The Region of Queens has appointed Dan McDougall as interim CAO. (Rick Conrad)
The Region of Queens has hired an interim chief administrative officer while it looks for a permanent replacement for Cody Joudry.
Dan McDougall will take over CAO duties from acting CAO Pam Lovelace, who will return to her job as municipal clerk. Lovelace, a one-term Halifax councillor and unsuccessful mayoral candidate, was hired in December.
McDougall has done the top job before at Queens. He was the interim CAO in 2023 after Chris McNeill resigned.
McDougall will fill in as CAO until the region finds a replacement for Cody Joudry, whom the newly elected council fired on Dec. 16, saying he wasn’t the right “fit”.
McDougall is a former CAO of the Municipality of Chester and for the Municipality of Colchester County. He has also worked for the province, as CEO of Housing Nova Scotia, and deputy minister of the Department of Municipal Affairs.
“Dan is a very accomplished executive manager with a proven track record supporting municipalities,” Mayor Scott Christian said in a news release.
“Council felt that it was very important to install an interim CAO who comes with a wealth of experience as a CAO, a strong reputation in the local government sector, and who does not want the permanent job, assuring that they can objectively support the organization through a robust recruitment process to identify the best candidate for the role.”
Council had hired Joudry in September 2023. The region had been without a full-time CAO since that May, when McNeill resigned.
Region of Queens administration building. Photo Ed Halverson
The Region of Queens is attributing a $1,669,497 budget surplus to unexpected income from investments, taxes on home sales and unfilled staff positions.
At the September 12 meeting, council received the Region’s audited financial statement for fiscal 2022/23.
Mayor Darlene Norman says municipal staff worked hard to ensure a balanced budget and the excess is not a result of poor planning.
The Region took in $505,560 more in deed transfer taxes than expected. The deed transfer tax is a 1.5 percent tax charged by the municipality on the sale of every property in Queens.
Investments also paid off for the Region as they saw an extra $139,000 more than expected due to the Bank of Canada continually increasing their prime rate.
The audit report shows the number of municipal employee positions going unfilled is hurting the Region’s ability to complete some projects.
Transportation wages were under budget by $52,417 because of an employee shortage. Another $112,863 remained in municipal coffers because of vacancies at the regional recycling facility. The inability to fill the building inspector position resulted in another $24,000 in unpaid wages. Staffing shortages in planning and law enforcement left $86,000 and $36,000, respectively, unspent. As well, repairs to the Astor Theatre did not go ahead do to staffing issues and the Milton and North Queens pools were under budget due to staffing shortages.
Mayor Norman says other municipalities and private sector operators are having difficulty recruiting and keeping employees and the Region of Queens is no different.
Available job openings are routinely posted, and the Region is actively pursuing people to assume some positions, most notably a Chief Administrative Officer. The position is the top employee in the municipality and has been vacant since former CAO Chris McNeill resigned in May.
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A temporary replacement has been found to step in as the Region of Queens looks for a new Chief Administrative Officer.
The former CAO of the Municipality of the District of Chester Dan McDougall will assume the role until a permanent replacement is found for the outgoing CAO of Queens, Chris McNeill.
McNeill gave notice in March that he would be resigning to take up the same position for Annapolis County.
McNeill has been the CAO for Queens since January 9, 2019.
Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman is excited to land an interim CAO with McDougall’s experience to fill in while the Region continues their search.
“When a CAO is needed, it’s often CAOs who have retired because they can slip in the role and they have a sense of understanding of the Municipal Government Act, etc,” said Norman.
In addition to his time in Chester, MacDougall also served as CAO for Colchester, the CEO of Housing Nova Scotia and was Deputy Minister of Municipal Affairs.
The Chief Administrative Officer oversees all employees in the Region and is the only employee a municipal council can directly hire or fire.
At the latest meeting, Region of Queens Council decided the search for a permanent CAO will be conducted by Gerald Walsh Associates.
Interim CAO McDougall will start May 8 and McNeill’s last day is May 12.
After five meetings and hours of deliberation, the Region of Queens approved the 2023/24 budget at the most recent council meeting Tuesday, April 25.
