The Municipal District of St. Stephen's Committee of the Whole meeting for the month of April 2024 took place in The Moosehead room at the Garcelon Civic Centre.

Council members heard presentations by external speakers, including Charles Kudors from Brunswick Exploration, who shed light on the company's mineral exploration activities and the significance of lithium in the region. 

"I'm here to basically introduce myself and Brunswick Exploration to explain sort of who we are, what we do and why we're here in St. Stephen," said Kohors. "Brunswick Exploration is in the mineral exploration and development, and we're basically one of the larger companies in Canada that sort of aggressively and systematically going through and trying to find new discoveries of lithium. And if people have heard about lithium or what is it, It's the lightest element, basically, on the periodic table, the lightest metal, and you need it for batteries. So it basically makes things charge faster and. And hold their charge longer." 

Questions from council members following the presentation touched on environmental impacts and community engagement. The focus then shifted to updates on the World's Oldest Basketball Court, emphasizing the importance of preserving heritage. Councillor Emily Rodas expressed concern about damage to the historic court over the winter.

"I don't necessarily know how insurance works," said Councillor Rodas. "But let's say when the initial damage happened and it was basically a roofing issue in December, and if there is damage to the actual court that's just in been incurred while we were waiting for the roofers to come, is that like a secondary process that you need to send an update on? Secondary things that have happened based on the insurance company not following up with the roofing contract? Like, I just don't know anything about that. I don't know how that works. But that would be my main concern is just the hardwood floor obviously, and port. So I'm just curious about that."

CAO Jeff Renaud responded to Rodas' concerns.

"I'll put it this way," said Renaud. "It's been an ongoing dialogue, especially with the delay of the roofer's arrival. There was some damage to the interior already. We are worried that it's been exacerbated, but that conversation has been ongoing throughout this process as to keeping the insurance folks updated to what's going on on site. And actually, I believe one of the insurance folks actually was here on other business and visited a number of our facilities just this week, actually. So there's been that we're going to do the best we can through the insurance program. It's sometimes frustrating the way these things work, but we're of the same mind, I think, as far as making sure that things get covered that may have been damaged due to the delays, that were not within our control."

Throughout the meeting, discussions ranged from the conservation efforts for the basketball court to the proposal for the revival of the Charlotte County Court House. The session also delved into the community safety standing committee's challenges and achievements. Plans were made to integrate the committee's work into future meetings to facilitate timely decision-making and address safety concerns effectively.