Sackville council squeaks by first step towards lifting skateboard ban
In a tight 4-3 vote, Sackville town council approved first reading of an amended streets bylaw that would lift the ban on getting around town on a skateboard.
Four councillors voted in favour: Allison Butcher, Andrew Black, Bill Evans and Sabine Dietz. And three councillors voted against: Ken Hicks, Michael Tower, and Matt Estabrooks.
Bruce Phinney was absent for yesterday’s meeting, and had been expected to vote against, since he also opposed a motion in April to pursue changes to the bylaw. Phinney’s absence on Monday prevented a draw, which would have meant a tie-breaking vote from Mayor Shawn Mesheau.
That tie-breaking vote might still be needed next month, as the revised bylaw comes back to council for second and possibly third reading in September.
BALANCING RISKS AND BENEFITS
Councillor Bill Evans spoke about balancing the safety and liability risk associated with having skateboards on streets with other considerations, like freedom and fairness.
“We need to be prudent about telling others what they can or cannot do,” said Evans. “There’s a big difference between regulation for the public good, and regulating people for their own good.”
“As Councillor Hicks said at our last meeting, the most dangerous thing most of us do is drive a motor vehicle. But we don’t usually ban things that people want to do because they’re risky, we usually regulate them to manage the risk,” said Evans.… Continue
Sackville council agenda preview: skateboards, natural assets, lobbying the provincial government
Sackville town council meets Monday night for their regular monthly council meeting. Council will start off in camera at 6:15pm to discuss a human resources item, and then at 7pm, the public meeting is scheduled to begin.
Beyond the usual departmental reports, councillors will be asked to consider a number of motions, including:
- A renewed 2-year contract with Mary-Ann Oster to manage the canteen at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre.
- The re-appointment of Kellie Mattatall to the Sackville Arts Wall committee.
- The go-ahead on completion of a natural assets inventory for Sackville.
- The temporary closure of York Street through the Mount Allison Campus on September 3rd to accommodate traffic to and from the school’s Welcome Centre.
- The waiving of fees for family and lunchtime skates for the 2021-22 ice season.
- And four motions in advance of the Annual General Meeting of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick. The motions direct the UMNB to lobby the province for a ban on recyclable materials at landfills, for the use of carbon taxes to further the province’s climate action plan, and for changes to the NB Elections Act to allow permanent residents to vote municipally, and to use Indigenous languages on municipal and provincial ballots.
Another possibly contentious item up for a vote will be the first reading of amendments to the town’s Street Traffic By-law that would permit skateboards on public streets.
Three councillors (Hicks, Estabrooks and Tower) have spoken against the by-law revisions, and three (Evans, Black, and Butcher) have spoken in favour.… Continue