A message from Sussex Mayor Marc Thorne and Sussex Corner Mayor Wayne Wilkins on Local Governance Reform

Local government reform is well underway and the past few months have been busy ones for everyone involved in the process.  Beginning January 1, 2023 New Brunswick will move from 340 entities to just 89 and, for now, our entity has been identified as entity 44.  Our new community will consist of the former Town of Sussex, Village of Sussex Corner, and a small portion of the LSD of Sussex. 

Our process is being led by a Provincially appointed Transition Facilitator (Bill Thompson) and he is supported by a Transition Advisory Committee that consists of the Mayors, Deputy Mayors, and Administration of Sussex and Sussex Corner.  Representatives of the Parish of Sussex participated in the early phase in order to provide input and help guide the path forward.

There is still much work to be done before our communities become one but for now, we are pleased to announce the following:

• An election for a new Mayor and Council will take place on November 28^th, 2022.  We will have a hybrid model with four ward Councillors and three at-large Councillors.  The Mayor will be elected at-large.
• Our community will consist of two wards: Sussex and Sussex Corner.  Each ward will elect two Councillors.
• The ward map can be viewed at this link: 8.44.pdf (gnb.ca)
• Our type of local government entity will be a “town”.
• Our new name was chosen with a view of maintaining identity, recognition of place, economy of language (length), and administrative impact (cost of replacing existing signs, maps, etc.).
• Our new name will be “Sussex”.
• Local identities will not change and current civic and mailing addresses will be retained.  Businesses and residents will not have to change any identification or other documents as a result of this reform.

Over the next few months we will continue the work of establishing by-laws, tax and utility rates, new roles and responsibilities of our valued employees, and other matters of importance in order to be ready to begin our future together in 2023. 

The team working on our transition is dedicated to ensuring that our amalgamation creates the best outcomes for each and every resident and business.  We are working respectfully and collaboratively together to create the best community that we can and will be providing updates as soon as we finalize details.

More information on Local Governance Reform can be found at this link: Local Governance Reform (gnb.ca)