Update

It has been a great honour and pleasure for me to have been elected to Common Council by the Citizens of Saint John four years ago this May 10th. To this end I would like to give you an update on what I have been doing as a Saint John City Councillor these past several months.

I have attended many meetings and presentations on behalf of the residents of Saint John. These include replacing our aging infrastructure while at the same time developing new incentives and solutions that will not only attract new residents, but will attract new businesses and industrial jobs to help retain out youth, for residents already living here and for the new residents that will want to live in our City. Issues and solutions I have completed successfully during the past while include:

• Moved the Acamac, Ketepec and Belmont road and safety project forward by two years in the engineering planning and budgeting process.
• Successfully worked as part of the team in bringing new business, development, and opportunities that have brought $7.5 million in new revenues to Saint John in 2008.
• Successfully worked on the Lily Lake Pavilion restoration that has put new spark back into Rockwood Park.
• Made the Council motion to hire a coordinator to attract sports events, festivals, and tourism.
• Supported recreational facilities upgrades and increased Arts funding.

Equally important, I was the only Council Member to vote against the 2008 City budget because I wanted to have the property tax rate reduced and to share some of the $7.5 million in new revenue to the City with the taxpayer through a lower property tax rate.