Regional councillors are back to budget talks on Tuesday evening. (Rick Conrad)
The Region of Queens is about to announce who its new top staffer will be.
Councillors will publicly appoint the region’s new chief administrative officer at a special meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In a staff report, acting municipal clerk Heather Cook says more than 40 applications for the job were received from across Canada.
Shortlisted candidates went through two interviews with the region’s CAO selection committee. That committee included Mayor Scott Christian, and councillors Maddie Charlton, Stewart Jenkins and Courtney Wentzell.
Dan McDougall has filled in as interim CAO since Joudry was fired.
The region’s new CAO is set to start the job in mid-June.
Queens councillors are also back to budget discussions on Tuesday evening.
This will be the third public meeting about the 2025/26 budget.
Councillors began their budget deliberations on April 24 by looking at capital and infrastructure spending. Last week, they tackled the operating budget.
On Tuesday evening, they’ll address issues that came up in the first two meetings, as well as any other changes or requests from councillors.
Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR last week that the region has about a $1-million surplus from 2024/25. But he said the specific surplus won’t be known until finance staff go through the final numbers and release the audited figures later this year.
Residents or the media were not provided with draft budget documents as they were last year. So far, only the region’s staff and councillors have a complete picture of the actual numbers from 2024/25 and the forecasted totals for this year.
The special meeting will be held at council chambers on White Point Road and livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
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.
Cody Joudry and Mayor Scott Christian at a recent Region of Queens council meeting. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)
Region of Queens councillors have fired Chief Administrative Officer Cody Joudry, saying that he wasn’t “the right fit” with the new council.
Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR on Monday that no specific incident led to the dismissal of the municipality’s top staffer.
“I think it just came down to a fit. It’s not uncommon when you get a new slate of publicly elected officials and they have their own vision and priorities for the community and direction they want to take the organization, and I think at the end of the day, the fit just wasn’t there.
“We’re intent on achieving some big things. We have a lot of work to do. And at the end of the day, today’s decision reflected the fact that it was our judgment that in order to best potition ourselves to achieve that work and in the best interest of the community, we’re looking at finding a different person to function in the role of the CAO.”
Councillors called a special meeting late Friday afternoon for Monday morning to discuss a personnel matter in a closed-door session. Christian said the decision to let Joudry go was unanimous.
“I wish Cody all the best in his future endeacours. I think personally we connected and professionally we were able to work well together but at the end of the day, it’s just a matter of the priorities that council has, the vision we have for the future. We weren’t getting traction in advancing some of these priorities.”
Christian said he didn’t want to comment on specifically why Joudry wasn’t the right fit for the new council.
Joudry was hired as the region’s top staffer in September 2023. The region had been without a full-time CAO since that May, when Chris McNeill resigned.
Joudry’s family has roots in Caledonia and he is a member of the L’sitkuk First Nation in Bear River.
Senior staff members filled in as CAO after McNeill left and until the region hired an interim CAO before ultimately recruiting Joudry.
Recently hired municipal clerk Pam Lovelace will take over as acting CAO until council finds an interim replacement for Joudry, while they conduct a longer search for a permanent CAO. Lovelace is a former Halifax councillor and deputy mayor.
Christian said he expects council to hire an interim CAO sometime in January.
“And then we’re really going to take our time and we’re going to be very deliberate about who we think is the appropriate candidate. Everybody knows this organization has a lot of challenges right now,” Christian said.
“There’s a lot of discontent amongst the public in terms of the services that are delivered by the municiapility. There’s a lot of work to do and we need to make sure that we find the best suited person to function in that role and to support the will of council to implement our decision making in a way that is going to advance things in a constructive way.
“There’s a new group of people who are representing the will of the residents of Queens and we are committed to working together, pursuing a new direction and we made the determination that we are going to best be served by undergoing our own process to find our right-fit CAO to work with us because we have a lot of work to do.”
He said councillors ultimately came to their decision during their closed-door session on Monday.
Christian said council decided to appoint Lovelace as acting CAO because they didn’t want to add more work to their senior managers. He said they already have some good candidates to fill the interim CAO position, until they can find a permanent replacement.
Pam Lovelace, a former Halifax councillor and mayoral candidate, is the Region of Queens’ new municipal clerk. (Facebook)
The Region of Queens has hired a former Halifax councillor and deputy mayor as its new municipal clerk.
Pam Lovelace also ran unsuccessfully for mayor of the Halifax region in October’s municipal elections.
She placed third behind winner Andy Fillmore and runner-up Waye Mason.
“I am honoured to join the incredible team at Region of Queens Municipality and continue working in municipal government in rural Nova Scotia,” Lovelace said in a Region of Queens news release Monday afternoon.
Originally from Kentville, Lovelace is a former legislative support clerk in Halifax’s clerks office and a former communications and project manager for the Municipality of East Hants. She is also an instructor in local government at Dalhousie University.
She was elected to Halifax regional council in 2020.
Queens has been searching for a municipal clerk for a while. The clerk is essential to the operation of council and its committees. Lovelace will also be the region’s freedom of information officer. And she will be the main researcher in developing policies and bylaws.
Queens CAO Cody Joudry said in the release that Lovelace is a “high-calibre candidate”.
