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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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.

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The Region of Queens has reached a deal with its striking public works employees. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED 2:55 p.m. Thursday

The Region of Queens and its striking 38 public works employees have reached a deal.

Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers voted 32-5 around 6 p.m. Wednesday to accept the region’s latest offer.

Jim Sponagle, the local’s business manager, told QCCR Wednesday night that it was hard to turn down.

“They came back with a financial offer that certainly we couldn’t overlook, couldn’t turn away. I felt it was a significant move from where we were,” he said.

“I think overwhelmingly (union members) were pretty happy with the deal.”

The main issues in negotiations were better wages, overtime protections and keeping temporary employees in the bargaining unit. The last contract expired March 31. The new contract runs from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2027.

The union said their members were some of the lowest paid municipal workers in Atlantic Canada.

They had been on strike since last Thursday, saying that the region’s latest offer wasn’t any better than the one members resoundingly rejected in mid-December.

Sponagle said the region improved its offer this week and it addressed much of the union’s concerns about wages. But he said the region said it needed the flexibility to call some employees in to work on weekends without paying overtime.

Sponagle said some members weren’t happy with that, but the majority supported the deal.

“At the end of the day, you can’t win every battle. … You can only do your best. I believe I left it all on the table and we couldn’t make any traction with that part of the agreement.”

About 20 supporters of the strikers showed up at Tuesday’s regional council meeting to urge councillors to tell the region’s negotiators to get back to the bargaining table and get a deal. That evening, the municipality gave the union a new offer.

Some family members of the workers told councillors they were ashamed of how the region’s negotiators had treated the employees.

“I think it had a significant impact,” Sponagle said. “The public put pressure on the mayor and council to do their job.”

It’s a three-year deal retroactive to March 31, with the first year giving raises to all members of $4 an hour or more, with 2.5 per cent increases in the second and third years of the deal.

Council ratified the deal in a closed-door session on Thursday morning. Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR that he was grateful the deal was reached.

“These folks have historically been underpaid and our council is pleased to be able to sign a deal with wages that reflect the value that these folks have for our organization and the importance of them to be able to receive a living wage and support their families and themselves.”

Christian read a statement at a short council meeting after the deal was ratified. He said that while he was happy with the deal, he was also upset by some of the comments people made about the region’s managers online.

“I’m unsettled by a number of public allegations and unsubstantiated claims and personal attacks towards some of the region’s employees,” he said.

“
Everyone in our community deserves to be respected, everyone in this organization deserves to be respected, and as your mayor, I need to ensure that all employees, including non-unionized staff and management of this organization, receive that respect, specifically, our (acting) CAO Pam Lovelace and our director of engineering and public works Adam Grant received an incredible amount of personal attacks throughout the later stages of this process as it became contentious.

“I won’t stand in silence as any employee of this organization, including my fellow councillors, are harassed, attacked or bullied.”

Christian said some comments were “pretty intense personal attacks”, with some people calling for Lovelace and Grant to be fired.

As talks broke down, tensions increased, with union members’ supporters pressuring councillors to step in and direct their negotiators to get a deal done.

Some supporters at Tuesday’s meeting were upset by comments made by Lovelace about the union refusing to return to the bargaining table. They were also upset that she tried to downplay the number of employees on strike.

“But there are going to be tough times, there are going to be unpopular decisions, there are going to be mistakes made,” Christian told QCCR, “and we all need to do better and the organization needs to do better to make sure that those appropriate channels are in place so that if there are frustrations and complaints and grievances within our community that there are good established channels to address those things.”

The region is still claiming that temporary employees are not members of the bargaining unit. The union’s unfair labour practices complaints about that are still outstanding. Dates have not been set yet for that hearing.

Christian said he believes most employees will be back on the job by Monday. And he said the region plans to hire experts to help address those tensions, calm things down and ensure that all employees return to a supportive workplace.

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Striking public works employees with the Region of Queens were back on the picket line Tuesday in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)

Supporters of striking Region of Queens workers blasted elected councillors on Tuesday, demanding that they show some leadership in the dispute.

They want the mayor and councillors to tell the region’s negotiators to return to the bargaining table and settle the strike.

Thirty-eight members of Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been on the picket line since Thursday. The union says they are some of the lowest-paid municipal workers in Atlantic Canada.

The region does not dispute that, but says it’s been trying to address those inequities in contract negotiations that have been going on for about a year.

RELATED: Region of Queens workers strike for better wages, overtime protection

Some positions pay less than $18 an hour, with some people on Tuesday saying that they can’t afford to support their families.

Family and friends of the striking public works employees told councillors at their regular meeting on Tuesday that they were ashamed of how the region has treated the workers. Elected officials do not get involved directly with labour negotiations, but can set the tone for the region’s negotiators.

Wages, overtime protections and even who’s in or out of the bargaining unit are the main sticking points in the dispute.

Meghan MacAdams was one of the people who spoke to council during the public presentation portion of the meeting. As striking workers picketed outside, she read out the names of the 36 employees.

Her partner has worked with the region for six years. In a recent CBC story, the region’s acting CAO Pam Lovelace claimed that only 20 employees were affected.

“Here is the individual handpicked by you all, acting as a representative of your side of the line, sharing inaccurate information,” MacAdams told councillors.

