Pam Lovelace, a former Halifax councillor and mayoral candidate, is no longer the Region of Queens municipal clerk. (Facebook)

The Region of Queens has dismissed another top staff member, just three months after she was hired.

Pam Lovelace got the job as the region’s municipal clerk in early December. 

Interim CAO Dan McDougall would not comment on Lovelace’s firing because it’s a personnel matter. He said the municipality “will work towards filling the municipal clerk position”.

Mayor Scott Christian also wouldn’t comment on her departure.

“I wish Pam all the best and what comes next for her professionally. I thank her for her contributions that she made to the Region of Queens for the time that she spent with us, both as municipal clerk and acting cao. Beyond that, it’s personnel, it’s not really the realm of council.”

Vaughn Mullen first reported Lovelace’s termination on his Social Politics social media channels on Wednesday.

Lovelace is a former Halifax regional councillor, who placed third in the 2024 Halifax mayoral race.

Then-CAO Cody Joudry hired her, just two weeks before he was fired himself by regional council. Christian said at the time that Joudry wasn’t the right fit with the newly elected council.

After Joudry was fired in mid-December, council appointed Lovelace acting CAO. She did that job until the region hired Dan McDougall as interim CAO in mid-January.

In a news release announcing her appointment as acting CAO, the region said Lovelace “brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise … with more than 20 years experience in the public sector.”

“Council of the Region of Queens Municipality is confident that Ms. Lovelace is the right person to guide the municipality during this transition period.”

QCCR asked Christian if he was surprised by Lovelace’s dismissal.

“No. I have a close working relationship with the CAO and it was something that had evolved in terms of Pam’s role in the organization and the time that she spent here. No, I wasn’t surprised.”

At last Tuesday’s council meeting, Lovelace was still on the job. She presented a progress report on the region’s Dismantling Racism and Hate Plan.

Lovelace could not be reached for comment.

Before Lovelace was hired, the region had been without a full-time municipal clerk for more than a year. Christian said he and the rest of council are working with interim CAO McDougall to figure out how to structure that job, or whether to create a deputy CAO position.

But he said nothing’s been decided yet.

In the meantime, the search for a full-time CAO continues. Christian said the region has received more than 10 applications in the week since it was posted on various job sites.

“We’re not going to rush it, we’re going to be deliberate and intentional about it. If thorugh this first round, it doesn’t yield the right-fit candidate then we may explore using a recruitment agency or something like that. But so far so good. Pretty encouraged by the quantity and the quality of the applications the we’ve received on the job ad thus far.”

He said council decided to save time and money by not using a professional recruiting firm. 

Christian, Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton and councillors Courtney Wentzell and Stewart Jenkins are on the CAO search committee, with McDougall providing advice.

Christian acknowledged there’s been some upheaval in the region’s ranks since the new council was elected in October.

“It’s tumultuous obviously, it invites uncertainty and it’s destabilizing when you have major shifts in the senior leadership. That’s why it’s really important to find the right person for this next role to provide some stability.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman will not be seeking another term in the October municipal election. (Rick Conrad)

Darlene Norman has made it official, announcing she won’t seek re-election as mayor of the Region of Queens.

“I have decided not to reoffer simply because these last four years have made me realize that it was one thing to be a councillor, it’s another thing to be the mayor,” she said in an interview Wednesday.

“When you are a councillor and you vote in a certain way at a meeting and the vote didn’t go your way, then it’s over and done. When you are the mayor and you vote at a council meeting for something that you feel is very important and you lose the vote, … as the mayor you still have to speak on behalf of council for the vote. And I am the type of personality that finds it very difficult to speak favorably about an issue that I think is so wrong.”

Norman’s decision to serve one term as mayor caps a 20-year career in municipal politics, which began in 2000 when she was elected councillor in District 1, which covers the area of Hunts Point, White Point, Port Mouton and Port Joli.

She served as councillor for the area until 2016 when she was defeated by current councillor Kevin Muise.

In 2020, she decided to run for mayor, beating incumbent David Dagley and two other challengers – Susan MacLeod and Brian Fralic.

Norman said she enjoyed her time as mayor.

“I really liked being the mayor, I liked helping people, I liked meeting people. But I just have a very difficult time when I have to as mayor speak on behalf of council and it’s a decision of which I disagreed. Other than that, being the mayor was wonderful.”

In a Facebook post on Tuesday announcing her decision, she said council has achieved many good things over the past four years. But she said there were other things she regrets.

