A motion to record the budget discussion process in Eastern Charlotte died on the floor, drawing swift criticism from the public.
Coun. Alexa Detorakis made a motion to ask that the working session for the 2026 budget and the committee of the whole meetings be recorded on camera. It also asked for the recordings to be made available for the public to review. As well, it asked the residents of Eastern Charlotte to be given the opportunity to provide comments to council on the budget for 2026.
The motion received no seconder, which means it cannot move forward to a vote or debate.
There is no explicit requirement in New Brunswick’s Local Governance Act for municipalities to hold public consultations as part of the budget process, but many do, including the Municipal District of St. Stephen (MDSS) and the Town of Saint Andrews. Section 75(1)(e) does specify what documents should be available to the public at the clerk’s office, which includes budget estimates.
Matthew Hall, a resident of Eastern Charlotte, said he couldn’t understand why the council did not follow through with the motion.
“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “There [are] people who can’t come to meetings, there [are] people who want to talk and have input and you guys are denying that.”
He accused the council of not being transparent and accountable.
“Something needs to be done to hold these people accountable and changes need to be made,” he said. “Because this is getting [to be] too much.”
Anthony Scott, another resident of the municipality, asked the council “why it was trying to hide stuff.”
“We’re the taxpayers, we ought to know what’s going on,” he said, speaking to the council.
The Department of Environment and Local Government (ELG) said it had to set the tax rates for three communities in 2025.
“Under the Local Governance Act, the minister only intervenes when delays jeopardize issuing property tax notices,” the department said in a statement to The Courier.
Those communities were Eastern Charlotte, Campobello Island and Lakeland Ridges after they missed the submission deadline. Coun. Adam Hatt said while he didn’t oppose the motion tabled by Detorakis, he feels the technology is not there for the council to have more meetings recorded.
“It’s not that I don’t support it, I do support recording of meetings … but we need to figure that out and to make a promise today that we’re going to record budget [meetings] that are going to start within the next few weeks,” he said, adding he felt he couldn’t second the motion because there was no way for them to accomplish it.
In St. Stephen and Saint Andrews, the councils purchased cameras through grants that were built into the chambers. They are remotely operated by local non-profit broadcaster and educational channel CHCO-TV, who also is the owner of The Courier.
The setup in Eastern Charlotte involves two individual cameras and an operating system that is brought by the CHCO-TV broadcasting team, taking up to five hours.
Detorakis said she was surprised she didn’t get support from the council, but respected the decision.
Coun. Darrell Tidd said he had no problem supporting recording meetings for the budget, but was concerned about sensitive matters.
Under section 68(1) of the Local Governance Act, discussions of council can be closed for about 10 different reasons, including some of the ones mentioned by Tidd. All votes or decisions must return to an open session.
“Other than that, I have no problem. If we have the technology to do it, then I say we should do it,” Tidd said.
Coun. Lisa McKay cited similar concerns as Tidd.
“It’s that word ‘all’ [in the motion], because there is stuff in our budget that needs to be kept confidential,” she said. “Other than that, I’m absolutely open to, other than the personnel issues or upcoming contracts, I’m completely open for the budget to be public.”
All motions can be amended by a majority vote of council, including on the wording of a motion.
McKay said the council has frequently been accused of hiding stuff.
“We’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t,” she said. “There isn’t one councillor at this table that does not take into consideration the ramifications that we have if we make a wrong decision, and we are human and we are going to make wrong decisions.”
Eastern Charlotte Mayor John Craig told The Courier he understood some of the frustrations voiced by the community during the meeting.
“The council will get together and discuss the budget,” he said. “We’re going to work on that.”
Both Craig and Chief Administrative Officer Jason Gaudet confirmed all meetings, including committee meetings are open to the public, and it requires a vote to go to a closed session should an item fall under Section 68(1) of the Act.
“Overall, those meetings are open to the public,” she said, adding copies of the draft budget will be available online. He said once the budget is presented by the Deputy Mayor David Hatt, the public can ask questions to the council, which are taken into consideration.
“Every councillor is there for the good of the community. There is nothing deceitful going on, they’re all trying their best, every one of them,” he said.
