Tantramar Council

A woman sits at a table with papers, a computer, and a microphone in front of her.

Tantramar Council to allow for councillor statements starting tonight

July 9, 2024 by Erica Butler

Tantramar council is set to meet Tuesday night and the agenda will include a procedural change which will allow for “Mayor and Councillor Statements and Inquiries”. The change come two months after a councillor was told she could not speak at a public meeting without having been approved on the agenda in advance.

Tuesday’s agenda also includes a proposal to skip two council meetings this summer, something which CAO Jennifer Borne says is necessary so that staff can focus on the process to develop a new five year strategic plan.

Council will also consider approving a new loitering and soliciting bylaw, and a request from Beale and Inch Construction to rezone their non-conforming York Street property to Sackville’s industrial zone.

CHMA News outlines the entire busy agenda for tonight’s meeting.

A woman with light brown hair and glasses stands in front of a large window. She is standing in front of a u-shaped desk in municipal council chambers.

Municipality to contribute to medical scholarship aimed at recruiting doctors and nurse practitioners

June 27, 2024 by Erica Butler

In a special meeting Wednesday afternoon Tantramar council approved spending $5200 a year for the next four years on a scholarship aimed at future doctors and nurse practitioners, with the understanding that those who benefit from the scholarship will in turn commit to practicing in Tantramar.

According to Tantramar Community and Corporate Services director Kieran Miller, the scholarship was started by Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton who is contributing $2500 per year.

The scholarship is administered through the New Brunswick Medical Education Foundation, which hosts dozens of similar scholarships, all with “return to service” conditions that require scholarship recipients to practice for a period of time in specific jurisdictions.

A red building with four large white garage doors in front of a stand of trees.

Tantramar okays buying $900k fire truck, but now needs a bigger fire hall

June 14, 2024 by Erica Butler

On Tuesday, Tantramar council approved over $1 million in spending for projects in Dorchester, including the reconstruction of Station Road and a new pumper truck for Dorchester Fire.

But now the race is on to get a new fire hall built in Dorchester, one that can accommodate the new pumper truck, which will be too large to fit into the current Dorchester Fire Hall. Treasurer Michael Beal says the municipality should be on track to complete the new fire hall before the $900,000 pumper truck is delivered. “The key is we want to purchase our fire trucks to fight the fires that they need to fight,” said Beal in defense of the plan, “and not to fit inside of buildings.”

Both projects hit snags with budget limitations before they were approved, but because of cautious budgeting for 2024, the municipality has the money to cover them.

Eight people in winter coats are standing in front of a low rise grey building holding a green ribbon.

Tantramar switches gears in provincial environmental project funding

May 29, 2024 by Erica Butler

After three years of using the province’s Environmental Trust Fund to pay for a part time climate change coordinator to work with town staff, the municipality is moving in a new direction this year, and has obtained a grant of just over $24,000 to produce a wetlands-themed play for youth and tour the production to local schools.

At the end of Monday’s committee of the whole meeting, CHMA asked about the decision not to seek further funding for a part time climate change coordinator. Manager of Tourism and Business Development Ron Kelly Spurles explained that despite past success with the position, the funding was not meant to be permanent.

CAO Jennifer Borne says that although there has been a budget allocation for a full-time permanent climate change coordinator in the past two municipal budgets, that position is currently “under review.”

The front of a concrete and glass building with a sign reading "Sackville Town Hall"

Tantramar’s proposed confidentiality policy includes council members along with employees

May 29, 2024 by Erica Butler

Tantramar council is considering a new confidentiality policy that would add council members themselves to a list of people required to sign a Pledge of Confidentiality to protect “confidential, personal or health information” of the municipality, its residents, employees and clients.

Councillors are already required to adhere to confidentiality rules outlined in the Council Code of Conduct bylaw, but CAO Jennifer Borne says that adding councillors to the pledge policy will service as “an acknowledgement, by employees, by council, that would go on a personnel file, acknowledging that they’re familiar with the information and that they will adhere to it.”

CHMA News explains what elements are being considered under the new policy, who would be covered and why.

No enforcement until Sunday shopping bylaw snafu can be rectified, says CAO

May 17, 2024 by Erica Butler

Retail stores in Sackville will not have to worry about getting fined for opening this Sunday, according to Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne.

On Tuesday, Tantramar council approved the repeal of a 20-year-old bylaw that exempted Sackville businesses from the province’s Days of Rest Act, which limits who can be open on Sundays. The goal was to lift a restriction on hours of operation for Sundays, but resulted in leaving Sackville businesses at the mercy of the provincial act.

Jennifer Borne says that wasn’t intentional, and the town is now taking corrective action to rectify the situation.

