Common Council voted unanimously in favour of supporting the proposed regional recreational plan that was presented by the Fundy Regional Service Commission.
Mayor Don Darling serves on that commission as well and says the plan is a great way of collaborating with surrounding municipalities to achieve more.
Darling says the city needs to change the way they do business and calls the fiscal situation in Saint John “not great”.
The recreation plan hopes to bring Saint John together with surrounding municipalities in terms of being on the same page and attempting to accomplish the same goals.
Darling says everyone needs to put their heads together to find solutions.
The pilot project of the regional recreational plan will include an ice strategy, which will look at addressing the four aging centennial arenas in Saint John.
The Fundy Regional Service Commission estimates the life span of those arenas are 5-10 years.
35 percent of the users of Saint John’s arenas come from other parts of the region.
Councillor Greg Norton says collaboration with Saint John and surrounding municipalities should start with trails.
Norton says trails “connect everybody”, and questions why an ice strategy would be the first step taken.
He says it creates a “divisiveness before the conversation even gets off the table”, in terms of where a multi-ice surface would be placed within the city once the older arenas life span runs up.
Deputy Mayor Shirley McAlary says the plan lacks strength and needs legislation to enforce it.
McAlary says the city has four arenas, the Aquatic Centre, Harbour Station and they pay all of the capital costs.
She says the only little bit of money the city gets is from an agreement that was legislated, calling it “the only way it works”.
