that the approval was for only one generator, not two. Troake said the funding approval specified that the approval was for one generator at the Puffin Centre.

Councillor Jacob Hayden then spoke briefly to offer a clarification of his own.

“Just to correct one little thing that Alex said, it was the town engineer that issued these applications, not the town planner,” Hayden said.

St. Kevin's student speaks up on the national stage

Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove’s Olivia Taylor has earned a bronze medal in the 2022 Skills Canada National Competition, held in Vancouver, B.C., the last week of May.

Students competing had to prepare a five-to-seven-minute speech ahead of the competition, which they had to deliver without the aid of warning lights, sounds, or timecards to help them keep track of time. Students then had to respond to a question based on the speech. On the next day of competition, students were given a prompt and had a maximum of 2 minutes to prepare a three-minute speech. Timecards were shown at 2 minutes, 1 minute, and 15 seconds to indicate time left on the clock.

The Grade 11 St. Kevin’s High student had won the bronze medal for the same category in the 2021 competition, which was held virtually.

Witless Bay takes next step in playground upgrade

The Town of Witless Bay held a special meeting Tuesday, June 21 to approve a tender for site work for playground upgrades.

“The whole purpose, or the primary purpose, of calling this meeting was to get this tender awarded because we are on a tight deadline to have the new playground equipment installed, and we need to site prep,” said councillor Ralph Carey.

Carey moved that council accept Harbour Construction’s quote of $15,956 (HST included) for site work and equipment installation. Councillor Jacob Hayden seconded the motion.

“We need to get this done to have our playground equipment installed,” said Carey. “It’s been sitting in storage for, I don’t know how many months, but too many months.”

Council had issued the tender for Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) funded site work at the playground/ballfield during a special public meeting of June 1.

ACOA announced the $120,000 in funding in February.

The money, said ACOA, is to be used to “enhance outdoor space to improve accessibility and safety and increase recreational opportunities for residents and visitors.” As part of the funding, upgrades include new playground equipment, ballfield renovations and enhancements of the trail system.

During that same public council meeting, which lasted just under six minutes in total, council approved two Crown land applications for Dean’s Road and a commercial development application for a new childcare centre at 294 Southern Shore Highway.

Witless Bay called yet another special meeting for June 28, with one of the items up for discussion being the awarding of the ballfield tender.

The Irish Loop Post reached out to two members of town staff, as well as Mayor Trevor Croft, and Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard for details of the decision Tuesday night, and tried the Town Hall again on Wednesday morning, but received no response by deadline.