Workshop for St. George Residents on Municipal Reform

At the regular April 2022 Council Meeting for the Town of St. George, Southwest New Brunswick Service Commission town Planner Xander Gopen said his organization plans to schedule a community workshop regarding upcoming municipal reform changes, which will have a dramatic impact on St. George and surrounding area. 

"It's a good time for us to get feedback from the community," said Gopen. "So we will work with the town office to organize a community event to discuss municipal reform."

In November 2022, the Town of St. George will merge with the Village of Blacks Harbour and other communities like Pennfield in what is currently being called District 53 but will soon have a new regional name. The merger of communities will mean an election of an entirely new council as well as a re-visioning of services for the area, so community collaborations and information sessions will be key to transitioning smoothly into a new municipality. 

In the meantime, it's business as usual for St. George leading up to the elections in late 2022. Just over $471,000 will be spent in 2022 on road and property work in the town, and Town Clerk Jason Gaudet says all the projects are ready to go out for tender and he hopes that they can all be started in the very near future. 

"We've already engaged a lot of the pavers on this work," said Gaudet. "Since the price of petroleum is rapidly changing, we don't want to wait to get started on these projects. It's very volatile, so I am hoping we can start as soon as possible."

Council unanimously agreed to put all the projects out to tender in an effort to get construction underway.