Council roundup: budget 2024 approved, air filter project turned down, and councillor censured
Budget passes, shared services calculations to be reviewed
Tantramar council passed a number of budget resolutions this week, setting capital and operating budget spending as well as tax rates for the municipality.
2024 tax rates for Tantramar, per $1000 of assessed property value
- Former town of Sackville: 1.5389 (down 0.0095 from last year)
- Former village of Dorchester: 1.5415 (down 0.0225 from last year)
- Former Sackville LSD: 0.5625 (0.974 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)
- Former Point de Bute LSD: 0.7637 (1.1752 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)
- Former Dorchester LSD: 0.6411 (1.0526 w/ provincial portion, up 0.05 from last year)
The slew of motions also included one that commits council to reviewing how it divvies up the fiscal responsibility for some of the services that are deemed ‘shared’. As treasurer Michael Beal explained to council, when the cost of running the municipality is allocated to the different areas, the share covered by former Local Service Districts (LSDs) is calculated at 90 percent, a decision made by the provincial consultant who was hired to create Tantramar’s first budget.
“The shared service model says that as you go further from the central core services, the local service districts should pay less for some of those shared services. The 90% was chosen by the province, and we don’t know why that was chosen,” said Beal.… Continue
Sackville mayor Shawn Mesheau looks back on an ‘interesting’ year, and looks forward to some R&R
Sackville Mayor Shawn Mesheau started off in local politics as a town councillor in the mid 90’s, and served off and on until elected mayor in May 2021. Just six months into his tenure, the province announced the amalgamation of Sackville and surrounding communities, and another round of elections in late 2022. Mesheau ran for mayor of Tantramar in those municipal elections, and came second of three candidates, garnering 922 votes, or about 36% of ballots cast.
CHMA called up Mesheau in mid-December to reflect on his time in office, and the tumultuous year in local politics:
… Continue
Tantramar council to be sworn in at Dorchester community centre; and last meeting for Sackville council next week
The swearing in ceremony for the new town of Tantramar council is slated for Tuesday, December 20, at 630pm at the Veterans Community Centre in Dorchester.
Newly elected members of the council shared the news on social media, and new Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne confirmed the location. Borne says that details of the swearing-in ceremony will be posted on both the Dorchester and Sackville websites when available.
Borne also said that the first regular Tantramar council meeting in January would take place at Sackville Town Hall, as the “required technology is already in place.”
Borne said that once the new municipal council assumes office in January, they will decide on a plan regarding meeting locations, “to ensure civic inclusion for all of Tantramar.”
Borne was unable to provide updates regarding the senior management positions and structure of the new municipality, or the budget for 2023. Provincially appointed transition facilitator Chad Peters is responsible for writing Tantramar’s first budget, and for appointing officers such as Clerk and Treasurer for the new municipality.
Borne said that “over the coming weeks, an organizational structure will be communicated to both staff and the general public.”
Sackville council final meeting next week
The town of Sackville council will have its final meeting on Wednesday December 14 at 4:30pm.
The council will approve payroll for the month of November, and also be asked to approve a transfer into the town’s reserve funds.… Continue
Gifted harpsichord makes its Mount Allison debut at the Sackville Festival of Early Music this weekend
Typically, every year when the Sackville Festival of Early Music rolls around, co-director Shawn Bostick drives to Halifax to pick up a harpsichord, hauling it back to Sackville for the festival, which specializes in music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. But this year, that won’t be necessary.
Thanks to a gift from a longstanding patron of the festival, the Mount Allison music department now boasts its own harpsichord.
Joanna Manning has been coming to the Sackville Festival of Early Music for years, and last year she approached artistic director Linda Pearse to see if there was a concrete way she could support the festival, in thanks for all the concerts she had enjoyed with her late husband, Gary.
After some discussion, the two arrived at the idea of donating a harpsichord, and homing it with the Mount Allison Music Department, where Pearse is assistant professor. “Given our mutual dedication to teaching,” says Pearse, “it seems like the music department would be the best place to receive the harpsichord because they can take care of it, they have students who will benefit from playing it, and we have people coming through town and even faculty on staff who can also play it.”
New aboiteau needed for Lorne Street phase III
The final phase of the Lorne Street Floodwater Mitigation project may be approved for funding, but there’s one more hurdle to clear before the project will move forward as planned: the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) needs to agree to build a new, bigger aboiteau to drain into the Tantramar River.
When, how and if they will could be decided in a meeting slated for next week.
