Welcome to Beausejour

"At the BBDC Meeting of June 26, (Ray) Schirle claimed he requested a letter (from the Town) … to bring back to the board regarding what’s going on with the website but was denied.”  The Clipper Weekly, July 6, 2017

According to the minutes of the BBDC’s Sept. 26, 2016 meeting, the BBDC board was told exactly what was happening with the Town of Beausejour’s website plan. The BBDC board heard a presentation from Vern Sabeski of All-Net Municipal Solutions, the managing partner of the firm who provides the website infrastructure now used by the Town of Beausejour. The BBDC and the R.M. of Brokenhead were provided quotes should they opt to upgrade their website as well.

Since September 2016, Town of Beausejour Council members and administration have held several meetings with BBDC staff and BBDC board members regarding the Town’s new website project.  While pursuing its own website due to concerns about the ourhomeyourhome.com site’s functionality and ease of use, the Town of Beausejour did seek to work with the BBDC during the website construction to improve links between the two sites. Rather than accepting the offer to work collaboratively on the Town’s designated priority, the BBDC rejected this and repeatedly questioned why the new site was needed with the goal of stopping the project. 

The Town of Beausejour always wanted strong links between its new website and ourhomeyourhome.com. This lack of co-operation by the BBDC significantly delayed improved linkages with the two sites and damaged the relationship between the Municipality and the organization. 

 

 

"At the board meeting of June 26, (BBDC Chair Ray) Schirle said of the new Town website swept the BBDC ‘under the rug’,” — The Clipper Weekly, Aug. 10, 2017.

"In regards to the ‘Our Home Your Home’ brand, Schirle said he went through the town’s new website and was unable to find reference to the BBDC.” The Clipper Weekly, July 6, 2017.

 

As you can see above, circled in red, the BBDC has had a presence on the Town’s website since the site went live on May 30. The location of this button has not changed. 

Initially this was done with a page under the business section where a link to the ourhomeyourhome.com website was located.  The Town of Beausejour gave the BBDC the same prominence the BBDC gave itself on ourhomeyourhome.com, where its page is under the business section. 

The BBDC was more than aware of this link.  Within days of the Town of Beausejour website going live on May 30, the BBDC’s Marketing Director contacted All-Net Municipal Solutions (not the Town of Beausejour) to complain the wrong BBDC logo was being used on the Town of Beausejour website and provided an alternate logo.  The logo was changed at the BBDC’s request and the BBDC page with a link to ourhomeyourhome.com remained in place. 

Now when you click on the Beausejour Brokenhead Development Corporation button on townofbeausejour.com, shown above circled in red, it takes you directly to ourhomeyourhome.com.

The BBDC’s repeated dissemination of false information in the public realm has damaged the relationship between the Municipality and the organization.

 

"The Board of the Beausejour Brokenhead Development Corporation (BBDC) demanded answers from Beausejour Mayor Ed Dubray last week following the discovery that the town’s community information was wiped from the development Corporation’s website without their authorization.  According to BBDC Chair Ray Schirle, the move (to remove information from ourhomeyourhome.com) has effectively severed ties between the town and the development corporation online and created confusion and turmoil.”  The Clipper Weekly, July 6, 2017

"Schirle claimed that when the idea for a new website was presented to the BBDC, it was supposed to have a link, there was going to be shared information and the town site was not going to impact the BBDC site.  The opposite has occurred, Schirle said. ”  The Clipper Weekly, July 6, 2017

 

As ourhomeyourhome.com administrator Carlos Escobar told The Clipper Weekly on July 6, 2017, 12 organizations had limited-access privileges to the site to update and manage their pages on the website.  The Town of Beausejour is one of those organizations which had such privileges.

The Town of Beausejour made changes to its page on ourhomeyourhome.com on June 7, which Escobar noted in the July 6 article was its right.  These changes involved deleting dated and obsolete information on the Town’s page on that site.  

