By Brian Owens, Reporter The Municipal District of St. Stephen (MDSS) and the provincial government say while they are committed to eliminating the need for a homeless shelter in the community, it cannot move forward without a location for transition housing. Around 150 people gathered at the Garcelon Civic Centre in St. Stephen on March […]
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The council for the Town of Saint Andrews has given first reading to the new municipal plan after receiving feedback from residents last month. Xander Gopen, senior planner for the Southwest New Brunswick Service Commission (SNBSC), said much of the feedback was related to the zoning bylaw rather than the municipal plan. “We would encourage […]
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This is the second article in a two-part series that examines the province of New Brunswick’s decision not to make training mandatory for municipal officials, instead providing a voluntary option. You can read Part 1 of the series here. A long-time civil servant with roots in Charlotte County believes training for municipal officials would have […]
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This is the first article in a two-part series that examines the province of New Brunswick’s decision not to make training mandatory for municipal officials, instead providing a voluntary option. A recommendation by the Local Governance Commission (LGC) to make training mandatory for municipal leaders and staff will not be implemented by the Department of […]
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Recently, the Local Governance Commission advised councils in New Brunswick that code of conduct and conflict of interest meetings could not be held in closed session. This is due to the broad interpretation that our local governments have held of the laws that govern them. This advisory appears to have been a surprise to the […]
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The Town of St. Andrews is moving to amend its procedural bylaw to make staff-led meetings open to the public and to keep minutes of the local governments discussions. Staff-led meetings were only recently placed on the town’s meeting calendar, as of August 2025. These meetings are led by Chief Administrative Office Chris Spear who […]
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The Municipal District of St. Stephen (MDSS) is holding its tax rates amid the ongoing property assessment freeze throughout New Brunswick. Rates will remain at 1.5561 per $100 of assessment for Ward 2 – or the urban area of St. Stephen – and 0.5597 per $100 of assessment for the rural wards. The rural wards […]
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The Courier Editorial Board As the budget season for municipalities gets underway, all to be settled before the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s a time to reflect but also to set a vision for the future. A budget is a defining document that sets out the dollars and cents for a municipality’s operations, […]
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New Brunswickers are being asked to continue to conserve water amid “well below normal” levels across the province. As temperatures continue to drop, frost will limit the ground absorption, according to the Department of Environment and Local Government. “Our province continues to experience low rainfall, and, until significant precipitation returns, every drop saved counts,” said […]
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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 […]
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