The regular meeting of the Miramichi River Valley Council met in the Council Chambers at 18:00hrs, January 7, 2025, with Mayor Russell presiding.

BRING MEETING TO ORDER:

The mayor called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone to the meeting. 

COUNCIL ATTENDANCE: All in attendance.  Councillor Sheasgreen joined virtually.

GUESTS: Raymond Singleton and Jason McNeil came to request funding for the Renous arena.  The rink is having issues with the plant and the estimated cost to repair is $85,000.  This will be discussed under new business. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA                 

It was moved by Councillor Gillespie & seconded by Councillor Brennan to approve agenda as circulated. MOTION CARRIED.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

No conflicts declared.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

It was moved by Councillor S. Vickers, seconded by Councillor Gillespie to adopt the minutes, as circulated, of the Regular Council meeting December 3, 2024.  MOTION CARRIED

It was moved by Councillor Brennan, seconded by Councillor S. Vickers to adopt the minutes, as circulated, of the Special Council meeting December 17, 2024.  MOTION CARRIED

BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES

NIL

CORRESPONDENCE

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

BILLS & ACCOUNTS

Moved by Councillor M. Vickers, seconded by Councillor Gillespie that the bills in the amount of $101,471.66 for the month of December be paid. MOTION CARRIED

COMMITTEE REPORTS: REPORTS ARE ATTACHED

BY-LAWS: Councillor M. Vickers had nothing to report.

FIRE DEPARTMENT: Councillor Sheasgreen reported that he met with Fire Chief Mike Jardine in Sunny Corner about the updated Policy that will be sent out to all Departments, as well about some of the concerns within the department, at my request he has set up a meeting with the members to have an open discussion on January 15^th at the Hall in Sunny Corner.

RCMP: Councillor Sheasgreen reported that the RCMP have requested to use the upstairs of the Sunny Corner Firehall for 5 days in January. I have talked to Chief Jardine to confirm they are not using it; I approved them to use the upstairs and communicated that to them.

The Quarterly report from Sgt. Leblanc has been sent to MRV office to keep on file.

EMO:  Mayor Russell reported that a meeting will be held on Jan 21 with John Glidden and Claude Chouinard.

ANIMAL CONTROL:  Councillor Sheasgreen reported that he has reached out to Tony a few times to set up a meeting at his Kennel to make sure all the prep work agreed upon is getting done for when he takes over the Animal Control officer position in February, unable to meet yet but will be in touch with him before the end of January.

MEDIA:  Councillor Morgan Vickers had nothing to report.

RECREATION: Councillor Brennan reported that the Blackville Recreation Council has opened the upstairs of the rink as a games room.  The Sunny Corner Recreation Council is applying for funding to renovate the canteen in the rink.

Events are being planned for the Family Day weekend.  There will be a free skate in Sunny Corner and the Renous rec will be open for jumping castles, etc.

AMBULANCE NB:  Councillor Gillespie reported that a meeting was held in December with council, Pat Flynn, and Ron Allan to discuss ambulance services in Blackville.  Discussion on how to better serve the community and the future of the Rapid Response Unit was held. 

TOURISM:  Councillor Sheasgreen reported that Character Matters have reached out to me and let me know that everything is on track for the upcoming summer tourism season with the Shows we have agreed with them doing in the Blackville Park. They will provide further details as soon as they are available.

CANADA DAY:  Councillor Brennan had nothing to report.

WELLNESS:  Councillor Brennan reported that a wellness meeting will be held on January 21.  Vanessa Green who works for the Canadian Mental Health Association of New Brunswick will be in attendance. 

BEAUTIFICATION: Councillor Sharon Vickers had nothing to report.

ENVIRONMENTAL:  Councillor Sheasgreen had nothing new to report.

PARK: Councillor Brennan had nothing to report.

UNSIGHTLY PREMISES: Councillor Gillespie reported that the process in having 3 Oxford Lane cleaned up has started.

FINANCE: Mayor Russell reported that the treasurer, Jennifer McLaughlin is to present a monthly financial report. 

