By Craig Westcott
November 24, 2023 Edition
Bay Bulls council appears to be conducting an increasing amount of business outside the council chamber and via e-mail with ratification of its decisions at public meetings afterwards.
At the regular public meeting held last Wednesday, councillors ratified four motions they had previously approved privately via e-mail.
The first was for a change order involving site preparation work on the new outdoor rink.
Deputy Mayor Jason O'Brien made the motion to ratify an e-mail vote held on October 18 that approved an additional $7,875 plus HST to be spent on the project.
O'Brien's motion was seconded by councillor Jason Sullivan and passed unanimously.
The second ratification, for an e-mail vote held October 26, authorized staff to make a limited call to engineering companies to bid on providing prime consulting services for phase two of the Long Pond Trail.
The third e-mail vote that had to be ratified concerned replacement of the Town Hall's water filtration system. Deputy Mayor O'Brien declared a conflict. The e-mail vote had accepted the lowest compliant bid on the work, which came from Great Island Water. The company was hired to replace and upgrade the water filtration system at the Town Hall at a cost of $2,485 plus HST.
The fourth e-mail vote that had to be ratified publicly to make it legal concerned the appointment of new councillor Ethan Williams as the Town's representative on the board of the Bay Bulls Regional Lifestyle Centre.
In other council news:
Four development applications were approved for construction. Two were for new residential properties at 69-71 Solomon Close, and 130 Island Cove Road. The approvals are subject to the Provincial Department of Digital Services and Service NL also giving approval for the well and septic disposal systems for the homes. The third application was for a residential accessory building at 12-14 Solomon Close.
The fourth application was for a Crown Land application on Winnonish Drive. It involves 1.03 hectares of land to be used as a distribution line by Newfoundland Power.
Council also agreed to move forward on a Municipal Plan Review for lands situated at 213 - 215 Southern Shore Highway, 213 to 295 Southern Shore Highway, 295A Southern Shore Highway, and 297 and 299 Southern Shore Highway. The application is to change the zoning from Rural to Mixed Development. The motion to seek the review was made by councillor Williams and seconded by councillor Sullivan.
"It's good to see more proposed development of land for the town," said Deputy Mayor O'Brien.
The Town itself is applying to the Provincial Crown Lands Division to obtain a grant for land located behind the soccer field on Cemetery Lane West. The land will be used to make an extension to the recreational grounds.
On a related note, Martin Land Services has won the contract to provide surveying services to allow a Municipal Plan Amendment at Station Road Park and for the proposed extension to the recreational grounds. The company will be paid $3,700 plus HST. Councillor Sullivan declared a conflict of interest on the vote because he owns land in the area.
Meanwhile, council has walked away from awarding a contract to supply and install a handrail at the recreational grounds because it received only one bid to do the work and the amount was deemed too high.
Councillor Sullivan made the motion to defer it for now. He suggested the Town contact more companies to make sure it is getting the best pricing.
"Hopefully we're going to reach out to some other companies that does fabrication to get a feel for the prices," said Deputy Mayor O'Brien.
"I think that (sole bid) seems steep, but we'll see," said Sullivan.
Neither the bidder’s name nor the bid amount was disclosed during the discussion. Sullivan's motion passed unanimously.
And finally, council has rejected an application from a business seeking to get a remission on its taxes. It wasn't clear from the wording of the motion if the owner was looking for cancellation of all the taxes, or part of the amount.
Deputy Mayor O' Brien moved to deny the request but added the Town can look at a modified relief plan on interest charges for 2024. The motion was seconded by councillor Williams and passed unanimously.
"I just think this is a bit of a big ask for a business," said O'Brien. "I know a lot of people are probably having troubles, but there are probably many businesses in similar situations. I think this one is too much to ask of us at this time. We'll help where we can with interest relief, I think, but that's probably the best we can offer at this time."