Work is underway on the $8.1-million outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre. (Rick Conrad)
The dream of an indoor pool for Queens County was likely sunk on Monday night.
Two weeks ago, Region of Queens councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry to investigate the feasibility of turning the outdoor pool now under construction at Queens Place Emera Centre into an indoor facility.
At their meeting on Monday night, councillors heard that it’s not so straightforward, or cheap.
Joudry said the $8.1-million outdoor project would likely balloon to at least $30 million if councillors decided to change it. He said the cost to taxpayers of the current project is less than one cent on $100 of assessment over 20 years. For an outdoor pool, that could go up to five cents.
“Council needs to either pick an indoor pool or an outdoor pool, but you can’t really convert an outdoor to an indoor pool,” he told councillors.
The region secured $3 million from an anonymous donor and $2.2 million from the province for the current project. It’s picking up the remaining $2.9-million tab.
Joudry said if the region changes or stops the project now, it could be on the hook for “sunk costs” of up to $2 million — in penalties or work that’s already done. And the municipality may also have to look for new funding, which would further delay the project.
The region would also have to come up with a whole new design.
Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works, said the current design is not easily adapted. He said some of the work already done could be salvaged, but much of it would have to be abandoned.
“When you start adding heating systems and take a facility that was deisgned to operate three months of the year conducive to the climate and turn it on its flip side and tell it it’s got to operate nine more months of the year, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, as well as condensation control. You start adding structural steel known to support a roof or with roof loads or snow loads. It’s not a simple matter of just putting a roof over it.”
District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he wants the region to consult with community members. He said it was a big issue during the recent election campaign, and most people who were in favour of a pool wanted an indoor one.
Mayor Scott Christian campaigned on getting an indoor pool. But on Monday, he told QCCR that changing it up would be a big burden to taxpayers.
“The total bill for the residents is about 3 million bucks with that project completion. And so incurring $2 million in sunk costs without any assurances about the extent to which we’ll actually be able to repurpose any of what has already been done, I think we can’t go there right now.”
Christian said he’d like to get the Queens Community Aquatic Society involved again and re-form the region’s pool committee.
Councillors decided to stick with the status quo and allow the outdoor pool project to continue. The heated, 25-metre pool is expected to open by 2026.
The region says its 1,400 water utility customers must use less water because the municipality’s Town Lake reservoir is getting dangerously low.
Queens CAO Cody Joudry said Thursday that he hopes residents and businesses co-operate.
“I wouldn’t call it at a critical level, however it’s been heading that way for a while,” he said.
“It is continuing to go down at this point. It’s definitely getting worse so that’s why we really want to talk to the public and encourage them to actively try to conserve water.”
Mayor Scott Christian was not available for an interview Thursday. But he did post this video on his Facebook page Thursday afternoon appealing to municipal water users to cut their consumption.
Queens County has had very little rain this fall. According to Environment Canada, the area had only 30.1 millimetres of precipitation in October. So far, only 4.1 mm has fallen in November.
Joudry says the area needs to get at least 50 mm a week to replenish the reservoir to comfortable levels.
In their latest update, the municipality says if the situation worsens, they may have to begin mandatory conservation measures. Failure to follow those could result in fines and having your water cut off.
“Overall we’re not seeing a lot of decreased usage,” he said. “Those that are conserving water, we appreciate it. And those that aren’t, we are asking them to take it seriously and take immediate action … that people actively and consciously and deliberately take steps immediately to use less water than they were last week, than they were the week before that and the week before that. … We don’t want it to be dire.”
Joudry says the region has had worse water levels in the past. The reservoir isn’t yet at the low levels experienced in 1992, 1994 or 2001.
“When we get down to those levels, we’re implementing mandatory water conservation. And if people aren’t adhering to those rules, there could be tickets or disconnections and we don’t’ want to get to that point.”
Joudry said it’s difficult to say how close the region is to enacting more severe measures. But he said if things don’t improve in the next two to three weeks, it may come to that.
“I remain hopeful that usage goes down and rain occurs. Maybe more than one day of hard rain would be great.”
Joudry said he has reached out to the region’s Top 10 largest water consumers to explain the situation and ask them to start conserving water immediately.
“I don’t want to put all the weight or the onus on them. Everyone needs to do their fair share.”
The region did not do a baseline measurement of individual water usage when they first identified the problem about three weeks ago. But Joudry said officials are discussing ways to judge whether specific residents and businesses are using less water.
And he said they don’t plan yet to contact users directly. He said he hopes the municipality’s updates on social media and on radio will get the message across.
“I’m not sure at this point what we can do at this point, other than a door knocking campaign. It may come to that. For example, if we get to mandatory conservation measures, there might be letters that go out and door knocking.”
Joudry said he understands that conservation efforts will be different for everybody, depending on what their needs are.
Some of the things you can do to reduce your water usage include: reduce the frequency of flushing toilets; do fewer loads of dishes and laundry; stop washing vehicles; take shorter showers; turn off taps when not in use while showering or brushing your teeth; and fix any leaks or dripping faucets.
And if you have a suspected leak in your water line, contact the municipality at 902-354-7170.