Fire dispatching deal with Codiac police puts an end to decades long ‘handshake’ agreement

May 10, 2024 by Erica Butler

A “handshake” deal to have local fire dispatching services done by Sackville hospital administration staff is being replaced with a new agreement with the Codiac Regional Policing Authority, at an increased cost of over $50,000.

Tantramar council approved the agreement recommendation by municipal staff at an unscheduled special council meeting last week.

Tantramar treasurer Michael Beal told council the agreement is not perfect, but he doesn’t see a better option, considering the hospital’s request to end their dispatching duties by June 30.

New five-year strategic plan will ‘set the tone’ for Tantramar

April 26, 2024 by Erica Butler

By the end of this year, if all goes as planned, the new municipality of Tantramar will have a new five-year strategic plan.

Community and corporate services director Kieran Miller told council on Monday that staff have recommended hiring Strategic Steps Inc. to run the process to arrive at a new plan, including consultations with staff, council and members of the public.

Strategic Steps is based in Alberta, but has an Atlantic office based in St. Johns, Newfoundland.

“I’m glad that this is happening just to set the tone for what our municipality will be looking at for the next five years,” said Tantramar mayor Andrew Black on Monday, adding that the “comprehensive public consultation process” included in the project is “vitally important, considering our new boundaries.”

A real estate ad showing a light brown building with a sign reading "Pizza Delight". The image comes from a real estate sales site and the address, listing number and the price appears below the picture.

Pizza Delight owner seeks permission to open up possibilities for vacant property

April 26, 2024 by Erica Butler

A development agreement put in place twenty years ago is limiting development of the former Pizza Delight property on Mallard Drive, and so Tantramar council is being asked to take a step towards dissolving the agreement at its next regular meeting in May.

Lori Bickford of the Southeast Regional Service Commission’s Plan 360, was on hand at Monday’s Committee of the Whole meeting to present the proposal on behalf of the owner of the vacant property, numbered company 734163 NB Inc., owned by Rashid Tufail.

“You’ll notice that the Pizza Delight building remains vacant at this time,” Bickford told council. “Under the agreement, the only use that would be permitted within that building would be a single restaurant.”

A map showing a large building with roads and green space around it.

Daycare seeks lease renewal and zoning change to stay in Dorchester Rec Centre

April 26, 2024 by Erica Butler

Dorchester’s DCS Kids Daycare is seeking a zoning change and approval of a lease renewal in order to keep operating at its location at the Dorchester Recreation Centre on School Street.

Active Living Director Matt Pryde told Tantramar council on Monday that the daycare’s tenancy has been “going really well”. The new three year lease would remain the same as the current one, with DCS Kids Daycare paying $750 per month in rent to the municipality.

The daycare is also looking to make an amendment to Dorchester’s zoning by-law to add daycares to the list of permitted uses in the village core zone.

Tantramar council will vote on the fate of Dorchester’s DCS Kids Daycare at its next regular meeting on May 14.

exterior of a green and white building with sign for Craft Gallery and Sackville Visitor Information Centre

Cafe in farmers market gets the go-ahead for new location in Visitor Information Centre

April 11, 2024 by Erica Butler

The operators of Sackville Farmers’ Market cafe Deus Ex Macina got the go-ahead from town council Tuesday night on a lease agreement for a cafe in the Tantramar Visitor Information Centre (VIC) on Mallard Drive near the Waterfowl Park.

Two councillors opposed the approval, with Councillor Barry Hicks citing concerns over competing businesses nearby.

After the meeting, CHMA spoke with Alice Cotton, one of the owners of Deus Ex Macina. Cotton says she’s very excited and “a little bit scared” for the new venture, which will see her and her partner Peter Stephenson invest $4,000 to $5,000 in leasehold improvements to a small corner of the VIC to make way for a cafe.

They hope to get their renovations complete by the time the VIC is ready to open for the season.

A map showing a green space, multiple streets and buildings. An overlay on the map shows proposed upcoming changes to the map.

Lansdowne Field to be converted to surface parking as part of larger project

March 22, 2024 by Erica Butler

There will be big changes in central Sackville this summer as Mount Allison’s Lansdowne Field is converted to a parking lot, while the university starts construction of a new building to house an interim library and future multipurpose athletic centre on Lansdowne Street.

The school’s VP of Finance and Administration Robert Inglis shared the news with Tantramar council on Tuesday afternoon in a special meeting.

The $85 million project includes a major renovation of the Ralph Pickard Bell Library, but first the university must construct a building to house library services while that renovation takes place. The plan is to start construction on that building this summer, which means closing the existing Lansdowne parking lot next door. And that will mean one additional component to the project, Inglis told councillors on Tuesday — a surface parking lot where the Lansdowne Field currently sits.