Between the operating and capital budgets, the water utility and Hillsview Acres, the municipality is projecting $44 million in spending.
The budget includes big ticket items like $8 million for the construction of a new library and outdoor pool without raising property taxes.
We’ll have a more detailed breakdown of the budget later this week.
As the meeting continued, council approved the creation of three new public works positions.
The department will be hiring a Civil Engineering Technologist, Operations Coordinator, and a Survey Technician.
Council then awarded nine different community groups between $1,500 and $10,000 each from the Community Investment Fund.
The money will help the various groups including the Hank Snow Society, Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, and this station, QCCR with operational expenses.
The Greenfield Community Park Society were the first-ever recipients of a capital grant from the Community Investment Fund.
The society will receive $32,000 to help offset the $124,000 cost of installing new equipment including: play structures, lighting, a community fireplace and garden behind Greenfield Recreation Centre/Church and the Greenfield School.
Council then agreed to hire Gerald Walsh Associates to conduct the search for a new CAO to replace the outgoing Chris McNeill.
Finally, a request for the construction of a “Little Free Library” was deferred until staff can complete the new policy for placing of memorials in public spaces.
The next Region of Queens Council meeting will be held May 9 at 9:00am in council chambers.
The proposed site for the new library at Queens Place lies at the end of the driveway beside the sledding hill. Photo Ed Halverson
Region of Queens Council has cancelled the construction of a new library near Queens Place.
In a recorded 5-3 vote, Councillors Amirault, Charlton, Fancy, Gidney and Muise voted not to build the library at that location, while Mayor Norman and Councillors Brown and Hawkes voted to go ahead.
In August 2022 council agreed to sell the land at Queens Crossing (the name of the site containing Queens Place, the Best Western Hotel, the skatepark, the planned long-term care home and the proposed library site) to the Queens Care Society for $2 per square foot.
The 479,000 square feet of land would bring in roughly $960,000, which is about what public works staff estimate it would cost to build a road, sidewalks and water infrastructure out to the end of the cul-de-sac to accommodate the library and long-term care home.
Historically, council has reinvested any proceeds from the sale of land on that site back into infrastructure at Queens Crossing.
Charlton says she supports the construction of a new long-term care home, but council was never asked if they wanted to spend that money and since it isn’t a policy, this council is not bound by the decisions of previous councils.
“We did not discuss a road extension when we agreed to sell the land,” said Charlton. “We were selling the land because it was already serviced for water and sewer to the point where it was required.”
Mayor Darlene Norman says if the municipality doesn’t cover the cost of extending these services it will need to come from the Queens Care Society’s construction budget.
“The whole idea that we would not show our support for this amazing facility is beyond comprehensible to me,” said Norman.
Councillor Vicki Amirault chairs the library site selection committee and voted against the committee’s recommendation.
The committee was tasked by council with finding the best location to build a new library.
Councillor Amirault was contacted to provide a comment for this story but did not reply before publication.
Council is now looking at options to move the library closer to the Queens Place Emera Centre.
They have requested costed studies for two different library concepts.
One will determine the price of a stand-alone library beside Queens Place; the other would examine building an extension on the Centre.
CAO Chris McNeill told council he was warned by the project manager an extension would be more costly.
McNeill says any extension on Queens Place would have to look at the existing capacity of the building to handle additional demands on electricity, heating and water supply among other issues.
McNeill also informed council the two studies could cost in the range of $200,000.
In the meantime, council is aware of the precarious situation the Thomas H Raddall Library finds itself.
In addition to infrastructure issues the building is currently up for sale.
Council is suggesting the library find alternative locations where they could relocate temporarily until a new permanent location can be built.
Entrance to Region of Queens council chambers. Photo Ed Halverson
The Region of Queens top employee has quit.
Chief Administrative Officer Chris McNeill has resigned to take up the same post in Annapolis County.
McNeill has been the CAO for Queens since January 9, 2019.
Mayor Darlene Norman says she held off making the news public until council and staff were informed of his departure.
Norman says council will now need to determine what their next steps will be.