Shelley Walker is Queens County’s senior safety co-ordinator. (Rick Conrad)
UPDATED WED., NOV. 13, 12:27 P.M.
Queens County will be getting a full-time senior safety co-ordinator.
In their first meeting since the Oct. 19 election, Region of Queens councillors voted Tuesday to fund five-day-a-week senior safety services in Queens.
Representatives of Queens Care Society asked council in August to consider making the senior safety co-ordinator a full-time employee of the region.
In their August presentation to council, representatives from the non-profit society said they couldn’t afford to make the job full time. The group receives a $25,000 grant from the Nova Scotia government, as well as $5,000 from the Region of Queens.
Shelley Walker, the current co-ordinator, works three days a week. But advocates say the job should be full time because Walker can help only a fraction of the seniors in need.
The co-ordinator helps promote senior health, safety and independence, working with older residents to help them stay in their own homes.
Councillors voted Tuesday to provide up to $35,000 in funding to Lunenburg County Home Support to make the job full time until Oct. 31, 2025.
Coun. Maddie Charlton said she expects Queens Care Society to return to council before then to seek longer-term funding.
“I think that they would like an opportunity to see just how it fares out,” Charlton told council.
“It’s my understanding that the group is happy with this for now for the year. … I’m happy to support this now. They do need the increased funding to make sure we have that capacity.”
Society chairman Grant Webber told councillors in August that as a part-timer, Walker can help only 7.5 per cent of the 3,300 Queens County residents over 65.
In August, he asked the region to create a full-time senior safety position at a salary of $53,000 plus benefits, travel expenses and office space.
Webber told QCCR on Wednesday that he’s pleased the municipality OKed the funding.
“I think it’s a wonderful decision. We’ve got some things to work out and get an agreement with the municipality,” he said.
“We’re very pleased and we’re hoping that the municipality will take over full funding of the senior safety program, because with the funding from the municipality and the (provincial) grant, we’ll have a senior safety co-ordinator here for five days a week.”
He said other Nova Scotia municipalities have full-time co-ordinators and he hopes Queens will follow suit.
In an October staff report, councillors were told that historically, the co-ordinator focused on senior safety three days a week. For the rest of the week, she worked as a supervisor for Queens Home Support.
Financial difficulties forced Queens Home Support to close earlier this year. Lunenburg County Home Support now looks after those services in Queens.
According to the October staff report, the year-long funding will give the Region of Queens and the Lunenburg group time to assess the service.
On Tuesday, Queens CAO Cody Joudry assured councillors and the public that the co-ordinator will still be based in Queens County.
“There’s never been any discussion whatsoever about the idea that that position would be based in Lunenburg.”
In response to a question from Coun. Stewart Jenkins, Joudry said the region hasn’t yet analyzed how much it would cost to make the co-ordinator a municipal employee.
Garbage piled up at one of the ‘greybox’ sites in Queens County. (Submitted)
Region of Queens officials plan to take action to curb the ongoing garbage problem in the county’s increasingly popular cottage country.
Councillors will vote on several recommendations at their June 25 meeting that they hope will mitigate chronic trash pileups and overflows at so-called “greybox” sites in areas such as Labelle and Molega.
There are about 40 greybox sites on or near private roads throughout the municipality. They consume half of the region’s garbage collection budget.
The private roads do not have the regular garbage pickup service of most property owners who live on public roads. So the municipality has dropoff sites throughout the region where residents can deposit their waste, recyclables and compostables.
The region picks up the garbage once a week in spring, fall and winter and either two or three times a week in summer months.
District 6 Coun. David Brown has a lot of recreational or cottage properties in his area. In January, he asked the region’s staff to come up with possible solutions to the refuse abuse.
Brown said that especially in the busier summer months, people regularly just toss their trash on the ground around the greyboxes, instead of putting it inside. They’ll also leave big household items like furniture at the sites, even though the municipal landfill is nearby.
Even non-residents regularly leave their garbage, compounding the problem. Some bring their trash in on Fridays and dump them at the sites when they visit their properties on the weekends.
“The bylaw says that those grey bins are for the residents of private roads only for bagged garbage, created on site,” Brown said. “And people who are spending the weekend and dumping everything on Sunday night as they leave, a lot of that stuff can be taken to the landfill.”
Region of Queens officials want to crack down on how people on private roads use greyboxes for their garbage. (Rick Conrad)
CAO Cody Joudry said he and other staff members have had many discussions about why the problem persists and how to fix it.
“At some of our worst sites, it starts to reach a threshold … at which it seems to overflow,” Joudry said. “And once one person does something, then all of a sudden everyone does it, sort of disrespect the whole thing.”
Joudry said staff suggest trying a few different things to see what works. He made five recommendations:
install cameras to record when and how often the sites begin to overflow
capture license plates of offenders and send notices to vehicle owners warning that further offences will result in fines
add more greyboxes to see if it reduces the amount or frequency of overflows
look for other locations where the boxes are less visible to non-residents
increase the collection frequency at some locations from Dec. 1 to March 31.
Joudry said the region tried to install surveillance cameras at some sites years ago, but people stole them. He said staff have ideas about how to limit or prevent that from happening again.
Joudry said staff would report to council in mid-winter 2025 on the effectiveness of their efforts.
