Mary Schryer

With municipal elections being decided Monday, Quispamsis mayor‑elect Mary Schryer is outlining her plans for the upcoming term.

Once sworn in, Schryer said she will use Quispamsis’s strategic plan as a “guiding light” during her term and will focus on improving service delivery and adding commercial and housing opportunities that allow for growth while maintaining the town’s small‑town character.

Schryer explained that as the town has seen eight per cent growth over the past five years, she wants to work with both new and existing residents to manage that growth in a way that better serves the community.

“When we have new residents and our existing residents, how do we manage that growth together to make sure that the characteristics of the town remain the same, but also becomes more inviting and more inclusive community,” she said.

Schryer added she would like to focus on better aligning resources, infrastructure and partnerships to achieve projects in Quispamsis, which she said is “crucial” to getting the best results for the town.

Other top priorities for Schryer include work on water infrastructure and ensuring the town is opening opportunities for new housing and commercial ventures.

“Our main objective right now is that we are looking at housing,” she said. “Where we were able to expand housing for seniors and some affordable housing, we’d like to see that happen and work with our developers as to how that might come about.”

Before being elected mayor, Schryer served as Quispamsis deputy mayor under Mayor Libby O’Hara. Prior to that, Schryer was elected as the town’s MLA in 2006, following a seven‑year tenure on council.

Schryer said she decided to run for mayor because she believed the town was going in the “right direction” and wanted to maintain that momentum.

“I wanted to see some stability for that direction to continue,” she said.

Schryer added she plans to be a mayor who is open and accessible to residents’ concerns, a quality she said she admired in her predecessor.

All councillors from the previous term reoffered in the election, and a total of 12 candidates are running for seven council positions.

The incumbent candidates are councillors Mike Biggar, Noah Donovan, Kerrie Luck, Kirk Miller, Emil T. Olsen and Beth Thompson.

The new candidates are Jeffery Cawley, Jen Kelly‑Barnett, Steve Roberts, Jonathan Standring and Eddie Van Dam.

As of 8:55 p.m., all the incumbent candidates have been reelected. But a new face has joined the team. Doug McDonald is now Quispamsis’ seventh councillor, winning the race with a total of 1432 votes.

According to McDonald’s campaing platform, he is an accountant with more than 40 years of experience in helping small businesses with income tax and financial planning.

For the past 12 years, he has served as Rothesay’s treasurer, which has given him “hands-on experience” with municipal budgets, infrastructure planning, and “the financial decisions to shape a community.”