One of those was not building a new library. The Thomas H. Raddall Library has to leave its leased premises in downtown Liverpool by the end of December. After many stops and starts, council couldn’t agree on a new permanent location, so they decided to put it, at least temporarily, in the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road.

“We could have built a lovely library, it would have been open by now. For one reason or another, things went sideways. Council couldn’t agree on a location.”

Another frustration for Norman over the past four years is the concentration of municipal resources in the Liverpool, Brooklyn and Milton areas. She says council needs to find a way to improve services in other areas of Queens County, such as north Queens and areas outside the so-called urban core of Liverpool.

“Our biggest assessment areas are in rural Queens. … I look around at north Queens, east and west, people are paying incredible tax dollars in those parts of the county, despite people in the town of Liverpool who think they’re paying the biggest tax dollars. I’m just finding it really difficult with the Region of Queens and trying to find a balance with specnding in rural as well as central.”

She said building new accessible washroom and change room facilities at Beach Meadows Beach was council’s way to try to spread some municipal dollars outside the Liverpool-Brooklyn-Milton core. 

She said it’s one of council’s accomplishments that she’s proud of. Others include improvements in accessibility at other municipally owned facilities such as the Astor Theatre; working with a wind farm developer in Milton to create more renewable energy; advocating for new cell towers in north Queens and supporting affordable housing initiatives by Queens Neighbourhood Co-operative Housing.

“Those are good things, those are really positive things for Queens. … There have been so many more benefits than disappointments.”

And even though the region still struggles with staffing shortages, she said she’s very proud of what municipal employees have been able to accomplish. She said the region has only two building inspectors and one planner, at a time when development is on the rise. And she said their bylaw enforcement division is also understaffed, while complaints increase.

“People are so quick to criticize the staff of the Region of Queens and I really wish that perhaps people like that could be the mayor for a week or a month and actually sit in my chair and get a good understanding of how much work they do, because our staff work hard.”

Norman said another reason she won’t be reoffering in October’s municipal election is the abuse she said she’s received on social media.

“The cruel, the unkind, the unjust things that are said. And all people have to do is pick up a phone and they’ll know that all those rumours aren’t true. I tend to bite my tongue and … almost cut off my fingers not to write back some things on some posts that I’ve read. But it’s just not what I was prepared for.

“And I just don’t want it anymore. I’m a really good sleeper and when I don’t sleep at night because of stuff at council or things going on, I have too many people my age dropping dead and I want to do positive things that have positive results and are not attached with any negativism.”

She says she’s not sure what she’ll do after October. But it will include spending more time with her young grandson in Shelburne. And she plans to volunteer in her community of Port Medway and work on some of her art projects.

“I’ll find something to do. … I’m interested in helping my community of Port Medway. … I’m artistic, I might just discover who I am again. But I want to get out and do something that I want to do that doesn’t have the stressors that being the mayor does.”

Regardless of some of that stress, she says she’s grateful for the opportunity to be mayor of the Region of Queens for the past four years.

“I’d just like to thank the people of Queens for poviding me this wonderful privilege to represent Queens County,” she says. “And it is a privilege. We are a wonderful county, we have some of the best people in the world. And we are very attractive to people around the world who want to live here. So let’s welcome newcomers, regardless of what country or what culture they are. Diversity is wonderful for us. It makes us stronger. Thanks to the people of Queens.

“And I’m here for a couple of more months if there’s anything anybody needs any help with.”

The municipal election is set for Oct. 19. Former teacher Terry Doucette and business consultant Scott Christian have already announced their campaigns for mayor. People have until Sept. 10 to file their nomination papers. 

For the first time, voters in Queens will be able to make their choices by traditional ballot or by phone or online.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Candidate information packages for the Oct. 19 municipal election are now available at Region of Queens offices. (Elections Nova Scotia Facebook)

If you want to run for Region of Queens mayor or council in October, information packages for candidates are now available at the region’s administration building on White Point Road.

The offices are open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

To run for council or mayor, you must be a resident of Queens County as of March 9. 

The deadline to file your nomination papers is Sept. 10, though you can file the paperwork seven business days before the deadline, beginning Aug. 29. 

There are two advance polls: Oct. 12 and 15, with Election Day on Oct. 19.

This year, for the first time, voters will have three ways to cast their ballots – in person, by phone or online.

For more information, contact returning officer Ian Kent at ikent@regionofqueens.com or 902-646-1033.