UARB hearings coming up in Clare and Clark’s Harbour

Municipality of Clare looking to keep 8 council members; Town of Clark’s Harbour looking to reduce council size by 2

The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board will conduct public hearings this week in Clare and Clark’s Harbour.

On Thursday, April 26, the board will hold a hearing in the municipal council chambers in Little Brook to consider an application by the Municipality of Clare to maintain eight councillors and to amend the boundaries of its polling districts.

There will be an afternoon session, starting at 1 p.m., and an evening one, scheduled to begin at 7.

The notification deadline for members of the public wishing to speak at the Clare hearing was April 12. The deadline for sending written comments to the UARB was April 17.

On Friday, April 27, the utility and review board will conduct a public hearing in town council chambers in Clark’s Harbour to consider an application by the Town of Clark’s Harbour to reduce the size of its council from the present setup of six councillors and a mayor to four council- lors and a mayor.

This session is scheduled to start at 10 a.m.

Members of the public are invited to attend the Clark’s Harbour session and may provide comments. The deadline for sending written comments was April 18.

For the Municipality of Clare, the application to the utility and review board would keep the number of council members at eight but would amend the electoral boundaries in order to have a more even distribution of electors.

The municipality had a consultant – Stantec Consulting Ltd. – review Clare’s council size and electoral boundaries. The review process included public consultation as well.

In Clark’s Harbour, the decision to reduce the size of council from six councillors and a mayor to four councillors and a mayor was made last May at a special meeting of council, although it was not a unanimous decision, passing by a four-to-three vote.

A number of councillors said residents had told them they felt Clark’s Harbour’s council was too big, given the town’s population.

The next municipal election year in Nova Scotia will be 2020.