No other pages, including the BBDC’s pages, were edited by the Town of Beausejour.  The editing privileges granted by Escobar didn’t allow for changes to other pages, and the Town expressly noted it had no desire to edit any other page and would not do so.

The Town already had linked the BBDC to its new website with its own page and link to ourhomeyourhome.com, a link that became live immediately when its site was launched on May 30.  Accordingly, the Town sought a similar link to the Town’s website on ourhomeyourhome.com.  So the obsolete information was replaced with a statement indicating the Town of Beausejour had a new website and the town information would be located there. Also included in this statement was a link to the new town website, townofbeausejour.ca.  This was the link between the Town and the BBDC’s website, delivered as it was promised. 

This link on ourhomeyourhome.com was tested several times by Town of Beausejour administration and council members to ensure the link was in fact working. Repeated tests showed that link successfully opened the townofbeausejour.ca website.  The link worked.

"We really need to figure out how we are going to keep our website linked and how it’s going to work for the community in the future… ,"  BBDC Chair Ray Schirle, The Clipper Weekly, July 6, 2017

"A BBDC spokesperson confirmed a link to the Beausejour webpage was initially installed on the (ourhomeyourhome.com) site but it did not work, resulting in its removal.”  The Clipper Weekly, Aug. 10, 2017

After first publically accusing the Town of Beausejour of having "severed ties with the development corporation online” (Ray Schirle, The Clipper Weekly, July 6, 2017), the BBDC now confirms via a spokesperson just a month later that they were the ones who severed the link between the Town of Beausejour and the ourhomeyourhome.com site. 

It is also clear by the BBDC’s own admissions and the timing of the incidents that it severed that link in mid-June, just a couple of weeks before making false public accusations against the Town of Beausejour during the June 25 BBDC meeting.

How do we know this? The Town of Beausejour established a link between townofbeausejour.ca and ourhomeyourhome.com on June 7.  That link worked until it was removed on or about June 12.  The Town of Beausejour did not remove the link, and did not ask for this change. It was done without notice to the Town of Beausejour, nor was the Town consulted about this change.  The BBDC now admits it removed the link, and once caught in its lie, the BBDC re-established the link between ourhomeyourhome.com and townofbeausejour.ca in July, but not before accusing the town of severing the online ties during a meeting open to the press.

Unfortunately, these changing stories, and the impacts of these false stories, challenge the credibility of the BBDC’s past, present and future statements. It also damages its relationship with the Town of Beausejour, a 50 percent funding partner of the development corporation. 

"The Beausejour Brokenhead Development Corporation moves their office into the R.M. of Brokenhead municipal building last week following what a spokesperson identified as concerns regarding possible restricted access to the town hall site” The Clipper Weekly, Aug. 10, 2017

At no time has the Town of Beausejour requested the BBDC move out of the Town Hall site. It offered the same access as any other joint entity operating out of the Town Offices.  Until the BBDC vacated its space at the Beausejour municipal office, its staff had keys granting them 24/7 access.  The BBDC used this very access to start its move to an office it had secured without knowing in advance what the costs would be (as revealed in the BBDC’s July 31 meeting).  The Town of Beausejour had not asked the BBDC to vacate its office space in the Beausejour municipal office building.

The Town of Beausejour challenges the process the BBDC used to make its decision to move office locations twice in a week as well as the expenditures incurred from these moves.  Mayor Ed Dubray, the Town of Beausejour’s official representative on the BBDC board, was not contacted about this office move, when others were consulted.

Once the BBDC moved its office to the R.M. of Brokenhead municipal office, the BBDC violated its own constitution/articles of incorporation, as it clearly states its office must be within the boundaries of the Town of Beausejour.

 

 

It is deeply disappointing to the Town of Beausejour to have been subjected to repeated dissemination of falsehoods by a development corporation which, until recent months, had been a solid, honourable partnership for most of its 30-year history. The Town of Beausejour remains committed to economic development within the community.