St. Stephen reelects MacEachern mayor in new district voting

Voters in St. Stephen and area stuck with a familiar face to lead them on their new municipal adventure. The Town of St. Stephen's current mayor, Allan MacEachern, took 1,071 votes in special elections on November 28, handily beating the 378 votes for C. Burton Stewart and 373 for current town councillor Ken Parker in the contest for mayor of the new and expanded Municipal District of St. Stephen.
Voters cast ballots across New Brunswick on November 28 to elect new mayors and councillors under the province-wide municipal reorganization taking effect on January 1. Local Governance Reform Minister Daniel Allain announced the plan on November 18, 2021, to cut the current 104 municipal governments and 236 local service districts to 77 municipalities and 12 rural districts.
A large rural area divided into two wards, with two councillors each, will join the old border town, which will remain a separate ward electing four councillors, to create the new "municipal district" of St. Stephen.
MacEachern won handily in one sense with more votes than the two other candidates combined, but Elections New Brunswick reports that only 1,842 of the 6,021 eligible voters cast their ballots, a turnout of 31%. The same story played out across the province, with Elections New Brunswick reporting that only 36% of the 230,542 eligible voters did their duty on polling day.
In Charlotte County, voters in Chamcook, a new rural ward added to the town of St. Andrews, led the pack with 44% of the 458 eligible voters casting their ballots, electing Annette Harland with 178 votes and Mark Benet with 129. Blair Gordon won 40 votes. In Bayside, the other new ward added to St. Andrews, a relatively healthy 41% of eligible voters cast their ballots, electing Darrell Weare to town council with 68 votes. Jeremiah Kerr took 40 votes. Harland, Benet and Weare will join Mayor Brad Henderson and six councillors already in place.
Only 16% of eligible voters cast their ballots, electing Brian Gardner to the Ward 1 seat on the new Southwest Rural District Advisory Council with 113 votes, beating Dennis Blair with 36 votes. Jim Tubbs won the Ward 2 and Sheena Young the Ward 3 seats by acclamation. This rural district stretches from the outskirts of McAdam south to the Bay of Fundy including the West Isles - Deer Island - and White Head Island off Grand Manan. Under the new set-up, rural districts do not elect mayors.
Back in St. Stephen, voters in Ward 2, the old town, elected current councillors Ghislaine Wheaton with 584 votes, Marg Harding with 454 and David Hyslop with 450 plus newcomer Emily Rodas (Cunningham) with 450 to the new municipal district council. Former mayor Bob Brown came next with 438 votes, Tanner Stewart with 300, Brent MacPherson with 298, Jamieson Smith with 247 and current councillor Vic Thiessen with 220. Voter turnout was 32%.
In Ward 1, a rural area, Brian Cornish won 187 votes and Joyce Wright got 151, allowing them to sit on the municipal district council. Daniel Dow took 112 votes, Tony Mann 90 and Bill Olsen 51. Total turnout was 25%.
In Ward 3, the other rural area joining the municipal district, voters elected Wade Greenlaw with 329 votes and Earle R. Eastman with 223 votes. Kim Henry (Ross) won 141 votes, J. Kyle Moffatt 138, John Barker 104 and Kris Booth 55. The turnout was 32%.
The old town council has already held its last regularly scheduled meeting. It continues in a caretaker role and could be called to a special meeting before the new council takes over on January 1. MacEachern says the new mayor and councillors would meet in the days ahead for orientation sessions and to be sworn in on December 28. He expects the new council to meet for the first time on a date to be set in January.
The new councils across the province await approval from the province on municipal budgets including tax and utility rates. Municipal staff and provincial facilitators set these initial budgets, not the new councils, MacEachern notes. He expects the property tax rate of $1.58 per $100 of assessment in the old town to drop but he could not say by how much.
The old town council wrapped up some business at its last regular meeting. Among other things, the town has finally bought a much-needed new aerial truck for the fire department. Fire Chief Shawn Morton noted that, appropriately enough, the first call to use this truck at an actual fire came from Calais -- which has sent its aerial truck to many, many calls in St. Stephen and the area.
The new municipal district council will have to pick up several open files from the old council, including finding developers interested in vacant commercial properties, rebuilding the main structure at the sewage plant destroyed by fire, and capital spending already approved for streets and other infrastructure.
The town of St. George and Village of Blacks Harbour plus large coastal and inland rural areas come together in the new municipality of Eastern Charlotte under one mayor -- John Craig, current mayor of Blacks Harbour, who won by acclamation. He will preside over an eight-member council including two elected at large and one each from six wards. The wards include the old town of St. George and village of Blacks Harbour, electing one councillor each.
David Hatt won 640 votes and Lisa McKay 457, earning them seats as councillors-at-large. Bruce Jackson won 448 votes, Dale E. Shaw 348, Brenda Allison 347 and Romey Heuff 177. The turnout was 23%.
Michael Thompson won the Ward 2 seat with 196 votes over 87 for Logan Cook. The turnout was 33%. Alexa Detorakis won in Ward 3 with 139 votes, beating Sam Rubin with 107 and Joan Majchrowski with 39. The turnout was 34%. The other four seats went by acclamation to Terry Lee in Ward 1, Adam Hatt in Ward 4, Wayne MacQuarrie in Ward 5 and Darrell Tidd in Ward 6.
The new Eastern Charlotte mayor and council will be sworn in at Magaguadavic Place, St. George, on December 19, according to Craig. They will attend all-day orientation sessions on January 7 and hold their first meeting on January 18. Craig, like other mayors- and councillors-elect, awaits word from Fredericton on the budgets that will be handed to them.
George (Denny) Cogswell won election as the first mayor of the Rural Community of Fundy Shores with 399 votes, beating J. Scott Wright with 211. The turnout was 39%. This new municipality straddles the Charlotte/Saint John county line taking in Lepreau and Musquash, governed by a mayor, two councillors-at-large and three ward councillors. Deanna Bent won 422 votes and Susan Farquharson 364, allowing them to sit as councillors-at-large. Rick Else took 237 votes, Jack Hester 92. The three ward seats went by acclamation to Heather Saulnier, Tina Dealey and Lorraine Thompson.
Cogswell confirms in an email that the new mayor and council will be sworn in on December 15 at Dipper Harbour. They will meet for the first time on January 4 at the Musquash Recreation Centre. The same as the other mayors and councillors, he waits word from Fredericton on inaugural budgets.
The changes do not affect the Village of Grand Manan and Rural Community of Campobello Island, which will be left as they are.