District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy said the areas have unreliable internet and cell service, so real-time surveillance may be difficult.
He said he’d also like to see an area for people to leave large items so they don’t get in the way of the greyboxes. He suggested a semi-annual “dump day” for people to drop large items, and to hold a roadside giveaway once a year.
“If we don’t get that big stuff moved out from in front of the bins, people are … going to throw their garbage down there and then somebody else throws the garbage there and then you’ve got the bins that aren’t even full, you can’t get at them becasue of the big items in front of them,” Fancy said.
Brown said that he hopes the situation will improve with some education and enforcement.
“We as a region allow people to take four loads to the landfill every month without charge. … So if somebody has taken the effort to load a chesterfield on the back of a truck and drive it out to the grey bin and throw it on the ground in front of the bins, it’s an extra 15 minutes to go to the landfill and dispose of it properly. … We need education and a little bit of enforcement and I think the problem will go away on its own.
“And I really applaud staff for coming through and trying an approach because for the past 10 years we have suffered from analysis paralysis. … This starts us on the approach to getting something done. And I think as word gets around that there’s some enforcment happening, people will not want to pay that $682.50 fine.”
The municipality says the extra measures could cost up to $40,000, with the majority of that going to increased weekly garbage collection in winter.
Kids play this week at the splash pad at Etli Milita’mk, the universally designed play park in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
UPDATED JULY 20 at 10:30 a.m.
Region of Queens councillors will vote next week on whether to write off almost $51,000 in cost overruns and funding shortfalls at the universally designed play park in Liverpool.
Councillors voted last week to move the issue forward to their June 25 meeting for a final vote. Most of them appeared to support absorbing the cost.
District 2 Coun. Ralph Gidney was the only one against the motion to vote on the matter at their next meeting.
The provincial organization recently asked the municipality to cover $50,962 in unpaid bills on the $630,000 playground. Some $5,988.79 of that is interest on the overdue account.
Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services, told councillors last week that Autism Nova Scotia told the municipality they believed that the region would cover any shortfalls.
“Fundraising was less than forecasted. The ACOA contribution was less than budgeted and there were cost overruns such as short-term security for surfacing materials, rescheduling of a rubber surface contract and extension of a rubber surface area. This all contributed to the overage.”
Beyond that, however, details about the overdue account were sparse. It was unclear what the outstanding bill is for or to whom, or when Autism Nova Scotia realized that there wasn’t enough money on hand to cover all the expenses of the project.
The playground is named Etli Milita’mk (pronounced ed-a-lee milly-dumk), which is Mi’kmaw for “we are playing here”. It opened last October, after years of community fundraising led by Queens County resident Debbie Wamboldt and others. It’s designed to be inclusive and accessible for everybody, regardless of ability or age.
The community group raised about $100,000 on their own, with the region donating the land near Queens Place Emera Centre and committing $111,773 from its community investment fund. ACOA and the provincial government also contributed to the project.
Autism Nova Scotia issued charitable tax receipts and held the money in trust to pay the region for construction as invoices were submitted. The region also agreed to own, operate and maintain the playground.
QCCR tried numerous times for an interview with officials from Autism Nova Scotia. Last week, a spokeswoman said in an email that they were “unable to provide an interview at this time”.
QCCR asked the municipality this week for clarification on the account. In an email, Heather Cook, the region’s communications and engagement co-ordinator, explained that the municipality has paid all bills related to the park and no suppliers are owed money.
Because of cost overruns and funding shortfalls, she said, Autism Nova Scotia contacted the region in April to say that it would not be paying the full amount of the final invoice, which the municipality issued in January. The group did not pay any interest on overdue invoices during the term of the project, resulting in interest charges which contributed to the shortfall.
Councillors will vote on June 25 “to fund the outstanding interest charges and project overrun that (are) owed to the municipality due to the funding shortfall.”
The money would come from the municipality’s accumulated budget surplus.
District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said last week that councillors had voted to donate the land and approve funding from the community investment fund. But he said they didn’t vote to cover any overruns.
District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton asked if there was any additional information that staff could share with councillors before their next meeting.
CAO Cody Joudry, who took over in November, said there wasn’t.
“I don’t believe there is any other documentation to provide council. … From Autism Nova Scotia’s perspective, they’re like, ‘Well, it’s not really fair to make us cover the difference because we were just the pass-through and really the region was the one who was managing the project.’
“I think if we were doing this over again, we would have brought this to council a lot sooner, like in the construction phase and talked about these issues. But I can’t do anything about that now. So, unfortunately, Coun. Charlton, I do not believe there is any more information I can bring you.”
Councillors did not want to ask Autism Nova Scotia or the local fundraising group to cover the extra costs.
Mayor Darlene Norman said that it was nobody’s fault. Construction delays and weather last summer contributed to the extra expenses.
She said in an interview Monday that it didn’t help that the region was without a full-time CAO for much of last year. Former CAO Chris McNeill left the job in May.
“Remember, this was a time when we had no CAO last year, directors were shifting and taking those roles. And then we had the boil water situation happening, we had no permanent CAO. I’m not saying that’s any reason why this may have occurred, but obviously there was lack of communication between Autism Nova Scotia and Region of Queens staff.”
