The Town of Pasadena has been operating at the same level as many larger municipalities in the province in terms of the services it offers and the staff it employs.
Up to now, though, its population saw it grouped in with the province’s smaller communities as part of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador’s (MNL) Small Town Caucus.
But things have changed and the town is now a part of the MNL’s Urban Municipalities Caucus.
“We’re in with the big boys,” said Mayor Gary Bishop on Monday.
Bishop attended his first meeting of the Urban Municipalities Caucus in Grand Falls-Windsor this past weekend.
Over the last four or five years, he said the town has shown good growth. The latest population statistics show the town’s population has grown by over eight per cent and at 3,620 people it is now the 22nd or 23rd largest community in the province.
The move to the urban caucus is because of that population growth.
While smaller communities may sometimes feel out of place among larger centres like St. John’s or Mount Pearl, Bishop said there are others in the caucus like Bonavista and Deer Lake that are more in line what Pasadena is doing.
“But a lot of times you do find that there are a lot of similar grounds no matter is it’s a city or a town.”
Take cannabis, which will become legal on July 1.
“We’re all in the same field with all the same rules and regulations,” said Bishop.
“You have to realize it’s going to be legal so there’s an advantage there for some communities to look into it.”
As for expenses, Bishop said they may be higher for somewhere like Corner Brook, but the issues the two municipalities are dealing with are still the same.
And then there’s immigration.
“It’s not something on your radar,” he said.
But, he said it should as it could be a way for Pasadena to increase its population and to attract skilled people to the area.
