City, RSC preparing to terminate regional deal

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An agreement requiring the City of Miramichi to provide regional economic development and tourism services on behalf of the Greater Miramichi Regional Service Commission will soon fall by the wayside.

The RSC board of directors recently voted 4-1 to notify the city of its plans to terminate the five-year memorandum of understanding approved last year, which saw the municipality’s Economic Development and Tourism Department offer the economic development and tourism promotion services mandated by the province for the RSC as part of the local governance reforms.

Service commission CEO Wilson Bell said the board was required to provide six months’ written notice to get out of the deal, or the city and RSC could agree to tear it up by the end of the year. Miramichi River Valley Mayor Kevin Russell said he preferred the latter option.

“It would probably be easier to wrap it up by Dec. 31, as the new RSC and municipalities’ fiscal years start Jan. 1,” he said.

Russell, Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon, Doaktown Mayor Art O’Donnell, and Greater Miramichi rural district chair Lynn Gregan supported the motion. Alnwick Mayor Ernest Robichaud voted against it. Upper Miramichi Mayor Doug Munn was absent.

Regional economic development and tourism promotion services were among several extra mandates imposed on the province’s 12 RSCs during the municipal reforms. The new services could be provided in-house, a third party could be hired, or RSCs could opt for a combination of both.

Soon after the agreement was signed, community leaders across the region expressed concerns about what value they’d receive for the amounts paid for services, and the way the deal was approved in November 2022 by the former RSC board and rubber-stamped days before Christmas by city council, before most mayors and councils in the new municipalities were sworn in.

Earlier this year, Bell said the deal included investment attraction and referral services, a regional tourism guide and map, a regional marketing plan, a digital kiosk project, and a planned update of the Discover Miramichi and Invest in Miramichi websites. He said an economic and labour force development co-ordinator and regional on-boarding consultant would be hired and funded by the province.

To me, this is not a conflict-based move.

Adam Lordon

Lordon said he supported the motion to withdraw from the agreement as a board member, while acknowledging the board’s desire to provide services through the RSC. He said the deal with the city was always meant to be an interim plan until a new elected board took office at the commission.

The RSC’s newly adopted regional strategy also recommended phasing out the deal with the city.

“We’ve been going through the reform process, and at times, no one has really known what it’s going to look like,” said Lordon, who was part of the transition committee that developed the memorandum last year.

“But it’s been clear, especially on the economic development side, that the city hasn’t been asked to do a lot, and that will easily be able to be transferred over, from my perspective, to the RSC, acknowledging that the city will likely continue to provide those services for ourselves, which makes sense.”

Lordon said the switchover may be more complicated on the tourism side, but he’s willing to respect that his board colleagues want to see regional economic development and tourism promotion services offered in-house, and not through the city.

“To me, this is not a conflict-based move. The city was always a steward in the interim, and there was always going to be an inevitable transition out of this,” he said.

“This will allow us to conclude the interim phase and begin to shape the future.”

Robichaud said he isn’t entirely opposed to ending the deal, but he doesn’t understand some aspects of the idea.

“So far, the city has run tourism with all the surrounding areas as part of our plan,” he said. “There’s the salmon fishery upriver, and connections to the ocean downriver. The city is the hub, and that’s where people tend to stay.

“To me, we need to have both. We’re dealing with taxpayers’ dollars and need to be accountable for that.”

Gregan said he supported the motion because he believes in regional collaboration.

“We need to keep working together,” he said.