Norman said that in future, the region would likely approach projects like this differently.
“It was a lesson that if a project like this should ever be undertaken again there needs to be very firm rules respecting who manages what and conversations and communication between the two partners.”
The June 25 council meeting will be held at the Westfield Community Hall in North Queens.
Spending is up about $4 million from last year, to $29,848,303. The region’s water utility reported a $442,122 deficit.
Mayor Darlene Norman said in an interview that it was important to councillors not to increase the tax rate.
“We live in a great county and the budget reflects the fact that we are moving ahead,” she said.
“Many things in the budget remain the same. We’ve increased funding for fire departments for their truck purchases. The cost of those trucks is astronomical and we know how as volunteers how hard they work.
“It’s a good budget, it recognizes some requests from all parts of our county.”
It also raised the household income threshold for the low-income tax exemption by $5,000. Property owners with a total income of $35,000 or less can qualify for up to $400 off their tax bill. The tiered structure gives the highest break for the lowest income.
“We understand that people financially struggle,” Norman said, “which is why … we increased the amount of money that people can make in order to claim a reduction on their taxes, … which is very generous, I believe, for a municipality of our size.”
The region reported a $644,000 surplus from last year, largely from rising property assessments, higher deed transfer tax revenue and unintended savings from unfilled staff positions.
The region’s capital plan is packed.
CAO Cody Joudry said in an interview that it addresses a lot of concerns around the municipality.
“In terms of capital budget, it’s expansion of water, wastewater, there’s a lot of safety improvements and upgrades and a lot of investment in infrastructure and community assets, so I think that’s pretty significant.”
A little more than $7.8 million of the $21.5-million capital budget for 24/25 is provincial funding. Almost $2.5 million is from federal sources. About $3.8 million is from long-term borrowing, while $3.53 million is from a combination of municipal reserves and municipal surplus.
In addition to the new pool and the water and sewer extension, some other capital projects include:
more work at Beach Meadows Beach to expand the parking lot, install sheltered picnic areas and improve environmental protections;
much-needed repairs and upgrades at the Old Burial Ground in Liverpool;
“There are things on there that are very important,” Norman said. “Of course, they will not all get done (this year), but by putting them on here, it shows that these are priorities and start them, do the best that you can do with them.”
The Milton Centennial Pool suffered severe damage in last July’s torrential rains and floods. (Rick Conrad)
The Milton Centennial Pool will remain closed this summer.
“It is very, very unfortunate, but the Milton pool will not be opening this year,” Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman said Monday.
The pool suffered significant damage in last July’s torrential rains and floods. Councillors heard Monday that it would cost from $100,000 to $150,000 to fix the pool.
The rains and flooding last summer damaged the pool liner. Even though the region ordered a new liner immediately, it arrived only in late December. So staff winterized the structure as best they could, according to Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works.
This spring, the region’s staff discovered the base of the pool had been damaged even further.
Grant said it would take about 12 weeks to do the work, with the “best-case scenario” of having the pool open by August.
Mayor Darlene Norman said the North Queens Aquatic Centre in Caledonia will be open.
“Unfortunately, for this summer we will be unable to provide seasonal swimming lessons at Milton pool,” Norman said in an interview.
“We did make the decision and we made it now so that we don’t have people’s hopes up.”
The region is going ahead with hiring lifeguards for the pool in Caledonia. CAO Cody Joudry said the pool staff hired will be employed for the whole summer.
Councillors decided to keep the $40,000 budgeted for Milton pool operations in this year’s budget. They suggested that money could go toward extending the hours at the pool in Caledonia, covering mileage for lifeguards who have to travel to Caledonia or working out a deal with Queens County Transit to provide transportation for pool users in south Queens to north Queens.
They asked staff to report back with recommendations on what to do this summer and next year, until the new outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre can be built.
Last Friday, Queens MLA Kim Masland announced $2.2 million in provincial funding toward the $7.2-million pool. The region has already committed $2 million, with another $3 million coming from a private anonymous donor.
Norman said last week that the region hopes to start construction in spring 2025, with an opening in 2026.
Fire trucks at North Queens Fire Association headquarters. (Facebook)
Region of Queens councillors and staff have found a way to help the county’s fire departments with the increased costs of buying new equipment — and all without raising the tax rate.
Councillors are currently in budget deliberations, so the final budget has not been approved. But they headed off a request for an increase to the tax rate to help fire departments pay for new trucks.
Fire chiefs and the region agreed to a new funding schedule in February to replace fire and rescue trucks. The region increased its contribution to $425,000 for pumpers, tankers and aerial trucks from $275,000. That kicks in for the 2026/27 fiscal year.
But as councillors heard on Tuesday, new trucks keep getting more expensive. And higher interest rates mean that borrowing costs for fire departments have skyrocketed.
Fire chiefs made a presentation to council on Tuesday asking for an increase of one cent to the region’s overall tax rate.
The residential property tax rate per $100 of assessment in districts 1 to 12 is at $1.07 and $1.92 in District 13.
Chris Wolfe, chief of the North Queens Fire Association, told council that interest rates for fire departments have risen to 8.2 per cent from 3.45 per cent in 2021. On a 10-year loan of $600,000, fire departments would have to pay $170,000 more over that period than they would have in 2021.
