The City of Saint John has been providing front facing and support services to residents and businesses for more than two centuries. The current organization structure consists of six service areas, working together to plan and coordinate effective and efficient service delivery.
Growth and Community Services
Providing guidance, direction, and support for development by incorporating Council and community objectives for strategic growth. Initiatives that enhance the quality of life through housing, business investment, heritage and leisure to create a city where people want to live, work and invest.
Service delivery includes: One Stop Development Shop; building inspections; permitting; infrastructure development; community standards and compliance; heritage conservation, planning, growth and community service; arts and culture; and the Saint John City Market.
Transportation and Public Works
Supporting the community vision of a green, accessible city that offers opportunities for physical activity, and ease of transportation including public, active and roads.
Service delivery includes: leisure facilities such as parks and public spaces; roads and sidewalks; parking; solid waste; fleet; urban storm water; and, traffic. Saint John Transit delivers services through a commission.
Strategic Services
By providing strategic insight, guidance, and expertise, this group enables the City to deliver quality public services in an innovative and sustainable way.
Service delivery includes: information technology; corporate performance; communications; government relations; insurance and claims; customer service, finance; and, procurement.
Corporate Services
Corporate Services is the point of contact between the city administration and Common Council. Ensuring the organization is meeting its required obligations and compliance through general counsel, human resources and the City Clerk.
Service delivery includes: City Clerk; human resources; general counsel; real estate; contract administration; and, records and information management.
Public Safety
Public safety protects citizens, property and the environment with a focus on creating safe neighbourhoods, essential to overall quality of life.
Service delivery includes: fire prevention; fire suppression; HAZMAT; and, Saint John Emergency Management Organization. The Saint John Police Force delivers services through a commission.
Utilities and Public Infrastructure
This area is responsible for all facilities, systems, and structures that are owned and operated by the municipality, in this case The City of Saint John. The Saint John Water Utility is committed to providing safe, clean drinking water; protecting the environment through wastewater management; and supporting industry through supply of industrial water.
Service delivery includes: Saint John Water Utility; Public infrastructure and support services such as engineering; climate change programs; GIS; facilities management and asset management. Saint John Energy is governed through a commission.
If you wish to dispute a parking ticket you received, please complete an online complaint form. Your complaint must be received within 48 hours of the date of issue of your ticket. The form will be reviewed by the supervisor, who will decide whether to excuse the ticket or not. If the supervisor deems that the ticket is valid but you still wish to dispute the matter, you may await the summons to attend Traffic Court.
If you’ve been injured or experienced property damage, and you feel the City of Saint John is responsible—for example, due to negligence in the maintenance of facilities, roads, trees, or sewers—you may consider filing a damage claim.
Before filing a claim, you should contact your own insurance company. If your insurer feels the City is responsible, they will pursue the City for damages. All claims take time to investigate. In the meantime, it is your responsibility to repair your damaged property. Be sure to keep receipts in case your damage claim is successful.
Saint John’s Risk Management Division works with citizens, businesses, and property owners to determine the City’s liability as it applies to various claims. The City pays only when there is a legal obligation—for instance if the City was negligent in their operations. The City is not typically negligent if the damage is due to extreme weather, or sudden, unpreventable occurrences. For example, potholes are an unavoidable part of life in any city. Drivers have the duty to drive as per road conditions and some onus is on them in the event of hitting a road hazard. The City is liable for damage only if the City has failed to respond to the hazard in a reasonable time. If, after investigation, the City is found to be negligent, the amount paid is based on current value, not replacement cost, of damaged property.
Rural properties in Saint John are especially prone to flooding. In the autumn months, Saint John’s location along the Saint John River and Bay of Fundy makes it vulnerable to ice storms, spring freshet flooding, and hurricanes. In the winter, frozen culverts can create problems with the natural flow of water. And in the spring, melting snow can be a major contributor to flooding. Localized flooding is the situation that is most common in Saint John but these are usually short term.
What we do
Ditches and culverts in Saint John’s rural areas divert runoff and prevent roads and buildings from flooding. There are 21,027 metres of municipal ditches in Saint John’s rural areas. The City operates and maintains more than 2,640 culverts (2,100 driveway culverts and 500 cross culverts) and 1,054 culvert headwalls, most of them in the rural areas. Additionally, Saint John’s rural communities benefit from 9 stormwater facilities like wet ponds, dry ponds, oil and grit separators, and inlet control structures.
In some rural communities, stormwater ponds collect the runoff and hold it back long enough to allow pollutants to settle and be broken down by bacteria. Cleaner water is then released into nearby waterways.
The City of Saint John monitors water levels and weather conditions due to spring flooding from the Saint John River and runoff. We check roads and direct employees on when and where steaming, road repairs, or barricades and warning signs are required (but note that the city does NOT go onto private property to clean out or steam the culverts). Media releases keep local residents informed of road closures and dangerous areas, and in extreme conditions, daily updates on the city website also keep residents up to date.
Summer grading of gravel roads
The goal of summer gravel road maintenance is to keep gravel roads in a reasonable safe driving condition relative to recent weather conditions. The order in which roads are graded depends on traffic volumes, the structural conditions of the road, and the amount of gravel on the road. Repair of soft spots in gravel roads will be undertaken if funding is in place and when crews and materials are available.
Roadway structures
City staff work to maintain roadway structures—including retaining walls, guide rails, municipal fences, medians, and roadway shoulders—that extend the road life and ensures the safety of the public. These efforts provide drivers and pedestrians with safe, functional roads, and maintain accessibility of these roads through all seasons.
You can help
Here’s what you can do to help reduce the risk of flooding on your property.
Effective downspout drainage
Downspouts should be disconnected from the weeping tile and extend at least 1.8 metres (six feet) from your basement wall to drain away from the house toward a street or drainage swale. This ensures roof water doesn’t enter onto the weeping tile around your foundation.
Proper lot grading
Land should slope outward from the foundation of the house for a minimum of 1.8 metres (six feet). If the lot slopes toward the house, surface water will enter the weeping tile and overload the drainage system. Use impervious materials such as clay or a plastic drainage mat near the surface to limit the amount of surface water that finds its way to the weeping tile.
Rain Gardens
Install a rain garden to limit flows to the storm sewer or neighbouring properties. Rain gardens are planted depressions that are designed to absorb rainwater runoff from impervious areas like roofs, driveways, walkways, and compacted lawn areas. This reduces rain runoff by allowing stormwater to soak into the ground.
Swales
A swale is a wide shallow channel with gently sloping side slopes. Provide swales along the back and/or side property boundaries to limit flows towards your house. The swales should be as large as possible to slow runoff.