It’s an incorporated non-profit organization with Charitable Status. The volunteer Board represents stakeholders and by its incorporation charter is structured to offer representation to the Town of St. Stephen and other Charlotte County municipalities including Local Service Districts, the City of Calais, the Arena Board, service clubs, major user groups including ice and aquatic activity groups, and the local business community.

The Town of St. Stephen will be the sole owner of the Charlotte County Civic Centre.

The Civic Centre will serve the residents of St. Stephen and the citizens of the adjacent municipalities, Local Service Districts and the residents of the Washington County on the other side of the border. Accessibility to programming will be the focus of the Charlotte County Civic Centre’s mission so that as many people as possible can benefit from the services offered.

As proposed, the Civic Centre will include a new indoor ice surface with comfortable seating and the ability to host other functions; an indoor pool with therapeutic section; an indoor walking track; meeting space for 300-500 people; retail space for rent; a new home for the Boys and Girls Club as a rent paying tenant; and public space.

Several options have been evaluated including a preferred site on the downtown waterfront. After a geological investigation, foundation costs were deemed too expensive to build the structure we need. Other sites are again being evaluated. A site serviced by municipal water and sewer systems is strongly preferred because of the type of facility. To extend those services much beyond the area already served is very expensive, so a site within the Town boundaries is likely the most cost effective. A site committee is currently evaluating possible sites right now.

Surveys completed by the public in late 2005 indicated that the greatest interest was an indoor pool. Although we have outdoor pools and had an indoor one in Calais, there is a great expressed desire for one with organized lessons, suitable for competitive meets, with a therapeutic element, available all year round. This is one aspect that particularly appealed to adults and seniors. The Milltown pool was replaced out of necessity and the Kiwanis pool has a very short remaining life and would be replaced by the Civic Centre pool.

Although there are some very inconvenient user times in the current Border Arena and in fact a slight shortage, it is very difficult to predict future needs, particularly when there is stated ice time available in St. Andrews. Demographics in the school system would clearly suggest a declining youth population in the future. There are opportunities to expand existing programs and to add new ones, but this is very difficult to quantify. The additional $4 million capital cost to build a second new ice surface might have compromised the whole project. The best compromise we could find was to recommend the continuance of the Border Arena as a limited
season second ice surface beyond the opening of the Civic Centre. Capital costs and operating costs would be as low as possible and we would have the opportunity to prove the need for a second ice surface, or not. The decision to continue to operate the Border Arena belongs to the Town of St. Stephen and must be based on known and potential future costs and revenue.

The Centre will include a pool, an indoor walking track, meeting rooms, and public spaces. In addition, given the size and versatile design of the arena complex, it will be able to meet a number of other community priorities by serving as an excellent venue for a wide range of events of local and regional appeal. These could include concerts and other artistic and cultural events, fairs and festivals, trade and consumer shows, and much more.

Both governments have told us very clearly that they are supportive in general of the project but will not make a financial commitment until the local area has made their financial commitment. To date the Town of St. Stephen has made that commitment, as have two large service clubs - Kiwanis and Rotary. We have now embarked on a $3.5 million major fund-raising campaign to prove that local support. Importantly, all commitments made to that effort are fully refundable if the project cannot proceed, or if the donor chooses not to continue support. In a perfect world we would have the guaranteed support of the two other levels of government before we asked local businesses and individuals, but that is not how they work.

Unfortunately we need to spend money to move the project along even if it is still uncertain. We cannot ask businesses or individuals to support a project without its scope defined and justified, capital and operating costs estimated, and the benefits documented. And we must have local support documented before approaching the other governments. All the money raised will be put in a special account and if the project, for any reason, is not proceeding, the money will be given back to donors.

Obviously there are many other facilities like the one proposed here. Most recently in New Brunswick, similar facilities in Sussex, Grand Falls, Campbellton, Woodstock, Sackville, Bathurst, Fredericton and the YMCA’s of Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton received financial support from municipal, federal and provincial governments. The commitment is clearly not guaranteed, but we must position ourselves where we can ask with some degree of certainty. That means a well defined project, capital and operating costs estimates, proof that the community wants it and is financially supportive of it - in summary, a business case.

Estimates have been made regarding operating costs and revenue based upon the experience of our existing Border Arena and outdoorpools. We have compared and continue to compare our estimates with other similar facilities in the Maritimes. Of course, they are all different but give a reasonable indication. It would be great to have a fully self-supporting facility and we should work to that end within reason, however if fully user-paid, the rates might be so high that the benefits could not be enjoyed by a large proportion of our population. As a Town-owned facility, the Town of St. Stephen will absorb any costs which exceed operating revenue.

The annual cost of operating the new facility is estimated to be in the order of $794,000, including staffing, utilities, maintenance and related miscellaneous expenses. The annual revenues generated by the Civic Centre’s various activities and events will be approximately
$589,000.

The Civic Centre Board has no authority whatsoever to change your tax rate. Only elected officials can do that. There is a capital cost and an operating cost commitment to the Civic Centre. The Town of St. Stephen is looking at ways to support this project in conjunction
with their other capital and operating plans.

Over the course of the past two years, there have been more than 22 meetings to discuss the Civic Centre project. That is not to suggest that everyone who attended one of these meetings completely agrees with everything the project proposes, or that it should even proceed, but hopefully proves the project was not developed in a vacuum.

That process is not over. As time passes people’s opinions change, people’s needs change, businesses change, etc. and we must be prepared to continually make sure the project is affordable and meets the needs of the area. There will be lots of future opportunities for public input.

Yes, in exchange for your financial contribution, an official income tax receipt will be provided.

It is the clear position of the Civic Centre Committee that no construction will be started until all the funds required are pledged and/or in the bank. The goal of our current Fund-Raising Campaign is to raise $3.5 Million. Added to the Town of St. Stephen's commitment of up to $2.1 Million, this potential $5.6 Million will make up the community's portion of the cost of our new civic centre. The Provincial and Federal Governments have indicated that they will each match the monies raised by the Charlotte County Civic Centre Committee. Discussions already held with both Provincial and Federal representatives indicate a favourable response. No formal agreement has been reached since the Town of St. Stephen's commitment, and those of the Provincial and Federal Governments are all contingent upon the success of the present fund-raising campaign. Again, should the project not proceed for any reason, all funds will be fully reimbursed.