“Basically the $275,000 that we get now for truck replacement would be just gobbled up in interest charges and wouldn’t be going to the actual principal of buying the truck,” he said.
“The interest for that 10-year term is what’s making a big difference for us in the Queens County fire services in purchasing trucks. It’s taken a drastic jump over the last three or four years.”
Wolfe said the cost of trucks has also risen in the past three years. He said a truck builder in Lantz reported that the cost of a custom fire chassis has jumped by about $120,000 since May 2022. The truck builder told Wolfe that his overall supply costs have also gone up by three per cent.
Three trucks are due to be replaced over the next two fiscal years, but at the region’s lower contribution of $275,000.
Wolfe said that a one-cent increase in the tax rate now would help the fire departments cope with the increased costs.
Councillors appeared to be prepared to grant the chiefs’ request.
CAO Cody Joudry, however, suggested that staff might be able to find another way to grant the chiefs’ request without adding to the tax rate.
After a break, Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services, said that councillors could do what they did last year to help maintain the tax rate.
During last year’s discussions, they budgeted $442,000 from the accumulated surplus to prevent a tax rate increase. Councillors are also eyeing an estimated $650,000 surplus from 2023/24.
Veinotte said the region didn’t actually need any of that $442,000 because they saved money on staffing and delayed capital projects. She suggested they could do the same thing this year, by pulling $126,772 from reserve funds for fire services to balance the tax rate.
“The fire department has their increase of a penny but yet you still have your no increase in tax rate. And that is something I can literally do in two minutes. So if that’s what council feels comfortable with to get this budget done and put to bed, then I can certainly do that.”
Joudry clarified that if they record a surplus in 2024/25, then the region likely wouldn’t have to dip into the accumulated surplus to pay for the fire departments’ increased truck costs.
Councillors will get the final draft of the budget on Thursday. They hope to approve it at their council meeting on Tues., April 23 at 6 p.m.
Region of Queens Municipality administration building. (Rick Conrad photo)
The Region of Queens hasn’t approved its budget yet, so councillors had to vote this week to approve interim spending limits so that the municipality’s bills will still get paid.
Council is supposed to have a budget approved by April 1 of each year.
That didn’t happen this year, so director of corporate services Joanne Veinotte asked councillors at Tuesday’s regular meeting to approve an amount of $7.59 million to provide “spending authority and business continuity” as the fiscal year begins April 1.
Veinotte said other municipalities follow a similar process.
These are operational funds and don’t apply to capital projects.
No reason was given by staff or councillors for why the budget hasn’t been presented or approved yet. Mayor Darlene Norman was not available for an interview Thursday.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, CAO Cody Joudry presented a tentative schedule for the region’s budget deliberations.
Under that timeline, councillors were supposed to receive a draft budget after their meeting on Tuesday, with April 2 as the deadline for councillors to submit budget questions.
The draft budget will be available publicly by April 5 at 4 p.m. in the council agenda. It will be presented at council’s regular meeting on April 9. Two special meetings to discuss the draft budget will be held April 11 and 16, with the final draft budget presented at council’s April 23 meeting for a vote.
Under Joudry’s proposed schedule, councillors would vote on the final budget at their April 23 meeting.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story had the incorrect date for the Region of Queens final draft budget to be presented and voted on by councillors. The story has been updated with the correct date.
Region of Queens CAO Cody Joudry and Mayor Darlene Norman before Tuesday’s council meeting. (Rick Conrad photo)
Library users in Liverpool will be checking out books in a new location by the end of the year.
Region of Queens councillors voted Tuesday night to move the Thomas H. Raddall library to the Liverpool Business Development Centre until a permanent site can be found and built.
The Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants are the current tenants at the building, just off the White Point Road. The municipality owns the building.
The call centre currently uses about 18,000 square feet of the space, while Belliveau Veinotte leases 4,800. That leaves about 9,200 square feet for the library’s temporary location.
First, though, regional staff have to renovate to add washrooms and program rooms and to accommodate the library’s collection. The plan is to move the library there before the end of the current lease in December. It’s currently in the Rossignol Centre in downtown Liverpool, which is for sale.
Susan DeChamp, who was one of three members of the region’s library steering committee, was at the council meeting Tuesday evening. She said it’s probably the best option for now.
“So for what we have to work with, it’s not a bad blank slate,” she said in an interview after the meeting. “There is still the issue of some of our walking people getting to it. … There is some concern that library usage could suffer a bit for that. We need a library and this is our best option at this point.”
Finding a new home for the library has been fraught with delays and controversy since 2022, when the region allocated $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction. CAO Cody Joudry says a new library would likely cost much more than that.
The library steering committee twice recommended a site near Queens Place Emera Centre. Council rejected it the first time but decided to accept the recommendation a second time.
But councillors nixed that plan once more when they learned that connecting the site to existing road and infrastructure would cost close to a million dollars.
And then at a December meeting, after hearing from residents, councillors rejected a staff recommendation to move the library to the call centre building permanently.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault, who chaired the library committee but voted against its recommendations, said Tuesday it’s a good solution to ensure library services continue.
