The regular meeting of the Blackville Village Council met in the Council Chambers at 19:00hrs April 21, 2022 with Mayor Fortune presiding.

BRING MEETING TO ORDER:

The Mayor brought the meeting to order and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

GUESTS: RCMP, David Donahue

RCMP – Eric Dube and Keith Gill were present to bring council up to date on things happening in the village.

Mr. Donahue voiced his concerns to council on the amalgamation / area that the province is implementing.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA                 

It was moved by Councillor Underhill & seconded by Councillor Ross to approve agenda as circulated. MOTION CARRIED.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

It was moved by Councillor Ross, seconded by Councillor Underhill to adopt the minutes, as circulated, of the Regular Council meeting March 10, 2022.  MOTION CARRIED

BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES

NIL

ATTENDANCE

All in attendance. 

CORRESPONDENCE

Council has received all correspondence either through email or hard copy in their mail boxes.

BILLS & ACCOUNTS

Moved by Councillor Underhill second by Councillor A. Brennan that the bills in the amount of $19,233.80 be paid. MOTION CARRIED.

COMMITTEEREPORTS: ALL REPORTS ARE ATTACHED

SENIORS:  Councillor Ross reported that she spoke with some seniors regarding the supper.  They would feel more comfortable having the supper in the Fall as Covid numbers are still high.

BY-LAWS:  Councillor Ross had nothing to report.

FIRE DEPARTMENT: Fire Chief Christopher Sturgeon gave fire report for March 2022.  Total manpower available (19), Call responded to within village during month (1), call outside village (1), training session held (4); New Equipment, NIL; Equipment not in use, NIL;

Chief Comments, Land training session in the works with DNR.  Annual pump testing done on trucks 4&5, both passed.  There is an issue with battery charger on truck 4 which needed to be replaced.

RCMP: Councillor Underhill reported that the RCMP have reached out to the school to offer some Safe Grad type presentations and have also been doing their regular school zone patrols.

EMO:  Councillor Ross had nothing to report.

DOG CONTROL: Councillor D. Brennan reported that there were no issues during the month.

STREET LIGHTING: Councillor Ross reported that all lights are working and those that are not have been reported.

LEISURE SERVICES:  UMNB: Councillor A. Brennan reported that the annual Show & Shine is stated to happen on May 21.  Grad Class of 2023 are doing the bbq.

RECREATION: Councillor D. Brennan reported that rink is closed for the season.  Daycare is operating as usual.  The basketball court has reached over 14,000 and will hopefully be able to get some provincial and federal funding.  The rec council has been approved for 4 federal grants and 2 provincial grants.

AMBULANCE NB:  Councillor D. Brennan reported he couldn’t contact Pat Flynn this week but spoke with him last week about the meeting and are closing in a date.

TOURISM Councillor Underhill reported that she was contacted by a marketing advisor with Metro Guide publishing asking if the village would be interested in advertising.  Council will discuss.

JULY 1:  Councillor Underhill reported that the fire department is on board for the bbq.  The fireworks have been ordered.

BEAUTIFICATION: Councillor A. Brennan reported that 600 bags of mulch have been ordered for the park.  The Remembrance Day flags have arrived and are very good quality.

PARK: Mayor Fortune reported the park workers will begin the first of May.  We have plenty of projects to complete this summer.  Paving walking trails, installing new playground equipment, and interpretative trails.  The cameras are now fixed.

UNSIGHTLY PREMISES: Councillor Underhill reported that she hasn’t received any new complaints.

FINANCE: Mayor Fortune reported that finances are in order.

BUILDINGS: Councillor A. Brennan reported we received an email from Pierre Plourde from Crandall Engineering regarding repairs to the firehall from sub-company “Rice”.  The repair was supposed to be completed 2 weeks ago so a follow up email has been sent.

SEWER:  Councillor A. Brennan reported that there were no issues during the month with the system.

STREET & PUBLIC WORKS Mayor Fortune reported that Atlantic Industrial will be cleaning out the storm drains within the next couple of weeks.  The streets will also be swept in May.

Publicity and Promotion:

Meeting every Tuesday evening with the Entity 22 group.  We are in the process of choosing a name for the Entity.  We are planning a meeting with Adam from Sperry Designs to discuss the interpretative trail.

Regional Service Commission: Councill Denver Brennan had nothing to report.

NEW BUSINESS:

9.1 Park Employees

The park workers will begin on Monday, May 2. 

9.2  Cell Phone / Internet Service

Mayor Fortune informed council that he has received complaints regarding the cell phone / internet service in the village.  A discussion was held on the service.

The clerk called for the meeting to go in camera to discuss staff.

Start of “In Camera Session”

9.3  Personnel Policy

Moved by Councillor Underhill, seconded by Councillor A. Brennan to adopt the personnel policy as presented.  MOTION CARRIED.

“In camera session” ended.

Moved by Councillor Ross to adjourn the meeting at 20:30 PM hours.