Englobe (formerly Crandall Engineering) engineer Pierre Plourde came to town hall Tuesday night to update councillors on the state of the project, and stress the importance of gaining the cooperation of DTI. The current aboiteau draining into the Tantramar is undersized, said Plourde, and that’s been known for many years, throughout the life of the stormwater project.
“It was built in the 1900s, so it’s too small to be able to take the water between the tide cycles and evacuate the water,” said Plourde. “So that aboiteau is in need of a major upgrade.”
Plourde says that in previous phases of the project, DTI has been receptive to the idea of replacing the aboiteau, but the lack of funding meant further progress was delayed. Now that just over $4 million in federal and provincial funding (plus just under $1.5 million from the town of Sackville) has been approved, it’s become much more important to know what DTI is planning.… Continue
Sackville to replace another community police officer without reviewing position
Sackville’s community policing officer has left her job after one and a half years.
Lise Babineau started as Community Program Officer (CPO) at the height of the pandemic, in October 2020. According to her monthly reports to council, the CPO visited schools and delivered a substance abuse prevention program called Botvin Lifeskills Training. Though various councillors had requested that Babineau come talk about her work at council, she never appeared in a public meeting.
In presenting a public safety report to council in April, Councillor Andrew Black said that RCMP Sergeant Paul Gagne called Babineau “highly competent and committed” and said that she would be “sorely missed by the department and the town.”
Babineau’s position is not included in the RCMP union contract, but is negotiated as an additional position under the town’s Municipal Police Services Agreement (MPSA). The town of Sackville budgets $90,000 for the position, plus $3,250 for project expenses.
At April’s meeting, Councillor Sabine Dietz asked CAO Jamie Burke about whether or not the town intended to replace the departing CPO. Burke responded yes, and explained that the RCMP had already reached out to him to confirm the hiring process that would be used.
“It hasn’t been that long since we hired Lise [Babineau], so they wanted to confirm that we would use the same process as last time,” said Burke. During the last hiring process, recreation director Matt Pryde sat in to represent the town, and Burke said the intention would be to do that again.… Continue
One month after fire, the search for Shadow continues
A dog who ran off during a house fire last month in Sackville is still missing, and his owner continues to search for him.
Shadow is a three-year-old Siberian Husky, and had been boarding with Kathy Hopkins and her son Joey Brent on King Street in Sackville when a fire destroyed their home. Shadow was spared in the fire, but ran off and has not been seen since. Shadow’s owner Matt Mills is continuing the search, with some help from Hopkins’ niece, Wendy Price.
“He doesn’t really know many people around this area,” says Price, who has been helping by putting up posters and spreading the word. “There’s posters everywhere,” says Price, “and I reached out to the the ATV trail sites. It’s just really strange [that there’s been no sightings of the dog].”
Mills remains active in the search. He’s set up a camera and live trap at the site of the house, and has spent a considerable amount of time looking for Shadow. Price says he’s been coming from his Moncton home after his workday to search, “and he spent a whole couple of weekends just parked in the driveway sleeping in the car.”
Price says Shadow is friendly, with a gray and white coat and blue eyes, and an extra toe on one of his back paws. … Continue
“We’re all in this together now”: Dorchester mayor on proposed amalgamation
Dorchester mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell is not all that worried about loss of identity for her community of Dorchester in the wake of proposed amalgamation with neighbouring Sackville, Point de Bute and surrounding areas. But she does have other concerns, mostly about unknowns in the process that is slated to begin in the new year, after local government minister Daniel Allain gets his proposed plan through the provincial legislature.
Wiggins-Colwell says she was expecting big changes from the local governance reform plan, but the merger of Sackville and Dorchester surprised her. “We thought maybe some local service district would be included, but then all of a sudden here we are—Dorchester, Sackville and Point de Bute. We’re all in this together now.”
Dorchester village council met on Tuesday night to discuss the alamagamation announcement, and concerns were expressed about community identity and the future of the local fire department. “Until we get our transition team in at the first of the year, we don’t know how this is going to look,” says Wiggins-Colwell.
Newly elected in May of this year, Wiggins-Colwell’s mayoral term will be cut short by the amalgamation, along with the rest of Dorchester and Sackville councils. She says she is interested in running again to represent Dorchester. “I will certainly seek a seat on the new council, however it will work,” says Wiggins-Colwell. She is expecting some sort of ward system to be incorporated into the new council, to replace the at-large representatives now in place in Dorchester and Sackville.… Continue