“This has been a long process to say the least,” Amirault said. “It’s been quite a process but I just think we need to overhaul a little bit and move on.”
The vote on the temporary location was not unanimous. Mayor Darlene Norman voted against it. She said the region could have bought the building where the library is now, and keep it there until a developer could be found to put housing in that location.
“However, it was not a wish of council to do that,” she said.
“One would hope that during that refit that the CEO of the library and the library staff are consulted very closely and that we’re simply not creating office space, because it’s my feeling that once the library is there, the library will stay there. It would be very difficult for a future council to justify a million plus on renovation and then flip around to build a new library.”
CAO Cody Joudry estimates the work on the call centre will cost from $1.05 to $1.26 million. He says that he’ll work with the library’s CEO to ensure users and the rest of the community are consulted on the design and renovation of the space.
He said that with this council’s term ending in October, it would be difficult to complete consultation, site selection, design and tendering before then. Joudry suggests letting a newly elected council develop a long-term plan for the library.
But some councillors want the process to begin before a new council is elected in October.
District 6 Coun. David Brown said he wants public consultation to “start sooner rather than later” so that the incoming council will have something to work with.
Queens regional councillors will vote Tuesday on whether the Liverpool library will move to the Liverpool Business Development Centre until a new one can be built. (Rick Conrad photo)
The library in Liverpool may be moving temporarily to the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road.
Region of Queens councillors are set to vote on a recommendation Tuesday from CAO Cody Joudry to move the library to the same building that houses the Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants. It would be there until a new site can be chosen, designed, financed and built.
The council meeting is set for 6 p.m. in council chambers on White Point Road.
The Thomas H. Raddall Library is currently in the Rossignol Centre on Old Bridge Street close to downtown Liverpool. The lease expires this December. Last year, the region spent $51,680 on rent.
The building owner Sherman Hines has been trying to sell it since at least November 2022. Joudry claims in his staff report that “staff are of the opinion the property is likely to be sold before the lease expires”.
Joudry is recommending that staff immediately begin renovations of the vacant space at the call centre building so that the library can move in by December. He estimates the renovations would cost from $1.05 to $1.26 million.
He is also suggesting that staff work with the library board to create a public consultation plan on a new library.
Councillors decided at a December meeting not to move the library to the call centre building permanently. Residents flooded them with emails and public comments about that plan. Most were against it.
Finding a new home for the library has been fraught with delays and controversy since the spring of 2022, when the region allocated $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction. Joudry says a new library would likely cost much more than that.
“Consulting the public about (the) library matter, selecting a site (and acquiring land if needed), creating design options, costing the project out, acquiring funding, tendering then constructing and moving the library will, realistically, take several years,” he says in his report.
“If council takes the recommendation to move the library as recommended, input and feedback would be beneficial to inform decisions on designs, renovations, and furnishing of the new space. As such the CAO and library CEO would work collaboratively to ensure the community and users are consulted on these matters.”
The library steering committee twice recommended an area by Queens Place Emera Centre for the relocation. Council declined the first time but decided to accept the committee’s recommendation a second time.
But council scuttled the plan once more when it learned that connecting the site to existing road and infrastructure would cost close to a million dollars.
At the December council meeting, many residents spoke against the plan to move the library to White Point Road permanently. Some also were worried that if the library moved there temporarily, council would stop looking for a new location.
Susan DeChamp was one of three community members appointed to the region’s library steering committee in April 2022. She spoke at the council meeting in December when staff were recommending the call centre building as the permanent site for the library.
“The main issue everyone had was the location itself,” she told councillors. “The first time we recommended the sledding hill location (near Queens Place), we had councillors object that you can’t move it that far from where it currently is and it would be unreasonable to expect library users to walk across the bridge. Now you’re asking library users to walk to the fringes of town where the street lamps are fairly far apart, it’s not brightly lit and there are no sidewalks.”
Jessica Joudrey and Tom Raddall resigned before the December meeting. Raddall told councillors that they were “frustrated and disillusioned”.
In response to public comments at the December meeting, District 6 Coun. David Brown summed up the general mood on council when he said that using the call centre only as a temporary space would give the region time to do more thorough public consultation.
“So I think we have to do a better job of getting more engagement from the public so that we can build what the public wants and needs,” he said.
“If we can make this a temporary, it gives us a chance to take a deep breath, look at it, analyze it and do that job right in the long run. And I think the public will be much better served if we get it done right rather than if we get it done quick.”
Joudry’s other recommendations include: a high-level public engagement process begin on what people want from a new library and a new advisory committee be formed with clear direction and support from council.
Queens County voters may get an electronic voting option in October. (Elections Nova Scotia Facebook)
Queens County voters are getting closer to having the option to vote online or by phone in this October’s municipal election.
Councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry in January to prepare a report on the feasibility and costs of introducing electronic voting to Queens, while keeping the traditional paper ballot.
Twenty of 49 Nova Scotia municipalities offered an electronic voting option in 2020. Elections Nova Scotia used electronic ballots in the July byelection in Preston. And it plans to allow e-voting in the 2025 provincial election.
Joudry says in a report to council this week that more than 40 municipalities are expected to offer electronic voting as an option this year.
