Tantramar Council rejects move to send protest letter over Policy 713 changes
Tantramar councillor Mike Tower was hoping to send a message to Premier Blaine Higgs about his recent changes to the province’s education policy 713, which protects LGBTQ+ students in schools. The veteran councillor has a personal connection to the policy, because he has a non-binary grandchild.
But on Tuesday, the majority of Tower’s fellow councillors turned down his motion, citing a lack of jurisdiction and expertise on the issue.
Tower’s motion would have authorized the mayor to write a letter to the Premier asking him to “stop to proposed changes, maintain the original policy 713, and consult with school psychologists, teachers, parents and students.”
Three councillors voted in favour of the motion (Tower, and Councillors Josh Goguen and Allison Butcher), with the rest of council and the mayor voting against.
Mayor Andrew Black kicked off debate on the motion by telling council he felt the matter was out of their jurisdiction, comparing it to the controversial French Immersion program change proposed by the Higgs government last December. Tower rejected that position, comparing it instead to a health care issue.
“Much like the hospital, when they were trying to close it down, we had to step up because it’s the importance of the health of our Tantramar region,” said Tower. “If we can’t take that as part of our responsibility and mandate… then I think something’s wrong.”
Councillor Matt Estabrooks spoke in opposition to the motion, saying he did not feel that he or council had the expertise to weigh in on the matter, and that it would be better to wait until provincial Child and Youth Advocate Kelly Lamrock completed his review, which is due in mid August.… Continue
Meet the candidates: Michael Tower, running in Ward 3 (Central Sackville)
Michael Tower was born and raised in Sackville. He lived in Dorchester for seven years as he started to raise a family, before returning to his hometown. For nearly 50 years, he worked at the liquor store, seven of those years as a manager. He’s also a longtime member of Sackville town council, currently serving his fourth term
Listen to CHMA’s Meet The Candidates interview with Michael Tower, which took place at CHMA studios on November 9, 2022.
Tower is running for Ward 3, where residents will elect four councillors from a pool of nine candidates.
Along with Tower, those candidates include Allison Butcher, Alice Cotton, Josh Goguen, Virgil Hammock, Charles Harvey, Sana Mohamad, Saditya Pendurthi and Bruce Phinney. CHMA has interviewed all of them except for Charles Harvey, who declined an interview request, and Sana Mohamad, as we’re awaiting a response from that candidate.
CHMA is compiling all its election coverage in one place, for your convenience. For more candidate interviews and other local elections coverage, click here.
TRANSCRIPT. Interview with Michael Tower, November 9, 2022.
CHMA: So for those who might not already know you, tell us a bit about yourself.
Michael Tower: Well, I was born and raised in Sackville, and lived in Dorchester for seven years as I started raising my family and moved back to Sackville. But worked at the liquor store for 47 years, seven years as a manager.… Continue
Burke resigns, Beal pinch hits, and Sackville barely acknowledges the change
Sackville town council met this week for their first public meeting since approving the resignation of the town’s CAO, Jamie Burke. Councillor Sabine Dietz, the human resources liaison for council, acknowledged the resignation at the beginning of Tuesday’s meeting:
“Mr. Jamie Burke, CAO for the town of Sackville, gave his letter of resignation at a special meeting of council on Thursday, October 27, 2022. Council has accepted Mr. Burke’s resignation letter, and council has appointed Michael Beal as acting CAO, effective November 2, 2022 and ending on December 31, 2022.”
No further comments were offered by council members on the resignation of Burke, who has served as CAO since April 2020, and before that as the town’s manager of corporate projects for six years. The silence was in contrast to this spring, when the resignation of then town engineer Dwayne Acton garnered kind words from a number of councillors, the mayor, and then-CAO Jamie Burke.
As Dietz explained, Burke’s resignation was discussed at a special meeting of council at noon on October 27, with all of council but for Bruce Phinney and Ken Hicks in attendance, along with Jamie Burke and town clerk Donna Beal. The town’s bylaws require that the agenda for all special meetings is posted at least 48 hours in advance of a meeting “on the Town’s Webpage and through whatever other reasonable means to notify the public are available.”… Continue
Councillors discuss whether or not they intended to suspend Phinney’s health benefits
There was some disagreement at Sackville Town Council on Monday as to whether the suspension of the health benefits of a councillor who was found to be in violation of town council’s code of conduct was properly approved.
Local journalist Bruce Wark reported last week on Councillor Bruce Phinney’s surprise at discovering the suspension of his health plan while visiting a pharmacy to fill some prescriptions.
During question period on Monday, Wark asked council about the specifics of the motion to suspend Phinney’s pay, and why the motion read aloud on July 12 differed from the motion as printed in the approved minutes from the same meeting.
CAO Jamie Burke told Wark that the suspension of Phinney’s benefits, though not specifically mentioned, was implied in the phrasing of the motion that was read.
“The commonly understood legal definition of remuneration income moods includes benefits,” said Burke. “So what’s happened, I guess, is that we’ve got a little error in the minutes that were approved, although the meaning of the motion doesn’t change.”
Councillor Michael Tower read Phinney’s suspension motion on July 12, and on Monday said he would not have done so had he known that the councillor’s health benefits were included.
“The benefits were mentioned during our discussion, and I didn’t agree with that part of it,” said Tower.… Continue
Councillors express dismay at under-representation; ask for a single Sackville ward with reps at-large
On Thursday evening, Sackville’s municipal reform committee met for a third time, with a narrow mandate of providing input on whether Sackvillians would elect their future Entity 40 representatives at large, or in up to four separate wards.
But before they got to that question, councillors sounded off on a previous decision made by the province, to forego its own representation-by-population guidelines and allot just 50% of representatives to the former town of Sackville, which is home to 68% of the population of the new Entity 40.
Right off the bat, Councillor Allison Butcher asked Deputy Mayor Andrew Black if there was any chance of changing what she called “a skew as far as population goes?”
“No,” said Black. “That has been decided. That meeting that we had on the 15th, whatever decision was made at the end of that night with the advisory committee that was there, that decision was final.”
It’s become a theme of the municipal reform process so far: rushed decisions made in private meetings, with no substantive engagement with councils, much less the general public.
It was enough for Butcher to forego her usual attempts to put a positive spin on her comments: “At the risk of sounding really, really jaded, it probably doesn’t matter what I think should happen with the four councillors representing the 7000 people,” said Butcher, “because I’m starting to feel like it doesn’t matter what we think.”
Black told the committee that after a 1.5 hour meeting on February 15 with provincially appointed facilitator Chad Peters and the eight appointees to the provincial advisory committee, there was a consensus reached among all members, including himself and Mayor Shawn Mesheau.… Continue
CHMA Talks: Dietz and Tower talk 2022 budget and health care recruitment
Another edition of the monthly CHMA Talks councillors roundtable with Sabine Dietz and Michael Tower, talking about the 2022 budget, funding health care recruitment, and the potential for a future multipurpose building for Sackville. Listen in: