Plans to create a regional ice strategy in the Saint John area have skid to a halt.
A motion to hire a consultant was defeated 5-4 during a Fundy Regional Service Commission meeting this week.
The mayors of Rothesay, Quispamsis, Grand Bay-Westfield and St. Martins voted in favour of the motion. The mayor of Saint John sided with the local service districts in voting against it.
Gary Clark, commission chair and mayor of Quispamsis, said he is disappointed it has come to this point.
“We have worked, as an organization, very hard and diligently on this to come to an agreement and we were very close,” said Clark.
“It’s unfortunate but the ice strategy has died.”
Clark said the province was willing to cover 75 per cent of the cost of hiring the consultant.
He said the motion was simply to move the strategy forward — not to make any final commitments.
“It was to bring the information forward, get more information so we could make an informed decision on the number of [rink] users in each municipality,” Clark said.
Another motion by Don Darling, the mayor of Saint John, to redistribute operating costs based on rink usage did not gain a seconder.
Without a regional funding formula, the city has said it will implement a non-resident user fee for rinks — something Clark said his town will not do.
Despite his disappointment, Clark said he is still optimistic about the future of regional collaboration.
“This is only one file,” he said. “There are many, many other files and issues that we work on together and we agree upon.”
Clark said it is possible the communities of Rothesay, Quispamsis, Grand Bay-Westfield and St. Martins could come together to create their own ice strategy.
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