She says there are senior staff members who can step into an acting CAO role on an interim basis, but they will need to begin the search for a permanent replacement.
“In today’s market, CAOs do not come a dime a dozen. I’d like to be optimistic and think that there’s someone who would love to live here in the Region of Queens,” said Norman.
The emotion was apparent as Mayor Norman talked about her respect for McNeill and the work he has done in his time in Queens.
“I have always supported CAO McNeill. I believe his heart is in the betterment of the community,” said Norman. “He’s a wise, intelligent person and when I learned of this, I said I didn’t know whether to cry or to wish him well, so I wished him well.”
McNeill will end his tenure with the Region of Queens in early May.
The proposed site for the new library at Queens Place lies at the end of the driveway beside the sledding hill. Photo Ed Halverson
Region of Queens Council will revisit the decision to build the new public library at Queens Place.
Several councillors have expressed they didn’t have a full picture of the costs involved in locating the new library at Queens Place when they voted in January.
At issue is an estimated $950,000 cost to extend the road, sidewalks, and underground water and sewer infrastructure to accommodate the new build.
At the last council meeting CAO Chris McNeill explained that while it is not policy, it has been councils’ practice to reinvest the proceeds from the land sales at Queens Place back into the site.
Queens sold a large plot for the construction of the new long-term care facility replacing Queens Manor and Hillsview Manor.
The new road would reach the library as well as the new long-term care home.
Because it wasn’t infrastructure work dedicated to the library build, it wasn’t included when the costs were tallied to locate the library on the site.
Councillor Maddie Charlton says the $950,000 puts the site preparation costs at Queens Place far higher than any of the other seven sites that were being considered.
She says the Region has many priorities and it should be up to council to decide if they want to allocate $950,000 for Queens Place or if it could be used on another project.
That led to this exchange at the last meeting between Councillor Charlton and Mayor Darlene Norman.
“It sounds to me like the library committee was under the assumption that this was a signed deal, that infrastructure was happening,” said Charlton, “and we didn’t have an opportunity to discuss that’s how we want to spend that money.”
Norman replied, “There is a way to change your mind about when new information comes forward and it is called resending emotion.”
Mayor Norman is concerned if council can’t agree to build a new library at Queens Place it may never be built.
“There may even be a discussion at some point in time, we may even get back to why do we need a new library and all other things. I mean, I really don’t know why council cannot just agree that Queens Place is a great place to put a library which we are committed to do, you know,” said Norman. “Library services are part of our responsibility and it’s a library for Queens County. It’s not a Liverpool library, it’s a library for Queens County. And if we have $1,000,000 from the sale of land and we want to put that into roads, sidewalk that may assist the Manor, well isn’t that a great thing?”
Council will vote if they want to rescind the motion to build the library at Queens Place during their next meeting March 14.
The committee charged with planning a new pool in Queens still has no direction on how to go about that task.
Formed at the request of Region of Queens council the pool committee was never given a formal Terms of Reference to indicate what they should be doing.
The committee wrote Terms of Reference based on those used for the library committee and presented them for approval at the last Region of Queens council meeting.
Mayor Darlene Norman says council voted not to approve the terms because the pool committee was told when it was created municipal staff did not have time to participate.
“When this committee was formed it was mid-way through our year,” said Norman. “This was never part of any budgeting and budgeting is more than just budgeting money, budgeting also budgets staff time.”
Some councillors felt a new pool should be given a higher priority after a private donor came forward with funding towards its construction.
It was revealed during the last council meeting that contribution was in the neighbourhood of $3 million.
CAO Chris McNeill said it will likely be spring of 2023 before staff will be freed up to assist the pool committee.
In the meantime, Mayor Norman says the committee has a great deal of expertise and experience to offer.
“I am optimistic that when we get these things ironed out that that committee can be very helpful in some research. If they want to find more money for extra add-ons, if they want to deal with the biggest problem, which is staffing,” said Norman. “That truly is our largest problem when it comes to pools is the staffing component.”
Norman hopes using the clearer direction from council, the pool committee will come back to a future meeting with terms of reference that will allow them to get underway without involving municipal staff.
