By Mark Squibb/February 24, 2022
Bay Bulls council has narrowly voted down the idea of expanding its size to seven seats, which is the normal size of councils in the province.
The motion was actually to make a request to the Minister of Municipal Affairs to approve the expansion. That’s because the previous council had obtained special permission from the minister to reduce the size of council to five seats after several years of trying in vain to fill two openings in the chamber. During last fall’s election, more than enough candidates to fill seven seats came forward, but only five people were elected because of the reduction that had been made.
Councillor Shannon O’ Driscoll put forward the motion to go back to seven seats. Councillor Keith O’ Driscoll seconded it.
“Residents have been asking us to increase our seats, and sometimes we have conflict of interests, so I just think it’s a good idea to increase our seats,” said Shannon O’Driscoll.
Councillor Keith O’Driscoll agreed, adding that council does come up against conflict of interests quite frequently, and adding two seats might alleviate that problem.
Mayor Neil O’Brien, Deputy Mayor Jason O’Brien, and councilor Jason Sullivan voted against the motion, defeating it.
There was no further discussion.
In an interview afterwards, Mayor Brien said the biggest factor in his decision to vote against the motion was a financial one.
“By-elections cost money,” said O’Brien. “So, unless we’re having a general election, why now change it to seven and cost the taxpayers of Bay Bulls just for an extra two seats? Because the last council decided to change it. I just don’t see the rationale in spending the money for it. It’s not like things are not moving. Things are moving quite favorably in the town, with decisions and voting, so I just don’t see the need to spend the money on a by-election.”
When the previous council announced it was getting permission to go to five seats, O’Brien, who was then a resident and not a councillor, criticized the move.
“If the town is growing and we’re adding town staff positions such as town managers and (a) Director of Public Works, then why are we reducing council seats?” he asked in a social media post.
When asked about that post, O’Brien said the difference is that the town is not growing now.
“What would suggest that the town is growing?” he asked “How many business applications and home (building permits) have you seen since we’ve been elected? Very, very few to none.”
The mayor argued that choosing to reduce a compliment of seven to five and choosing to not increase a compliment of five to seven are very different things.
“I just don’t see the need to spend taxpayers money to increase it if it’s working,” he said. “If it wasn’t working, I would probably be on a different side of the fence. But right now, it’s working. I know that there’s probably a few that want it, but anyway, so be it, they can have it if they want, but I’m not voting in favor to increase it.”
As to the split between council on the issue, O’Brien said that’s to be expected sometimes.
“You’re going to have a split on council about issues, that’s what makes it a council,” said O’Brien. “If we all agreed we would never make progress. Right now, they feel there is a need for it, and we feel that there isn’t. So, right now the council seat stands at five, three makes the majority, and three made the majority vote the other night. That’s politics, that’s not changed.”
Whether the Town would have had to call a by-election to fill two more seats, or simply take the sixth and seventh runners from the field of 10 who ran in September, is unclear. Mayor O’Brien admitted he didn’t know the answer, pointing out it would be up to Municipal Affairs.
The sixth and seventh runners in the election were former Mayor Harold Mullowney and former councillor Joan Luby. Mullowney, who served on council for more than 30 years, missed getting re-elected by 21 votes.
When approached last week, he couldn’t say whether the decision to keep a compliment of five is right or wrong.
“It might be the appropriate thing to do, because getting a full compliment of seven is a challenge,” said Mullowney. “The more you have, the easier it is to have quorum, obviously. But I know myself when I was there went to the people four or five times trying to get two councillors, and it just couldn’t be done. And I think you would see the same situation in many towns.”
Mullowney experienced firsthand the difficulty that can arise with only five seats around the table.
“The challenge when you only have five, is that there are going to be many situations where you’re going to have to excuse yourself because of a conflict, and then that necessitates going to the government to get ministerial approval to make decisions on things,” he said. “The last council, that happened a number of times.”
As to whether he would have run again had a by-election been called last week, Mullowney didn’t have to think too hard about his answer.
“I’m sure there’s other good people out there,” said Mullowney. “I did 31 years. I think that’s pretty well a record in many areas of the province. I was there as long as the people needed me, and I enjoyed my time there, but I don’t regret not being there.”
