Tantramar’s municipal roadshow is “a perfect environment to voice concerns for the betterment of our town,” says Sackville resident Percy Best.
Best was one of a handful of residents who came out for the third edition of the Tantramar roadshow at the Civic Centre last Thursday. The next instalment takes place Thursday, June 13 at the Sackville Music Barn on Station Road in Upper Sackville.
Best says the roadshows are “a great step” by the municipality to open up lines of communication. “The path to talk to councillors has been greatly degraded over the last few years,” says Best, “and gets worse all the time.”
Best points to the end of public question periods during council meetings, a practice included in the former town of Sackville’s procedures, but not in those of the new municipality of Tantramar.
“We used to be able to even send in a written letter, and it would be brought up and attached to the package,” said Best. “Now it’s like a no man’s land. That’s one of the reasons we don’t go to council meetings. It’s like, why bother?”
Best hopes the roadshows will continue, and be hosted annually or twice a year across the municipality.
Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne didn’t rule out future roadshow meetings, and says she has been pleased with the sessions so far. Even with some small turnouts, Borne feels the sessions have been successful to date. “Even if we hit a couple, we are successful,” says Borne. The schedule includes weekday, weekend, morning and evening time slots, and hits all five wards of the municipality. That’s intentional, says Borne. “We tried to suit everyone’s needs,” she says, adding that residents can attend any or all sessions, regardless of where they live.
The one surprise for Borne so far has been the topics that residents are bringing forward to ask about. “Coming into these we thought it might be more around the assessment piece and taxation,” says Borne. But so far pedestrian safety and traffic issues seem the most prominent concerns. “It’s kind of interesting that’s what we’re hearing through these sessions,” says Borne.
Borne says that so far staff have been enjoying and looking forward to the in-person sessions. Councillors have also been attending the sessions.
“It’s certainly always a challenge to spread the word and get people through the doors,” says Borne. So the more that we can have [in attendance], the better. But any way that we can have a forum and demonstrate transparency is a success for us.”
Hear coverage of the Sackville roadshow session as reported on Tantramar Report:
