The municipal building in the village of McAdam. (Image: Village of McAdam/Facebook)
Ken Stannix will serve a second term as McAdam’s mayor following the recent municipal election.
The incumbent ran unopposed and was acclaimed after results were reported by Elections New Brunswick Tuesday.
Stannix says like many municipalities in the province, McAdam’s council will continue to focus on population growth in its next term.
The village in southwestern New Brunswick has seen its population rise about 17 per cent to 1,350 after it made headlines by selling 16 plots of land for $1 in 2018 to help attract newcomers.
“Those folks have not moved here yet because of the COVID-19 restrictions, but that should get back on track next year,” Stannix said.
He says like much of the province they’ve seen interest from other parts of the country in moving to small-town New Brunswick during the pandemic.
Next, Stannix expects they’ll have to move onto growing job opportunities and business in the village.
“Next, it’ll be about how we get enough housing here to look after the folks that will be working here,” the mayor-elect said.
Stannix says council had anticipated this council growth, and they prepared by beginning the process of expanding the village’s well system from 80,000 gallons per day to 120,000 gallons per day.
“We peaked out a couple of times during the drought three years ago, and at that point we decided we need to have more water here if we’re going to have any future growth,” said Stannix.
He expects that work to be done this fall or early next spring.
In terms of the municipal election, Stannix said he was proud of the five residents who put their name forward to run for council.
“I thought that takes a lot of courage, for people to put their names forward,” he said. “A lot of folks in town they don’t understand or maybe they don’t even think about it, what it takes to put your name out there and see what people think of what you would bring to the table.”
Even though residents did not have to vote for their next mayor, there was a race for the village’s four council seats.
A total of five people put their names forward, including four incumbent councillors.
All four incumbents were re-elected: Taylor Gallant, Jody Robinson, Greg Swim, and Mitchell Little.
Voter turnout in McAdam was 52.43 per cent, above the provincial turnout of 30.35 per cent.
You can find the full list of results for McAdam and municipalities across New Brunswick through Elections New Brunswick’s website.
