Although some candidates have already declared themselves, nominations for May 10 municipal, school district and regional health authority elections officially open this Saturday, March 20.

Paul Harpelle of Elections New Brunswick says that prospective candidates can start to file their paperwork as soon as Monday, when local returning offices open. Prospective candidates have until Friday April 9 at 2pm to drop off their nomination papers. And “2pm is a hard deadline,” says Harpelle.

CHMA took a look at what’s involved in the various elected positions on the ballot for May 10, 2021.

SACKVILLE TOWN COUNCIL

In Sackville, there are 9 elected positions open on town council, 8 councillors and one mayor. The positions are part-time, with council meeting formally twice per month most of the year. Councillors also have liaison duties, which involve meetings with staff from various departments.

Deputy Mayor Ron Aiken, who has declared himself a candidate for mayor this year, told CHMA in December that the time commitment varies. When he took over mayoral duties for John Higham, who retired at the end of September, Aiken says his workload just about doubled. “There’s some weeks when you don’t do much at all, and there’s some weeks you’re spending 30 hours at it,” he said.

All nine elected representatives receive a small salary for their work, with the mayor getting just shy of $15,000, and councillors receiving just over $7800. After the election, a deputy mayor is appointed by council and they receive a slight bump in salary to just over $8800.

For those interested in finding out more about these elected positions, some Sackville residents have organized an informal, virtual “Open House” featuring several current councillors and staff there to “answer your questions about civic life.” The Open House takes place next week, on Tuesday, March 23rd at 6:30pm. To join the meeting via Microsoft Teams, click this link.

So far, two candidates have declared themselves as candidates for Mayor in Sackville, Ron Aiken and current councillor Shawn Mesheau.

DISTRICT EDUCATION COUNCILS (DEC)

Sackvillians can run for either the Anglophone East School District (Subdistrict 2) or the Francophone Sud School District (Subdistrict 5).

District Education Council (DEC) members also get paid, though with modest amounts meant to cover their costs. Regular council members receive $3000 per year, as well as having council-related travel costs covered. The elected chair of each council receives $6000 per year.

Flavio Nienow of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development says that the remuneration is, “not intended to compensate a member for their volunteer time but will off-set costs that a person might incur as a member of the DEC such as babysitting or office supplies.”

Though the ‘pay’ is much less than a local town councillor, the time commitment may also be less. Though it varies from district to district, each DEC must have a minimum of 10 public meetings a year. “However,” says Nienow, “councils may plan for additional meetings, information sessions and community engagement events as needed. The estimated time a DEC member spends on their duties is equal to 15 workdays a year. The bulk of that time is for public meetings which are generally held on weeknights.”

REGIONAL HEALTH AUTHORITIES (RHA)

People in the area also have a shot at sitting on the board for one of the province’s two health authorities, Horizon or Vitalité. Both boards are comprised of 8 elected members and 7 members who are appointed by the Minister of Health, as well as some non-voting members.

The boards typically meet four times per year, plus an annual meeting. Elected RHA members receive $500 per full-day meeting and $250 per half-day meeting, as well as compensation for travel expenses.

For the Horizon network, Sackville sits in subregion B1, and for Vitalité, it’s in subregion A1. Both regions are the exact same area, but with separate representatives.

ENCOURAGING CITIZENS TO PUT THEIR HAT IN THE RING

Harpelle says Elections NB has stepped up its outreach this year in an effort to encourage candidates, especially those who had prepared to run last year, before the pandemic arrived.

“Since the middle of February, we’ve been working with our partners at Education, Health and Local Government to use digital platforms to put out messages encouraging people that might have been considering running last year,” says Harpelle. “We are encouraging them to consider putting their hat in the ring to run for these upcoming elections.”

Further information and links:
Information for DEC candidates.
Information for RHA candidates.
Sackville’s Municipal Returning Officer is Tanya Cooper. The location of the office will be posted Monday, and available here.
Important dates for 2021 municipal, DEC and RHA elections.