The recent January council meeting held at Magaguadavic Place in St. George for the municipality of Eastern Charlotte covered a range of important topics and decisions that will impact local communities.

The meeting included two presentations from two different nonprofit organizations working to make Charlotte County a more inclusive place. Neighbourhood Works, a nonprofit organization based in St. Stephen, shared its vision for social inclusion and community development. Executive Director Jim Stuart says Neighbourhood Works implemented community meals to help address both food insecurity in the region as well as bring people from different walks of life together to literally break bread. Neighbourhood Works is also currently the only local organization in St. Stephen providing a warm place for homeless people during the cold winter month.

"In September 2021, we purchased the former Holy Rosary Catholic Church at 59 Union Street that now houses our agency's head office. This coming together neighbourhood centre will act as a service hub for the community, enabling access to a range of activities, programmes and services," said Stuart of Neighbourhood Works. "This public space is bringing a significant number of community agencies and groups together in one single location. The vision is to improve lives, build relationships, eliminate barriers within the community and facilitate social change through encouraging and strengthening joint work between and among our communities. This site will be an engine room for significant collaboration with other agencies, organizations and individuals. Having a central location will meet the needs of more people, make access faster and timelier, expand impact and benefits of skills and capacities of various agencies to help all of us maximize and use the community's resources. Further, the synergy created at this site will support transformational change for many lives."

Emma Keech, the  program coordinator at the new Charlotte County Seniors Resource Centre based in St. Andrews but serving all of Charlotte County, also made a presentation about the free services now offered to assist seniors in aging in place all across the region. Although the main office for the centre is based in St. Andrews, Keech and the staff make visits across the region including the islands to help local seniors find the services and resources they need to stay in their homes longer.

"The hope is, as this programme builds, we will get more staffing and to better serve our clients," said Keech. "Our centre will be offering a variety of education services, including basic classes on community computer and phone usage, guidance on preventing falls, teaching on health, well being, facilitation of tax clinics and more. And we'll be starting those in early spring." 

After formal presentations were made, updates from the fire department, public works, and financial statements were also presented, along with the passing of Bylaw EC-6 regulating all-terrain vehicles on municipal roads. The third and final reading of Bylaw EC-6 concerning ATVs on municipal roads was passed unanimously.

"Due to the overwhelming positive response from the public hearings to the people reaching out to us personally, I'm going to vote yes on this," said Councillor Alexa Detorakis. "We ask that all affected residents receive a mail out to notify them of the public hearing to voice their opinions. And several people reached out to me as well as to other councillors regarding their questions and concerns. I'm hoping that all ATVs, motorists and residents can find a happy medium in the shared usage of the roadway in a safe and respectful manner. I'm also voting yes. Due to Quad NB's assurance that there will be an amount of self regulating in regard to club members following the rules of the road, which I feel is integral to keeping this afloat, we may have off-road enforcement officers, but sometimes these matters can be dealt with more effectively with a quick 'no, we don't do that.' "

The meeting concluded with a resident raising concerns about pedestrian safety near the tunnel outside the town limits.