More candidates needed for municipal byelections in N.B.

The nomination deadline is fast approaching for byelections in 12 New Brunswick communities, and a"significant number" of contests still have no candidates, according tothe province'schief electoral officer.

"It's not unusual in municipal elections for people to wait till the very last minute to see if, you know, if their neighbour is going to throw their hat in the ring, then they won't bother," said Kim Poffenroth."But these are important positions.

"As I've said, time and again since I started this job, people on local government make a lot of important decisions that impact the day-to-day lives of their friends and neighbours."

The responsibilities of an elected local governmentofficial include deciding the municipal budget anddetermining the level of services such asrecreation, fire, policing, snow-clearing and garbage collection.

Thereare now 19 vacancies in 12 different communities across the province.

A vacancy might occur for one of anynumber of reasons,includingillness, death or a move to another local government, Poffenroth said. Some of these vacancies remain from elections held last November for newly formed communities.

In a regular election year, local government officials would serve a four-year term.

The deadline to apply with Elections New Brunswick is Friday at 2 p.m. and community members will head to the polls on Oct. 23.

Two communities in the province have more vacancies than others. In Beaurivage, which includes Richibucto, three councillors are needed, and the same goes for Hanwell, near Fredericton.

Fredericton Junction is also the only municipality with a vacant mayor position.

Other municipalities with vacancies are:

• Campobello Island with one.
• Grand Lake with one.
• Grand Manan with one.
• Neguac with one.
• Riverview with one.
• Southern Victoria with one.
• Sunbury-York South with one.
• Tracy with one and
• Upper Miramichi with two.