By Craig Westcott / September 15, 2023
Witless Bay council will make a second attempt to fill a vacancy in the chamber, this time following the rules set out in the Municipalities Act.
Council voted Tuesday to hold nominations for the vacant seat on October 5 with the by-election, if enough candidates come forward to make it a contest, scheduled for Wednesday, November 1.
The previous call for nominations this past August, in which Alan Richards, the husband of Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard, was acclaimed to council, didn't meet the 10-day notice period for nominations, nor did council properly advertise the nomination call. However, a spokesperson for the provincial Department of Municipal Affairs said the department would only intervene if someone complained. Richards remains on council and voted on the resolutions for the latest byelection call.
It was Yard who made the motion this time to schedule a nomination call with a proper notification period. Council also agreed to appoint Linda Carter as the Alternate Returning Officer for the by-election.
In other council news:
Council approved an application for a backlot development at 156 Harbour Road. The application was advertised for public comment and no objections were raised against it.
Council also approved a Crown Land application at an address it did not disclose at the public meeting. Councillor Jacob Hayden made the motion to approve the application, but with a reduced size from what the applicant was originally seeking. The motion was seconded by councillor Ralph Carey.
"We kind of just reviewed this application and because of the area that the application is entailing we had a meeting with the resident that was applying for the land, and we came to an agreement that we would modify the map in order to provide potential access to land that would be behind this area," said Hayden.
Council said no to a request from a seasonal business to change its tax status, but did agree to refund $1,284 of its taxes.
"If anytime the business operates beyond the six months of the year, the full amount of taxes owing for 2023 will be due," said Hayden. "This business is basically a winter only seasonal operation. The reason why we had to deny the request for business tax reclassification is basically because it's so far into the year we can't reclassify something that's before March 31, when our budget is finalized. We do understand that the resident is not making a lot of money off this operation and the amount of taxes we were going to take from them was substantial for the amount of money that they're taking in. So, we recognized that and that's why we brought in the remission of the taxes."
Council approved a motion from Yard to pre-approve invoices from Advantage Personnel. It was seconded by Richards.
"This is just to set up a proper payment plan with the temp agency who is currently providing us some staff assistance until the end of our bargaining year with our union coming up," said Yard. "So, we're looking at how we're going to staff the office, and how that's going to look. But for now, we just need some extra help to speak to the public, take tax payments and keep the office running."
A check with the Town Hall after the meeting however, clarified that the staffing arrangement with Advantage Personnel has nothing to do with the Town’s collective agreement with the union, which expires this year. Rather, a temporary worker has been retained from the company to fill in for a Town employee who is on leave.
Council also agreed to award a $21,390 plus HST contract to Pinnacle Solutions to upgrade the technology at the Town Hall and Fire Hall.
The motion was made by Richards and seconded by Yard.
"This is a sorely needed upgrade for us," said Richards. "We've been on antiquated technology that's just destined for the bin, essentially. This will give us some added security and will take some load off (chief administrative officer) Jennifer (Aspell) hopefully in searching for records."
That comment made Aspell chuckle.
"The important thing is that we will be able to back up everything that we're doing," said Aspell, "and centralize access through a server."
Richards noted he has worked with Pinnacle in the past "and they have a very good reputation."
Council has agreed to delegate authority to Town staff to issue routine permits for home renovations and to extend the closing period for permits when necessary.
"We're hoping to streamline for anybody who is coming in for a basic permit (so that) it doesn't have to go through a public meeting," said Carey. “We're only meeting once a month so we're trying to be helpful to the residents."
The Town has awarded a $4,441 + HST contract to GFL to clean out Witless Bay's catch basins.
"We have 32 catch basins in town, and they need to be cleaned out generally annually," said Hayden. "It's coming up now for storm season and it's a good idea to get those done now so that we don't end up with any flooding issues around town."