BUILDINGS: Councillor Sharon Vickers reported that she spoke to Darcy Colepaugh and Dana Briggs in December to try to arrange a meeting to set up a contract for the bays they are using at the Renous fire hall. The meeting has been set for January 8, 2025.

Received one quote from carpet man for the replacement of the flooring at the Sunny Corner are RCMP building.

Councillor Brennan and Councillor S. Vickers were to see the new games room at the outdoor Blackville Rink, and it is set up great. There has been a leak in the ceiling upstairs by the chimney Allen says he will check it out. Doesn’t think it’s anything serious.

WASTEWATER SYSTEM: Councillor Sharon Vickers reported that there are no issues with the lagoon and regular testing is being done and levels are normal.  David Donahue has been asked to submit his invoice for the last quarter.

PUBLIC WORKS: Mayor Russell reported that he has contacted DTI to have both ends of the Anderson bridge repaired.

Regional Service Commission: Mayor Russell reported that he attended the following:

• Dec 11, GMSC Mayors Meeting.
• Dec 11, GMSC Transportation Meeting.
• Dec 11, GMSC Board meeting.
• Dec 18, GMSC meeting with Dr. Russell.
• Dec 18, GMSC Public Safety meeting.

All Agendas and minutes are forwarded to Council as they are received.

Publicity & Promotion:  Mayor Russell reported that all promotional postings are on social media or sent out by email.

He attended the following events during the month. 

Other meetings.

• Dec 2, MRV office, Meeting with Insurance Company.
• Dec 3, , MRV Council Meeting.
• Dec 4, Wilsons Lodge/ Salmon stocks meeting.
• Dec 7. Blackville Parade / Bonfire.
• Dec 10, CBDC Meeting.
• Dec 10, MRV Office / Ambulance NB Meeting.
• Dec 11, Investment Readiness Meeting in Bathurst.
• Dec 12, Working NB Anniversary.
• Dec 14, MLA Dawson Dinner.
• Dec 16, Fire service meeting/ RQFD Hall.
• Dec 17, MRV Office Audit meeting.
• Dec 18, CBDC Meeting.
• Dec 23, Fire Service Meeting at MRV Office,

Fire Services:  Director of Fire Services, Dwain Hallihan reported that the NBAFC is looking at the number of calls coming in from ambulance NB for assistance. 

Met with Ryan Stacey from Metalfab on the new fire truck. An updated photo was sent and paint sample colors.

A meeting will be held on January 15 in Sunny Corner and one in Blackville on January 17 with the fire departments to discuss policies and procedures.

There will be a meeting on January 13 to review the draft policy.

Hazmat Training has been held for all three departments over two weekends. 

NEW BUSINESS:

(10.1) Fire Services with City of Miramichi Update

A discussion was held on the letter sent to the City of Miramichi informing them that they will be invoiced when we provide fire services to their area.

(10.2) Policy on Warming Centre

We will work on creating a section in our fire department policy on opening warming centres during power outages.

(10.3) Sunny Corner Fire Department Update

Councillor Sheasgreen met with Chief Mike Jardine about questions and concerns from members as well as the focus on getting as much training up to date in 2025.

(10.4) Policy for Fire Departments

The policy for all fire departments has been drafted and forwarded to council.  A meeting will be held next week to discuss any changes to the policy.

(10.5) Snow Goer’s Rental of Fire Hall in Renous

A meeting will be held on January 8 with the Snow Mobile Club to discuss the terms of renting the old Renous Fire Hall for housing of the groomers.

(10.6) Street Light Brophy Road

A request to have a streetlight installed on the Brophy Road has been denied as they do not pay for street lighting in that area.  It was suggested to the property owner that they install a dust to dawn light for more lighting.

(10.7) Unsightly Property Update

Councillor Sheasgreen spoke with Delway about the Digby Street House / Garage, he was up to take a look and will give us a price on disposing of the material per tonne, he will be in touch with me within the next week.

(10.8) Renous Arena

A discussion was held on providing funding to the Renous Arena to have the plant fixed.  Council agreed that we will help with the funding. An amount will be decided when the quotes come in.

Moved by Councillor Brennan to adjourn the meeting at 19:10.