Interior shot of the Wheaton Covered Bridge showing holes in the roof and the closure sign that the provincial department of transportation & infrastructure erected in July 2024

Tantramar town council spent more than 35 minutes Monday discussing the membership and terms of reference for a committee that would investigate ways of saving the Wheaton Covered Bridge, but could not come to a consensus on how to proceed.

Councillors were considering a report from Matt Pryde, director of active living and culture, listing the names of nine Tantramar residents who had expressed interest in joining the committee.

The previous council voted to establish the committee on January 13th when it passed a motion directing town staff to “investigate options for preservation and long-term protection of Wheaton Covered Bridge and create an ad-hoc committee for funding sources, preservation, and recommendations on the structure.”

Committee too big

“The nine members seems a little bit large to me for a committee of this nature,” said Councillor Alyssa Greene.

“I think they may get bogged down. I think five members is perhaps a better option for us,” she added.

Councillor Alyssa Greene

Greene said there are people on the proposed committee she doesn’t know and asked for more information such as their letters expressing interest and their CVs.

“I’m sure they’re great community members, but it would be important that we be able to have informed decisions on approving who the committee members are,” she said.

Greene also questioned the committee’s terms of reference including its three year term and its requirement to report to council at least twice a year.

“In three years if we were waiting that long, there won’t be a bridge. So there won’t even be a conversation,” she said, adding later that the committee could be required to report to council in three months.

CAO Jennifer Borne said the committee’s terms of reference, including its three-year term and its requirement to report to council at least twice a year, are pretty standard ones. She added the terms can always be tweaked later both by council and the committee itself.

Borne said that bigger committees can also work well as the much larger Climate Change Advisory Committee has shown and that larger volunteer committees can more easily share the work among their members.

Options needed

Councillor Tori Weldon suggested the committee could be required to provide various options.

Councillor Tori Weldon

“Like what do we do if we want to save the bridge and what do we do if it’s determined that’s not what we’re going to do,” she said.

I just want to make sure we don’t have one thing on the table,” she added.

“I don’t know if this should just be exclusively how to save the bridge, but sort of how do we deal with the situation.”

Councillor Greene agreed that the committee’s terms of reference should spell out what council wants it to examine.

“Are we looking to make sure that the spirit of that portion of heritage is always commemorated, or are we actually looking to commemorate the actual physical structure?” Greene asked.

“We need to have very clear terms within this of what we want them looking at,” she said.

‘Consent agenda’

Councillor Barry Hicks

Councillor Barry Hicks said he would be voting against the motion to send the proposal to form a committee and adopt its terms of reference to council’s regular meeting next month.

In technical terms, the motion said the matter would be placed on council’s “consent agenda” which would mean it would be voted on with no further discussion or debate.

“I’d like to have more options than just saving the bridge or maybe a way that we make a replica or whatever,” Hicks said.

“I’d like to see the options before I vote for this.”

Urgent action needed

Councillors Allison Butcher and Kristen LeBlanc stressed the need to move ahead quickly.

“I think the group that we have right now listed here are very proactive individuals,” LeBlanc said referring to the nine people who expressed interest in joining the committee.

“I’ve known the majority of them most of my life,” she added.

Councillor Allison Butcher

“I feel like we really should be moving forward,” Butcher said.

“Our bridge is falling apart, it has been for a long time,” she added.

“We can’t take two, three months just to figure out who’s on our committee. We need to get moving with it, and I respect that these people have put their name forward, and they have been chosen or pointed out by staff who have the skill level to look through and see if someone has the ability to do this or not,” Butcher said.

“I think we need to put it onto the consent agenda and get moving with the hope of fixing our bridge.”

In the end, council voted 5-3 in favour of sending the matter to its consent agenda on September 8th.

In favour: Mayor Wiggins-Colwell, Councillors Kristen LeBlanc, Tori Weldon, Allison Butcher and Haidee Robertson.

Against: Councillors Alyssa Greene, Barry Hicks and Wayne Wells.

Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen was absent.