Witless Bay council requests loan for regional fire department

By Mark Squibb/December 2, 2022

The Town of Witless Bay is one step closer to starting work on a new regional fire hall.

Council last week requested approval from the Minister of Municipal Affairs to borrow $279,322 at a rate of 4.75 per cent to cover the HST cost of the new station.

“This is a requirement from the Province,” explained councillor Ralph Carey, who put forward the motion. “So, what we’re doing is taking out a one-year loan to pay the HST.”

Council will be requesting the loan from the Community Credit Union in Witless Bay.

Talk of the new regional station began in 2020 during preparation of the 2021 budget. In Budget 2021, council committed close to a million dollars over the next 10 years for the building of a new regional fire hall.

A funding application was submitted by the Town in 2021, was approved by the provincial government and submitted back to the newly elected council for approval this past summer.

That funding agreement would see the Town pay roughly $815,640 for a new $3 million building.

The new council at first deferred accepting the funding deal so it could consider the financial implications but eventually entered into an agreement with the Province.

Currently, the fire hall in located in a section of the town’s municipal building.

Witless Bay finds money for arena, but BBBAA support still up in the air

By Mark Squibb/December 2, 2022

The Town of Witless Bay has granted the Ken Williams Arena an annual stabilization payment, but its funding agreement with the Bay Bulls-Bauline Athletic Association (BBBAA) remains up in the air.

During last week’s public meeting, council agreed to contribute $10,000 to the arena next year, the same amount given in years past.

“We do support the arena,” said councillor Ralph Carey “A lot of people in the area, and in town, spend a lot of time there —kids, adults — and we look forward to working with that group to help with recreation in the area.”

A funding agreement with the BBBAA, however, is still in the negotiation phase.

“In order to set our budget, we would like to complete these negotiations by the 9th of December,” said councillor Nancy Burke, council’s BBBAA representative.

That funding agreement — if there is one — may look different than those of past years.

For nearly a decade, the Town has provided the BBBAA with an annual operating grant of $37,000, the same amount paid by the Town of Bay Bulls. In 2021, both towns provided a boost of $13,000 each on top of that to help the organization deal with increased costs due to the pandemic.

Earlier this year, the BBBAA requested an additional $13,000 in funds from both Bay Bulls and Witless Bay again. This would result in this year’s funding matching the 2021 funding of $50,000 from each town.

Bay Bulls agreed to boost its contribution, but Witless Bay council denied the increase, with councillor Alex Troake leading the charge against the motion to provide extra support, offering several criticisms of the BBBAA, complaining the group has high program fees, didn’t fundraise enough during the Covid period, didn’t provide proper documentation, and has rising internal expenses.

Troake indicated that renewing the MOU would be up for discussion once the current agreement expired, which is the stage council is at now.

At the time, councillor Burke and BBBAA chairman Scott Penny fought back against Troake’s claims. But when it came down to the vote, councillors Gerard Dunne, Alex Troake, Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard, and Mayor Trevor Croft joined Troake in voting down a funding increase. Council now has until the end of the year to factor in any funding for the BBBAA in its 2023 budget.

Bay Bulls commits to finishing trail upgrade

By Mark Squibb/November 25, 2022

The Town of Bay Bulls is requesting provincial government funding to complete upgrades to the Long Pond Walking Trail.

During the November 17 public meeting, council voted to ratify an e-mail vote of October 27 to request Municipal Capital Works funding to finish the remaining 1.5 kilometres of the trail.

The cost is estimated at $464,388, plus tax. If the funding is approved, the provincial government would cover 60 percent of it. Any costs above and beyond the quoted price will be the sole responsibility of the Town.

All five members of council were in favour of approving the application.

Should the funding request not be approved however, council has a backup plan.

“We have also recently received approval that, in the event that we are not successful with this funding, that we can use Gas Tax funds to complete a section of the remaining portion of the this trail,” said Town CAO Jennifer Aspell.

The work has been a long time in the making.

