Tim Fox looks back at 2023 and looks forward to 2024
Before the New Year, the River Valley Sun reached out to elected officials in our coverage area to reflect on the past year and look at plans and challenges for the coming year.
Here is Nackawic-Millville Mayor Tim Fox’s response to our question regarding his community.
RVS: What were the council highlights in 2023?
TF: Our council hit their stride quickly after municipal reform and amalgamation of the former village of Millville and the town of Nackawic and LSDs of Southampton, Queensbury and Dumfries.
We had a number of projects and initiatives early out of the gate in January, such as the Destination Nackawic Smallmouth Open, the Millville ball field project, and a number of infrastructure projects in and around the Nackawic ward.
We were also the first community in New Brunswick to receive funding under the government of New Brunswick Housing for All strategy to complete planning, pre-engineering and geotechnical work on our proposed housing development.
RVS: Going forward, what are your challenges, and what are the council’s top priorities for 2024?
TF: Being a smaller rural community, inflationary increases in the costs of almost everything the municipality does is a challenge. Our council has been proactive in recognizing that tax base and population growth are the best way to meet those increasing demands on our citizen’s tax dollars.
Our focus will begin to concentrate more on marketing the community as a great place to live, work and raise a family.
RVS: What should the province’s plans for financial restructuring include for municipalities?
TF: Any financial restructuring considered by the province should include an approach that focuses a bit more on supporting communities rather than regions. With municipal reform, there are a number of new demands on communities that are best dealt with locally rather than regionally.
We collectively need to look at how the balance of tax revenue is distributed amongst the province, regional service commissions and local municipalities.
RVS: Housing has become a core focus for your council. What is the immediate and long-term housing focus for your rural community?
TF: Our council has invested a great deal of time and effort in our own housing development proposal, but we have also supported other private developments.
In 2024, we will be looking at other ways to increase opportunities to densify our population. For example, zoning and bylaws will be reviewed to ensure that our municipality is optimizing its opportunities for increasing housing.
RVS: You’ve invested heavily in your waterfront over the last several years? What are the next steps for waterfront development?
TF: We will continue to explore our options for the next phase of development on the waterfront. Future development will focus on adding additional value and increased usage of our waterfront assets.
