Details Of Proposed Economic Development Model Released

Municipal councils in the Saint John region have started to vote on a proposed new regional economic development model, with Rothesay passing a vote with unanimous support Monday night.

The proposed model will see the region’s four existing agencies and departments combined into one single entity.

“It has one mandate, one budget, one team, one board and one leader,” said Paulette Hicks, chair of the advisory council, in an interview Monday.

“Our agencies have all done great work, but there have been limitations with budgets and this is an opportunity to really bring it all under one umbrella.”

Discover Saint John, Develop Saint John, Economic Development Greater Saint John, and the city’s population growth department would all be part of the new model.

According to the proposed model, each municipality would contribute funding, with a goal of reaching “equal per capita municipal government funding” after five years.

“The City is already spending the most on economic development (per capita) and the other municipalities will be asked to increase their funding to reach parity,” said the document.

Saint John would contribute $1.7 million during each of the first two years, rising to $1.9 million annually through 2025.

Rothesay’s contribution would rise from $148,000 in 2021 to $283,000 in 2025. Quispamsis would see their contribution increase from $168,000 in 2021 to $454,000 by 2025.

Grand Bay-Westfield would contribute $36,000 in 2021, rising to $118,000 by 2025. Hampton’s contribution would rise from $31,000 in 2021 to $102,000 by 2025.

The Village of St. Martins and local service districts would also be asked to chip in once the model has been ratified by Saint John and the four towns.

Other funding would also come from the provincial and federal governments, the private sector, and the new accommodation levy.

“This will be one of the largest economic development agencies in the region and it’s that kind of scale that’s important for us to be competitive as we move forward,” said Hicks.

Hicks said more than ever we’ve been looking at ways to help best position our region for growth and development, and now is the right time to do this.

She said the new approach is also more innovative than similar economic development agencies as it would include tourism instead of having it be a separate entity.

“The tourism element is an important one, and similar to when we attract visitors or we attract people to move to our community or we attract businesses to operate in our community or investment attraction, those messages are not that different,” said Hicks. “Just bringing that level of alignment we feel is a real opportunity.”

The board of directors would be made up of seven to eight outside private sector directors, six inside municipal directors, and one provincial government nominated director. No elected officials would sit on the board.

Municipalities will have preferred shareholder status and would approve the strategic goals and objectives of the organization, any new funding arrangements, the bylaws and annual business plans.

Municipal councils are expected to vote on the proposed model over the next two weeks, with the results of those votes determining what will happen next.

Hicks said she is optimistic given the “unprecedented regional collaboration” that went into developing the plan.

“It’s certainly been a good process working with the regions and trying to understand their needs and what we want and we’ve all landed on a common place that everyone wants growth,” she said.

Once the new model is approved, a transition committee of six community leaders will recruit the new board chair and the initial board of directors. The board would then hire a recruitment firm to facilitate the process of recruiting the chief economic development officer.

A set of key performance indicators would be developed and approved by councils in December ahead of the new entity becoming fully operational in January.