Work on the trail’s design, which will include both compacted granular sections and boardwalk, began in 2020. The design for Phase II was approved by the former council back in February 2021.

Provincial Municipal Capital Works funding to the tune of $475,444 (less HST), was approved for Phase I of the project.

New Padre at HMCS Cabot has Irish Loop background

By Tim Woodworth

for The Irish Loop Post

His Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Cabot has a fresh face in its company as Padre Stephen John Courtney has joined the Naval Reserve. A local area resident, Padre Courtney has been eager to join Cabot since August of 2021. With family roots on the Southern Shore of the Avalon Peninsula, Padre Courtney was raised in Mount Pearl and graduated from O’Donel High School. Cadets became an interest of his at this time and he was very involved with HMCS Northern Ranger and HMCS Marconi.

 Working on the open sea has also been a long time endeavour of Padre Courtney who has been a fisherperson in the Crab fishery for most of his life. It was in the year two thousand that the Padre entered St. Augustine’s Seminary and was ordained for the Archdiocese of St. John’s a few years later.

Primarily having served in the rural parts of the Archdiocese, such as St. Mary’s Bay where he served as chaplain and padre to Royal Canadian Legion Branch 62 in addition to his parish responsibilities.

 “My love of the water and my love of ministry have led me to HMCS Cabot where I will attempt to combine the two.” Said Padre Courtney. “Ever since Cdr. Carew invited me to consider being a Padre in the military, I have pondered what it would be like to serve in this capacity. I am both excited and humbled to serve our country in this way and to serve the members of the Cabot military family.  I have always had deep respect for the military and those who serve.” 

 Enrollments have remained steady at Cabot, with two new recruits swearing their oaths of allegiance on the same day that Queen Elizabeth II passed. Padre Courtney is the first person at Cabot to swear allegiance to King Charles III, a marked change from the enrollment ceremony that we all have become so familiar with over the illustrious span of Her Majesties’ reign. Cabot’s Commanding Officer, Commander Paul Carew is also a Southern Shore resident and encouraged Padre Courtney to join the Naval Reserve.  He recognized the Padre’s youthful spirited enthusiasm and wanted to provide that to the Cabot military family and their loved ones.

 “I met Father Courtney for the first time at the Basilica in July 2021 and during the course of a social conversation discovered his passion for the Sea and the Navy.” Said Commander Carew. “Sharing my personal love of the Sea, fishing, the Navy and recruiting could not be contained and in short order I had the good Father Steve submitting an application to join Cabot. After a few small challenges over 15 months, I had the pleasure of enrolling Lieutenant Navy “Padre” Steve Courtney as the first enrollee at Cabot to pledge allegiance to “His” Majesty King Charles III on 29 Oct 2022.”  Padre Courtney was the first Cabot in over 70 years to enroll under a King. At that time in 1952 Cabot was in its infancy at only two years old.

 Within hours of swearing in Padre Courtney was given a chance to try out his sea-legs in a Rigid Hulled Inflatable Boat (RHIB). He sailed out through the Narrows and felt the fresh spray of the North Atlantic. His connection with the people of Newfoundland and Labrador will undoubtedly remain strong as he starts his new ministry at Cabot.

Witless Bay council plays catch up

Witless Bay council managed to approve a number of motions last week that had been on the backburner due to a lack of quorum in previous meetings.

First up was a motion to approve a Crown Land application along the Southern Shore Highway that council had lost quorum on during an October 11 meeting when councillor Gerard Dunne declared a conflict due to family reasons, and Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard declared a conflict because her brother worked for the applicant.

Council approved the application.

Council then approved more motions that had first been presented during an October 28 special meeting. They had to be postponed at that time due to Dunne and Yard again being in a conflict of interest and two other councillors – Jacob Hayden and Nancy Burke – being absent.

This time, event with Dunn and Yard again having to step out and with councillor Alex Troake absent, council had enough for a quorum.

The first motion was for repairs to the driveway entrance to the municipal garage and fire hall.

That motion was approved, with no discussion or detail as to the cost or scope of the work.

Next council awarded a tender for pothole repairs, road repairs, ditching and other work to O’Brien’s Trucking in the amount of $13,998.

Council next voted to go to tender for concrete pads for the ballfield bleachers.

The final motion was a festive one.

“I would like to make a motion that we install a wire for the Christmas tree on Upper Pond, said councillor Ralph Carey. “We want to use the area as often as we can, and get as much light as we can, so, it makes sense for us, instead of running nine or 10 extension cords, we’re going to do it with perhaps just one.”

That motion was also approved.

Witless Bay pumper requires costly repair

Witless Bay council, during a special meeting on October 28, voted to undertake repairs to one of the town’s fire trucks.

The 2021 tanker and 2006 pumper were both tested and serviced in early October, and while the tanker passed without issue, several problems were discovered with the pumper’s pumping apparatus, including pressure leaks on all discharges, shavings in the gear box, and inaccurate pressure display gauges.

The pumper is still operational, but is only being used in emergency situations. If the pump was to fail entirely, the department would have to use either portable pumps, or call in the St. John’s Regional Fire Department.

Estimated costs for repairs are between $25,000 and $30,000, and are expected to be completed in early 2023.

Other than the pumping apparatus, the truck is in good working order.

Also on the agenda was a motion to repair a large pothole outside the municipal garage, which could potentially damage the fire trucks as they come and go from the station. That motion was deferred due to a lack of quorum. Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard and councillor Gerard Dunne had declared a conflict due to work connections with one of the potential bidders, and as councillor Nancy Burke and councillor Jaycob Hayden were not in attendance, only three councillors remained to vote on the matter. The item has since been added to the November public meeting agenda.
Council also gave the green light for the fire department to send some pieces of equipment no longer being used, inclduing a ladder, hose nozzles, an old portable pump, oxygen bags, and an old ‘jaws of life’ to auction as per the public procurement act.

Three times is not a charm for fired Witless Bay manager

By Mark Squibb/November 18, 2022

The Town of Witless Bay has fired town manager Shawn Kavanagh not once, not twice, but three times in as many weeks, but the Calvert lawyer says he doesn’t believe he’s actually been dismissed, claiming council did not meet the proper provincial requirements laid out for firing town managers.

The latest firing happened Friday night, November 11 on the Remembrance Day holiday, making Witless Bay council perhaps the only municipality in Canada to ever hold a council meeting at that hour or day. On close to last minute notice, council cancelled a scheduled meeting the day before and moved it to 7 p.m. Friday night.

The latest Kavanagh firing began with councillor Ralph Carey making a motion to rescind his motion of October 25 which had been to dismiss Kavanagh, without cause, as of June 9 this past summer, with pay in lieu of a notice. At that time, Mayor Trevor Croft, Deputy Mayor Lorna Yard, and councillor Gerard Dunne voted to approve Carey’s motion. Councillor Nancy Burke, who had just returned from a long leave of absence, voted against the motion, saying there was no written record for her to review. Councillors Jacob Hayden and Alex Troake were absent.

“Just holding that motion was contrary to legislation,” said Kavanagh. “Council, by voting on that motion, was acting outside of the Municipalities Act. Councillor Carey, who I believe raised the motion, and proposed it, referenced Section 68 of the Municipalities Act, and Section 68 of the Municipalities Act quite clearly states, and I’m reading verbatim, ‘A meeting of councillors may not hold a vote on a motion to dismiss under subsection (b) unless a copy of the notice addressed to the person who is the subject of the motion is served on him or her personally.’ I got nothing about that motion, like I was supposed to. I found out the day before the meeting. Someone messaged me and told me they were going to fire me. So, that motion in October should not have even been legally held. And then they went ahead with the vote, and the motion failed, because they didn’t get the required number of votes. Section 68. (1) says that a town manager may be dismissed by a vote of 2/3 of the councillors in office. And in October, they did not get 2/3 of the councillors in office to support the motion.”

Nevertheless, the motion passed.

