Mayor Steve Backman and six councillors were sworn in to serve the Municipal District of St. Stephen for the next four years.
The council saw a nearly clean slate with the exception of Wade Greenlaw — the only incumbent to secure a new mandate.
Backman said he feels very excited and optimistic moving forward, noting the fresh faces around the chamber.
“The drawback is that we’ve got a really young, inexperienced council that’s not familiar with all the rules and regulations,” Backman said. “There’s a good possibility we’re going to make some blunders, and we accept that.”
According to Backman, the council will undergo training from the government along with in-house training.
The Local Governance Commission recommended mandatory training for municipal leaders and staff but only voluntary training was offered by the province.
“We do need to get good training,” he said.
St. Stephen is dealing with problems surrounding homelessness, water and sewer infrastructure, Lonicera Hall, and the airport.
Backman will adopt these issues coming into this term.
The council will elect its deputy mayor at the next regular council meeting.
Historically, the deputy mayor would have been decided by which council member received the most public votes. Due to amalgamation and lower populations in rural wards, this council will decide.
Backman’s first goal after getting the council trained is to work on several key focus areas, such as public safety, affordable housing, bylaw reform and economic development.
He said within the next few days they will be selecting a committee head for each of those priorities.
Backman said he feels excitement for the future of St. Stephen.
“We just have to embrace it and run with it,” Backman said.
The new councillors in Ward 1 will include Chandra Best, Justin Wesselink and Wade Greenlaw. Ward 2 will include Bernadette Cunningham, Mark Porter, and Steven Morgan.
