Tantramar clerk Donna Beal is the custodian of all official documents for the municipality. But while the documents for the town of Sackville and municipality of Tantramar are under Beal’s direct care, those of the former village of Dorchester are out of her hands, and have been since shortly after amalgamation in January 2023.
“All former Village of Dorchester files are currently in decontamination and staff have no access to these files at this time,” wrote Beal in response to a CHMA request for a copy of an existing Dorchester bylaw.
The village office was closed down around January 30, 2023, says Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne, and “we lost access to everything within the office.”
The ongoing issues put the municipality in contravention of Section 75 of the Local Governance Act, which says that bylaws must be available for public review in the office of the clerk during normal hours.