During the November 11 meeting, Carey rescinded his previous motion, and put forward a new motion that was identical in all ways but one. This time the termination date was cited as effective July 12, and not June 9.

There was no mention of why the former motion was being rescinded and voted on again.

Council passed the new motion 5-1, with Burke again voting nay, and Troake being absent.

Then Carey reviewed the matter and realized the error regarding the date.

With that, he moved to rescind the motion approved just a few moments earlier, and council voted for the third time to fire Kavanagh. Burke once again voted against it.

Acting Town Manager Geraldine Caul later explained to council she had made a mistake and put the wrong date on the original motion to terminate Kavanagh.

But Kavanagh says there was more wrong than that.

“As far as the second meeting, that meeting was also against the law, because, once again I was not provided any notice that the motion was going to be spoken about,” said Kavanagh. “So, at that time, I wrote to the Acting Town Manger, making my objections known, and asking that those objections be forwarded to council. And I asked for a confirmation that this would be raised with council, and I haven’t received anything back, I haven’t heard anything back. After the meeting Friday night, I e-mailed Geraldine again and asked for an update. So far, I’ve gotten nothing. It’s getting to the point now where I’m not even sure what’s going on. That’s two months in a row councillors have unlawfully raised my contract termination at a meeting. So, how many more times is it going to happen?”

He said the last correspondence from the office was in September, when Town staff told him the process was still unfolding and that he would hear more eventually.

“But nobody’s told me anything,” said Kavanagh. “I haven’t even been told yet why I’ve been let go.”

He said that he still does not know whether council has been made aware of his concerns.

“I haven’t received that confirmation, so I’m not aware if council is fully apprised of what they’re voting on, and whether the people voting on the motion are aware that the motion shouldn’t even have been brought forward,” said Kavanagh.

“According to the Town’s website, I’m still an employee,” he joked. “And the legislation is quite clear. Until they follow Section 68, which is not a difficult piece of legislation, it’s only a couple of lines, but unless they follow Section 68, I’m still employed by the Town of Witless Bay.”

Kavanagh said he has reached out to Municipal Affairs, which deemed the matter an HR issue, but did reiterate the two-thirds’ vote rule.

The Town hired Kavanagh in February 2021, after Kevin Kelley, whom the town had hired in September 2020, resigned a month later. There had also been changes in the position before that.

“March was the deadline week for paying taxes, so here I was, my fist week on the job, with a severely understaffed office,” said Kavanagh. “The month of March was extremely busy, between people calling in payments for taxes, and people wanting explanations for their tax bills, and coming in to pay their taxes… It was hectic, and that’s just the day-to-day stuff. And the bigger stuff, like all these capital works projects that are planned, that all gets taken care of when the other stuff gets taken care of. And that doesn’t even cover the meetings, which I wasn’t getting paid for… So, I was putting in longer hours as a town manager than I was ever putting in as a lawyer.”

Mayor Trevor Croft, when asked if he had a moment to discuss Kavanagh’s concerns, delegated the question to Caul, as he was on the west coast.

Nobody at the Town Hall answered the phone when The Irish Loop Post called this week, but in response to an e-mail Caul replied, “The Town Office does not discuss matters pertaining to Human Resources.”

Ferryland RCMP investigates theft from the Rental Hutch in Mobile

Ferryland RCMP is investigating a theft that occurred at the Rental Hutch in Mobile on Wednesday, September 7, 2022.  

Police received a report of a middle-aged, Caucasian man in a black jacket captured on video stealing a large amount of merchandise. The man is approximately 5 foot 10, with a lean build, greying moustache and goatee. The stolen merchandise is estimated to be valued at over $700.00. 

The man exited the store without paying for the merchandise and departed in a blue, mid-sized Suzuki SUV with a roof rack. Surveillance also captured a woman wearing a white jacket and sunglasses in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.  

Anyone with information on this theft or the identity of the persons involved is asked to contact Ferryland RCMP at 709-432-2440 or, to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers: #SayItHere 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit www.nlcrimestoppers.com or use the P3Tips app.