“
Was this an attempt to create a calmer narrative in which this issue was smaller than it really is, or is this simply a demonstration of how uninterested and uninvested the region has become in its workforce? What that one tiny detail told me, intentionally stated or not, is that those who run our county either can’t be trusted to provide us with truthful and accurate information, or they have become so disconnected with their employees they aren’t even aware of how many livelihoods they are toying with.

“Neither of these options sit well with me. 
Unfortunately, I see this as a clear indication of just how undervalued these men have become, which is one of the key issues in my opinion that has brought us to the divide we are at today. But I remain hopeful the region, the powers that be, will step up and make a fair and honest attempt at resolution. Our men deserve better.”

Debbie Wamboldt, a longtime community advocate and volunteer who spearheaded the successful fundraising drive for the popular inclusive play park in Liverpool, also expressed her frustration with the stalled talks. 

“Most of you know me from the play park project,” she said.

“That took six years of my life to bring to this county because I was proud of where I come from. … But I have to say that I’m standing here before you as somebody who is no longer proud of where I come from. 
I’m not proud of where we’re standing.

“My husband has worked for the region for 20 years. We give our time to this community, and our community is standing behind us. And it’s your job now  to stand behind us. 
We need to get back to the table, and our workers, my family, my friends, my husband’s colleagues, deserve better.

“This is shameful. This is really shameful.”

Before the strike, the region and the union had been negotiating to adjust job classifications and wage grids to bring Queens workers’ salaries more in line with other municipalities.

The region had commissioned a compensation review of unionized and non-unionized positions more than a year ago. That review has never been made public. 

But in response, the previous council had agreed to boost salaries for some non-unionized positions.

Mayor Scott Christian says the wage parity study was the foundation for the region’s offer in the latest contract talks.

The region says adjusting salaries for some jobs would result in raises from 2.5 to 26 per cent. But talks stalled in mid-December after the region’s so-called final offer. About 97 per cent of employees voted for strike action.

Both sides met again last Tuesday with a provincially appointed conciliator. But union representative Jim Sponagle said the region’s offer hadn’t improved much from the one members had rejected. He said their wage offer amounted to about two per cent a year on top of adjusting for wage inequities.

Christian released a video on Facebook on Sunday, saying that he understands how challenging negotiations have been for employees and their families. He appealed for patience.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Christian and the rest of council were due to get an update on negotiations in a closed-door session. Before that, he said in an interview that councillors want a fair deal for workers, but one that doesn’t burden taxpayers.

He also said not all councillors have seen the wage review study, which he wants to be made public. 

“I think it should be. It was something that I was very frustrated with before I ended up in this position as a resident that that wasn’t made publicly available. And so, I’m going to be asking our our staff here. and directing our staff here as to what elements or if that can be released, in in its entirety. We’ve seen we’ve seen portions of it. … There’s going to be more of that information provided to council today.

“To be honest, I’m not that comfortable with some of the tactics that have been employed by both sides of the negotiation. I feel like it has escalated and has become more contentious than it ought to have. … We’re going to be looking for direction from council as to (how) to de-escalate this, to get back to meaningful, productive conversations.

“We need both sides to come back to the table and with some humility, I think, and a willingness to concede and find a productive way forward. I agree the tone, the nature, the spirit of the thing has become really contentious and I’m not comfortable with it. I am going to meet with council and we’re going to … determine what we think is the appropriate next step with respect to directing the negotiating team moving forward.”

The striking workers are responsible for maintaining the region’s streets, sidewalks, parks and other properties. They also work in waste and recycling facilities as well as water and sewage treatment plants.

Their last contract expired March 31. 

The region has said that services won’t be interrupted by the strike, with managers, supervisors and third-party contractors doing the work.

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The library in Liverpool will be reopening in the new year in the Liverpool Business Development Centre off White Point Road. (Rick Conrad photo)

As the Liverpool library gets ready to move to its new location by the end of the year, the Region of Queens is beginning work to restart a library committee.

It will be chaired by Mayor Scott Christian and include District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell.

Establishing council’s various committees will be overseen by the region’s new municipal clerk. Pam Lovelace was hired a week ago to do that job.

Christian said she will be coming up with terms of reference for various committees, including the library committee.

“I think the initial work of that will be determining what the current need and purpose and mandate of a public committee associated with the library would look like and then constructing a terms of reference and populating a committee from there.”

Once that happens, the region would likely ask for members of the public to sit on the committee.

Regional councillors voted in February to move the Thomas H. Raddall Library to the Liverpool Business Development Centre off the White Point Road. Commonly known as the call centre building, it wasn’t the first choice for a new library site.

The previous council voted twice against the library steering committee’s recommendation to build a new library near Queens Place Emera Centre.

Many residents told councillors at a meeting last December that they did not want the library at the call centre site, which is outside of town in an area with no sidewalks and very little lighting.

The library’s lease at its current location downtown is up at the end of this year. So with time running out, councillors decided to move the library to the call centre building.

It’s supposed to be a short-term home while the newly elected council works on a longer-term solution. 

The region is spending up to $1.26 million on renovations for the new library space. They had set aside $3 million in 2022 for a new library.

Library staff will close the current location on Dec. 15, and begin packing up their collections for the move.

No date has been set yet for the library’s reopening. But it’s on track to be early in the new year.

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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”.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

QCCR acknowledges the support of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative