Saint Andrews Mayoral Candidate: Steve Neil
1. What is your vision for the municipality over the next four years, and how will you measure success?
My vision is to continue striving towards a vibrant, age-friendly community that is inclusive of all residents and visitors alike. Our municipality prides itself on our tourism and hospitality industry, but it is also so much more. The strong science and education sectors also provide year round employment to a large portion of it’s residents. Therefore I believe we need to continue supporting housing options for all demographics to allow young families to not only live and work in the community, but also for their children to attend school near to home. This feeds back into a healthy, growing, sustainable economy while also allowing for continued economic growth that is well planned, and well thought out through continued public consultation.
The measure of success will be allowing for this economic growth while also preserving the historical look and feel that is so important to our community, as well as maintaining our rural identities in Chamcook and Bayside.
2. How will you balance fiscal responsibility with maintaining and improving municipal services?
Over my last 5 years on council the municipality has been able to maintain very well balanced and healthy operating and capital budgets. It has been through this careful planning and forecasting that we have been able to maintain a very reasonable debt-service ratio that continues to be below the comfortable limits set forth by the province. By doing this we have been able to invest in some major capital projects while also making upgrades to service delivery.
3. What is your strategy for long-term infrastructure planning and funding?
If elected, I will continue to work with council and staff on updating and maintaining the 5 year asset management strategy that has been in place for several years. This is a detailed, comprehensive 5 year asset management strategy that covers all municipal departments. Continuing to work with and improve this process allows us to properly forecast and plan for upcoming expenditures years in advance. This along with built in redundancies in key infrastructure systems will help minimize and often eliminate service interruptions, resulting in fewer unexpected budget expenditures. This 5 year forecast also allows the municipality to seek out additional grants and alternate funding options well in advance.
4. Many communities in the region are experiencing population changes, including aging populations, affordability issues, homelessness. How will your leadership address workforce retention and attract new residents?
Strong leadership to me promotes workforce retention. If we as a municipality want to attract and retain workers they must have affordable housing options that allow them to live in the community they work in. In the last 5 years council has been able to add 97 new housing units with options for a range of demographics. Of our three major employment sectors; science, education and tourism and hospitality, it is in the tourism and hospitality sector that we can continue to expand in the shoulder seasons. By promoting our community as a four season destination, we can help increase the year round employment options which will result in the better retention of skilled workers. This is also supported by promoting and attracting new students to the New Brunswick Community College, bolstering their enrollment and program delivery while continuing to work with them on housing options to support them.
5. Describe a difficult decision you’ve made in a leadership role. How will that experience inform your approach as mayor?
People make difficult decisions everyday. In my professional life I have been in charge of operating multi-million dollar projects responsible for making animal welfare decisions that result in the success or failure of the projects. In my role with the St Andrews Fire Department, I have been the officer in charge on numerous emergency scenes, charged with making split second decisions often in life threatening situations. In all instances I try to approach the decision making process with the same calm, evidence based approach. I believe this approach has earned me much respect and trust amongst my peers. It is this approach that I take to the council chambers. Listen first and speak second, without involving personal feelings or biases.
6. Why should voters trust you to lead the municipality at this time?
I believe I have a proven tract record as a councilor and as Acting Deputy Mayor. For me trust does not come with the title, but must be earned through ones actions. I have volunteered in this community for decades, through coaching youth sports, sitting on and leading several boards, and serving as an active member of the St. Andrews Fire Department for the last 20 years, presently serving as Captain. I believe I match actions to my words while continuing to listen to all perspectives in order to make well informed evidence based decisions. Leadership for me is not about asserting ones will, but instead about empowering those around you by providing them with the tools and information to succeed. This is done through sound, well informed decision making that respects all opinions and ideas, including those of the public.
Each candidate was provided with the same six questions and equal limits on response length and time. Candidates who did not have publicly available contact information through Elections New Brunswick were required to contact The Courier in accordance with its Municipal Election Coverage Fairness Policy. Candidates who did not respond or declined to participate are noted. Failure to participate will not result in additional coverage elsewhere in the newspaper.
