Bathurst mayor pushes regional mindset to enhance northern growth

Mayor Paolo Fongemie says Bathurst faces multiple challenges in the form of an aging and decreasing population and one of the highest property tax rates in New Brunswick, but council is working to grow the region.

"We have all the reasons to feel that we're victimized with the closures of large industries over the past few years … so we're trying to do things differently so we can grow."

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The city went from 15,990 residents in 2011 to 15,557 in 2016, a 2.6 per cent decrease and has the third highest property tax in the province at $1.775, a tax that won't be increased in 2018.

Fongemie said with so many challenging issues it means council must present a balanced budget and find ways to put money aside for important projects.

The mayor said Bathurst council met about 100 times over the last year.

"We're looking forward to 2018 for the concrete results," he said.

Seeing opportunity

Fongemie said he believes there has been a mind shift in the Chaleur region with people feeling more positive.

"Instead of seeing obstacles or defeat, they see opportunity," he said.

"We had a main street that was very quiet one year ago and today there's a little pub that serves Maritime brew, the old Bohemien night club is back … we have a micro brewery that is opening and restaurants just popping up here and there on Main Street."

Fongemie said with a nightlife back in the city, the environment should be more attractive for young adults to move to the northern city.

During 2017, the mayor said the Chaleur Regional Service Commission, which is made up of the six municipalities, villages and local service districts in the area, looked for ways to move forward with projects that would benefit the region.

Fongemie said one of the things that came out of it was a new regional tourism office and a rebranding process set to be released in 2018.

"We're looking at a lot of great initiatives and strategies and it opens to other initiatives we can work on regionally," he said. "Population growth is a challenge, funding is a challenge so we need to do things differently, to work differently."

He said this means working co-operatively with other municipalities and unincorporated areas in the region.

"Maybe in the past there was competition but personally for us if a business establishes itself in the surrounding municipality, that's OK. Our city will benefit from it."

Another area of success for the region and city is the retention of immigrants in the area.

"Last year we had 47 exploratory visits and 98 per cent of them stayed in the region," he said.

Fongemie said many of those visiting the region to see if they would be interested in living and working are from countries in Europe including France and Belgium.

"They buy businesses," said the mayor. "We have a lot of businesses that don't have a succession plan so we estimate about 200 of those businesses within five to 10 years, if they don't have a succession plan, will close."

Fongemie said if those businesses were to close, the region would lose about 1,200 jobs.

"Having immigrants coming in, establishing themselves, buying houses, having kids and taking over local businesses, that creates a stability for our economy," he said.

Police study

High on Fongemie's to-do list for 2018 is to have a study completed on regional policing for the region to determine if it would be economically feasible to have a police force for the Chaleur region, an area that covers Belledune to Stonehaven to Allardville.

There are three police forces in the region: the Bathurst Police Force, BNPP Regional Police Force and the RCMP. Fongemie said he wants to know what would be the best, most efficient option for policing.

Money has been set aside for the study and he wants to see it happen in the next year.

"Then we can sit down with public safety with the recommendation and go forward in 2019. So depending of the model that would be recommended, there would still be some work," said Fongemie referring to collective bargaining agreements if two police forces were combined into one.

"And also the governance, would it be the city of Bathurst overseeing that or would there be like a commission like the city of Saint John," he said.

"So there's a lot of parameters that we put in the study that we want some answers to with the consultants. That file might be moving pretty quickly." ​