Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian. (Rick Conrad)

Region of Queens mayor and councillors are holding seven town hall meetings around Queens County this month to get public feedback on various issues.

Mayor Scott Christian says it’s important to hear from as many people as possible.

“We’re looking to kill two birds with one stone in that we think it’s important to be accessible and engaging with our residents writ large, but it’s also timely because we have been working behind the scenes on identifying some five-year strategic priorities and a vision and a mission for the organization and we want to make sure that it’s aligned to what residents are seeing and feeling and experiencing in the community.”

Christian says the region will also have a survey available for people who can’t make it to one of the October sessions.

Council’s strategic plan has been mentioned regularly at council meetings since the new slate of councillors was sworn in in 2024. But it hasn’t been made public yet. 

Christian told QCCR that the town hall meetings will be a chance for people to get a look at some of the details of that plan.

“My expectation is that we provide folks with an opportunity to take a look at what we have thus far, provide their feedback on that, give everybody an opportunity to contribute in a way that they’re comfortable (with), but then also just open up the floor for more kind of question-and-answer to engage their councillors and myself as the mayor on particular issues or items of importance to them.”

Christian said that staff and councillors will incorporate what they hear at the town halls into the region’s five-year plan, which will also influence budget deliberations.

He said the region plans to start early budget talks and capital planning by December, with work on the budget set to begin in the new year. 

Municipalities are expected to finalize their fiscal plans by March 31. This year, the Region of Queens passed its budget in mid-May.

“We were quite last minute last go-around so we’re going to start to look at the five-year capital improvement plan and updates to that … in December, so my expectation is that we’ll have those kind of those strategic priorities nailed down by that time.”

The seven town hall meetings are scheduled to run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Christian, councillors and some staff will likely be at the meetings. Here is where they’ll be held:

• Thurs., Oct. 16 – Liverpool Fire Hall
• Fri., Oct. 17 – Milton Memorial Hall
• Mon., Oct. 20 – Mersey Point Hall
• Tues., Oct. 21 – West Queens Recreation Centre
• Thurs., Oct. 23 – Greenfield Fire Hall
• Fri., Oct. 24 – Port Medway Fire Hall
• Mon., Oct. 27 – North Queens Fire Hall

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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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.”

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David White, president of the Queens County ATV Association, made another appeal to regional councillors on Tuesday to create road trails in Queens County. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)

ATV users in Queens County are motoring along with their plans to connect off-road trails with public roads and streets in the municipality.

And Region of Queens councillors are interested in hitching a ride.

David White, president of the Queens County ATV Association, was at regional council on Tuesday evening to repeat the group’s request from last March for the region to help make a connected network a reality.

“The idea behind them is to provide trail-to-trail connections and trail-to-access services. 
That’s supported by the 2022 Off-Highway Vehicle Spending Report that showed in the province of Nova Scotia in that year $464 million was spent by off-highway vehicle users. It’s time that impact was felt here in our county. It’s well past time. ”

This is the third time off-highway vehicle groups have appealed to councillors for a road trail that would allow users to go from Lunenburg to Queens to Shelburne counties.

They first presented to council in July 2023, shortly after the Nova Scotia government passed the Road Trails Act, which would allow off-highway vehicles on provincial and municipal roads, with certain conditions. Both levels of government must grant access. And in Queens, that would require a new bylaw.

Queens County ATV groups say having that connected trail locally would boost tourism and help local businesses by creating a destination riding area.

“You need look no further than this weekend gone by where 551 off-highway vehicle users registered and went on a run in Western Shore, and they raised over $13,000 for a volunteer group and their club and saw somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800 people participate. Sixty-one rooms were sold over two nights for a total of over 120 room nights in that community because of off-highway vehicle use.

“Our goal is to have a connected route across Queens County to complete the western loop of the Great Trail, part of the TransCanada Trail to be able to leave Lunenburg County and go right through to Shelburne with the bigger idea of leaving Halifax or Tantallon, travelling to Yarmouth, around to Middleton, and back to Bridgewater via New Germany.”

White told councillors his group has signed agreements with 10 private landowners in Queens County, which would give ATV riders permission to use people’s property to get from one trail to another.

He said the ATV association and the Queens Rails to Trails Association have also spent about $300,000 maintaining and improving trails around Queens County. 

White told councillors that Queens ATV Association spent $49,150 in 2024 clearing and improving trails for off-highway vehicles. 

The Queens Rails to Trails Association has spent almost $245,000 maintaining and improving other trails around Queens County.

White asked councillors for letters of support to explore developing the road trail network in Queens. And he said he’d like a commitment from the region to explore any funding for the groups. He also wanted the region to commit to a process that would begin consultations with ATV groups and others.

Mayor Scott Christian thanked White for his groups’ work on trails around the region.

“And I think it’s appropriate also to apologize for the lack of engagement or action on behalf of the Region of Queens Municipality in actioning previous requests, that the two organizations have made and attempts at engaging our municipality on these files.”

At Christian’s urging, councillors agreed to the letters of support and to explore funding for the groups. They also asked staff to prepare a report for their Feb. 25 meeting on connecting a trail near the region’s offices to the popular multi-use Trestle Trail.

Christian said he wants the region to continue consulting with the community about how to make the connected road trail a reality.

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The Region of Queens was testing its livestream on Wednesday on its YouTube channel. (YOUTUBE)

The Region of Queens will begin livestreaming its council meetings on April 11.

Councillors voted unanimously on Tuesday to begin the new service, which will be broadcast simultaneously on the municipality’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Comments will be disabled on the livestream. Staff said that it would take tax staff resources to moderate the comments in real time. The meetings would be available for replays on the region’s YouTube channel, and possibly its Facebook page.

All public meetings in council chambers are currently recorded and uploaded to the region’s YouTube channel, usually the day after the meeting.

In February 2023, councillors asked about the possibility of livestreaming their meetings once a new audio-video system was installed. That new system was installed last April.

Councillors asked staff to investigate the possibility of livestreaming. Staff consulted with 17 other municipalities who currently livestream their meetings.

Livestreaming on Facebook and YouTube is free. But the region may have to spend some money on a mixing board so that pauses in the meeting for breaks or in camera sessions would not interrupt the live broadcast.

Staff have estimated it would cost about $3,000 for that equipment.

Councillors are currently in budget discussions. If they went for that option, they would have to add that to next year’s budget. 

The April 11 meeting which is scheduled to be livestreamed will be one of the budget meetings. Councillors are set to discuss the preliminary draft of the budget from 6 to 9 p.m. this Thursday.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com