Joudry recommends that councillors vote to keep the traditional paper ballot, while also introducing online and telephone voting. Joudry estimates that adding an e-ballot option would cost an extra $20,000, for a total of $70,000.
Joudry also recommended that Ian Kent be appointed the new returning officer for the municipal election. Kent was recently hired by Elections Nova Scotia to replace Ted Bulley as the provincial returning officer for Queens, after Bulley’s retirement. The province’s returning officer has traditionally performed the same role in municipal elections.
Darlene Norman, mayor of Region of Queens. Photo Credit: Darlene Norman
By Rick Conrad
Voters in the Region of Queens may be able to cast a ballot online in October’s municipal election.
Mayor Darlene Norman says she’s confident the region will be able to introduce electronic voting as an option this year.
Councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry at their first meeting of 2024 to prepare a report on the feasibility and costs of introducing electronic voting to Queens, while keeping the traditional paper ballot.
“I expect the cost to come back much more than pure paper voting, but it may not,” Norman said in an interview after the meeting.
“But a combination (of voting options) would be good. … Younger people say that it’s the thing that we need, but it would be interesting to do it.”
Twenty of 49 Nova Scotia municipalities offered an electronic voting option in 2020. Elections Nova Scotia used electronic ballots in the July byelection in Preston. And it plans to allow e-voting in the 2025 provincial election.
District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton said it’s time that Queens offers an electronic option in addition to the traditional ballot, to make it easier for people to make their choice.
“I think it’s important for us to move forward with this.”
District 6 Coun. David Brown said it would also help encourage people in more rural areas of the municipality to vote.
“With our widespread rural areas, it’s hard for people to get out to the polling station. Having the electronic option will get more people involved.”
The Kiwanis Club of Liverpool is closer to taking over the canteen at Queens Place Emera Centre.
The region would lease the facility to the club for one year rent-free. The club would be responsible for ensuring food safety and insurance compliance. Kiwanis volunteers would operate it along with members of the Queens County Blades and the Queens County Minor Hockey Association.
The three organizations would share proceeds from concessions sales.
Because of the Christmas holidays, staff couldn’t have a final agreement ready for councillors to review at their Tuesday meeting. They voted to wait until they see the contract before giving their final approval.
David Schofield, president of the Kiwanis Club of Liverpool, said Tuesday that his group is excited about running the canteen.
“I think it’s a good opportunity not just for the Kiwanis Club but also for the figure skating club and Queens County minor hockey who we’ve asked for their support as well, because we don’t have enough volunteers in our organization to do it. … A lot of people have made comments about not having a canteen available (at Queens Place), so I think it’s win-win-win-win.”
Steve Burns, manager of events, promotions and sponsorships, told councillors that it would likely take a couple of weeks after the contract is signed to get all the necessary permits in place for the Kiwanis club to take over.
District 6 Coun. David Brown asked staff for recommendations to address the problem.
He said the 40 so-called “grey box” sites on private roads throughout the county consume half of the region’s garbage collection budget.
“These are places that have large tax revenues for us that we don’t provide a lot of services for,” Brown said. “And nobody wants to see a mountain of garbage every time they drive into beautiful, pristine wilderness.”
Mayor Darlene Norman says it is a “huge problem”.
“And people in the Labelle and Molega area, some people are paying $10,000 property tax out there for no services. It is an issue that has to be dealt with.”
Councillors asked staff to prepare an inventory on burnt out streetlights in the region, and press Nova Scotia Power to fix them more quickly.
District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise said many residents have complained that several streetlights haven’t been working in some areas for up to three months. He’s concerned about safety for motorists and pedestrians.
There are six streetlights out on Shore Road in Mersey Point alone, council heard. Many are out for longer than the 60-day service guarantee.
Nova Scotia Power is supposed to maintain the lights, but the region pays for them, even when they don’t work, Norman said.
“We are paying for a tremendous amount of street lights which are burnt out.”
Region of Queens administration building. Photo Ed Halverson
The Region of Queens Municipality’s Council has hired a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).
During the September 26 regular council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to appoint Cody Joudry.
Joudry has over 16 years of municipal experience with previous leadership positions in Development and Tourism and Economic Development in Ontario, and management experience in Annapolis County. His diverse expertise spans community engagement, strategic planning, economic development, and customer relations.
Joudry’s family originates in Caledonia and he is a proud member of the L’sitkuk First Nation.
In a statement released by the municipality Joudry is quoted as saying, “I am honored to serve Region of Queens Municipality and look forward to leveraging my experience and passion in the service and for the prosperity of the residents.”
The Region of Queens has been without a full time CAO since Chris McNeill resigned in May.
Interim CAO Dan MacDougall, who held the position since May 2023, will work alongside Joudry during a brief overlap period to ensure a smooth transition. Mayor Darlene Norman expressed her gratitude to MacDougall, who came out of retirement to assist the municipality, as well as the Department Directors who served as acting CAOs during the summer months.
Cody Joudry becomes the fifth CAO for the Region of Queens Municipality since amalgamation in 1996 and promises to build positive and collaborative relationships with staff, Council, community members, and stakeholders in his new leadership role.
Joudry will start his tenure as CAO in mid-November.
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