Town of Berwick, Nova Scotia

The Council of the Town of Berwick is made up of a Mayor and 6 Councillors all elected at large. "At large" means "general area", that is, Berwick is not divided up into various geographic "wards" or "ridings". Each councilor has a duty to represent and work for all residents and businesses in the town in a nonpartisan way. Beginning with the latest Municipal Election in October 2008, Council's term will run for four years. The next election will be held, October, 2012. 

(Back row, left to right: Gary Whittier, Don Clarke, Anthony Morse, Mike Trinacty). Front row, left to right: Anna Ashford-Morton, John Prall, Marianne Woodworth)

The Berwick Council is responsible for setting public policy, approving the Town's annual budget, entering agreements, providing executive leadership, making planning and development decisions, and adopting new codes and bylaws. 

Official Flag of the Town of Berwick

A new energy monitoring initiative will give customers of the Berwick Electric Commission a better idea of how much power they are using and is expected to reduce energy consumption. Read the Chronicle Herald article.

Monitoring systems are available to citizens and can easily be installed by homeowners. Information is available on the Acadia Management Group website at www.amginc.ca or at www.bluelineinnovations.com. 

Here are the results of the Town of Berwick's municipal election. Our ballots took somewhat longer to tally for having to run both a manual and electronic system simultaneously. (Note these are unofficial results. The Official Addition occurs Tuesday October 21, 2008) The councilor race was for 6 seats.

Mayor

John Prall, Declared by acclamation

Councilors

Anna Ashford-Morton: 553 votes (6th) (re-elected)

Don Clarke: 687 votes (2nd) (re-elected)

Danny Lecky: 210 votes

Anthony L. Morse: 722 votes (1st) (elected)

Michael J. Munday: 527 votes

Mike Trinacty: 662 votes (3rd) (re-elected)

Gary Whittier: 655 votes (4th) (re-elected)

Marianne Woodworth: 565 votes (5th) (elected)

Voting Stats

Total number of eligible voters: 1675

Total number of ballots cast:  891 (electronic and paper)

Voter turnout percentage: 53.2%

Ratio of Electronic to Manual ballots: 44% Electronic and 56% Manual (paper)

Voter response to e-voting

Election officials and candidates alike heard many positive comments on the evoting system. Variously, voters described it as slick, easy, fast, a snap, very convenient. We heard stories of disabled people who had not voted in the last election or the last two elections, but did e-vote in this election. We had some votes come in from Berwick residents presently visiting in the United States, Bermuda, Saskatoon and Truro. More e-vote stories in the coming days.

Certainly we had hoped for a higher turnout and this result motivates us to continue to seek new and better ways to stimulate meaningful citizen engagement. 

Congratulations to all new councilor-elects! 

What's the difference between a vote and a ballot?

A ballot is a summary document or device (including electronic) which the voter submits to list all of his/her vote(s). For the councilor race, each eligible person voter gets one and only one ballot. The one ballot in Berwick's case, listed 8 choices. A vote is one or several choices among the various alternatives. In the case of the councilor race, each voter's single ballot may contain 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 choices depending on the voter's preferences. Thus, 600 voters would submit a maximum of 600 ballots but the number of actual votes cast in a race with 6 possible choices could range from 600 votes upward to 3,600 votes and/or anything in between. 

The final complete copy of this year's Town of Berwick Budget is now available online and at the Town offices. Save paper, download the budget (1.66 MB). This year's version includes added schedules and charts to help you understand how your tax dollars are spent.

The following message, along with the pic, was sent to a Town staff, from one of Berwick's armed forces persons, way up in Alert, NWT.

I was posted to CFS Alert for 6 months in 2006 and made this sing which will stay there Forever.. Thought you guys would like to have a copy of it for the town.  As you know my family lives in berwick and we all call it ower home even when we are up here at CFB Petawawa.    I Getting ready to go back overseas to Afganstan and getting all the little things done before going.  Wish all the best during Gala Days wishing we were all there.   If you require more info on this contact me at my email address above and will be happy to give you what I can.

Kings Transit informs us that July was record-breaking month for bus ticket sales in Berwick, more than $4,000! Previous averages have been $2500-$3,000.  

Repairs to the bridge, north end of Town, are more extensive than first estimated. Work will take longer, probably closer to the end of August.

You can help your local Berwick and District Volunteer Fire Department raise money for new firefighting equipment. For a $100 donation we will have your name etched in a glass brick to be displayed permanently at the new fire hall station.

To order your personalized glass brick, please call Shannon Parker at 538-1583 or email him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Tax receipts will be available.

Elected and appointed folks from the Town of Windsor and West Hants County visited Berwick to learn about our new fire hall efforts. Mayor John Prall, Fire Commissioner Brian Hirtle, Chief Laurie Saunders, along with their peers underlined the benefits of always striving for collaborative outcomes. Our visitors posed many good questions, about budgets, grant funding, inter-organizational agreements, governance, planning. They're doing their homework in a quest to build a fine new fire hall in the Windsor/West Hants region. Click on the thumbnail for some photos of the tour, July 3, 2008.

• Windsor's Mayor Allen (right) with executive assistant, Shelleena. Windsor's Mayor Allen (right) with executive assistant, Shelleena.
• Project Manager, Mark Bouter, on the job at the new fire hall construction site. Project Manager, Mark Bouter, on the job at the new fire hall construction site.
• Visitors from West Hants and Windsor inspect wall where solar panels will go. Visitors from West Hants and Windsor inspect wall where solar panels will go.
• Kings County Councilor, Ted Palmer, intent on Chief Saunders words about the new fire hall. Kings County Councilor, Ted Palmer, intent on Chief Saunders words about the new fire hall.
• Windsor CAO, Louis Coutinho, touring the recreation hall. Windsor CAO, Louis Coutinho, touring the recreation hall.
• Deputy Chief, Mark Marchant, demonstrating hard-hat aerodynamics. Deputy Chief, Mark Marchant, demonstrating hard-hat aerodynamics.
• Project Manager, Mark Bouter, behind the (re)bars. Project Manager, Mark Bouter, behind the (re)bars.
• MLA, Mark Parent, chatting with a roofer at the new fire hall site. MLA, Mark Parent, chatting with a roofer at the new fire hall site.
• Warden Richard Dauphin (left), West Hants, and Mayor John Prall, Berwick. Warden Richard Dauphin (left), West Hants, and Mayor John Prall, Berwick.
• Firefighter, Steven McMahon, explaining interior features. Left to him, Mark Bouter. Firefighter, Steven McMahon, explaining interior features. Left to him, Mark Bouter.
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Berwick marked Canada Day 2008 with plenty of red and white celebrations. Check out the photo gallery. Click the thumbnail.

Watch for our Summer Flyer to be on-line by early June.  Summer Programs to include Sport Camps, Day Camps, Tennis Lessons, Swim Lessons and lots of special events!  Call The Recreation Department at 538-8616/4016 for more information.

Amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act will take effect on Sunday, June 1, 2008 to clarify driver and pedestrian responsibilities. Go to the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal website for facts and flyer.