Region of Queens councillors rejected a property owner’s application to build four short-term rentals on this property on Fostertown Road in Port Medway. (Rick Conrad)
Region of Queens councillors made probably one of their easiest decisions at their regular meeting on Tuesday.
They rejected a bid to build an Airbnb that almost nobody wanted in their community.
Hans-Martin Klein, the owner of a vacant three-acre piece of land on Fostertown Road in Port Medway, wanted to build a single-family house for himself and four more single units to operate as seasonal rentals.
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Residents signed a petition against it, the region’s planning advisory committee recommended that council deny it and even the region’s planning staff said it should be rejected.
Under the municipality’s land use bylaw, fixed-roof overnight accommodations are not allowed in that part of the small village. It would require a change to the region’s land use bylaw to rezone the area.
Shelly Stevens is a Port Medway resident, who lives next door to the property.
“This area is made up of full-time residents who value safety, privacy and a quiet rural environment. Approving this rezoning would fundamentally alter the character of our community and reduce its liveability.”
Stevens told councillors that the road to the property is narrow, so it couldn’t accommodate increased traffic safely. She said the property owner’s proposal was also light on specifics.
“There’s no information on building size or sizes or layouts. There doesn’t appear to be any plan for garbage or recycling, or parking solutions, and no information on how many people the structures would accommodate.”
In addition to the petition, councillors said they also received a number of emails from residents opposed to it.
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton, who is a member of the planning advisory committee, said she was against the proposed development, especially since the region is planning a review of its land use bylaw and regulations around AirBnBs.
“There have been a lot of concerns raised about short-term rentals and how it affects our housing stock … this has been really problematic in Queens County. And so, we’re going to be looking at best practices to regulate those, where we want to encourage those, where we may not. And so that will have a really comprehensive review. So it didn’t make sense to entertain something like this.”
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault’s area includes Port Medway. She said the development would not fit with the location and characteristics of the small fishing village.
“As we have seen, many things such as the width of the road, the stone walls, the ditches, the flooding. There’s just so many points that stick out to deny this proposal.”
Councillors voted in December to hire an outside consultant to overhaul parts of its land use rules. One of those areas was the regulation of short-term rentals.
The consultant hasn’t been chosen yet, but the last time the region reviewed its land use bylaw and planning rules about eight years ago, it was expected to take about 18 months.
The historic Astor Theatre in Liverpool will undergo a multi-year facelift. (Rick Conrad / File photo)
The building that houses the Astor Theatre in Liverpool will get more than $1 million in upgrades this year, as part of a two-year, $3-million plan to modernize the historic building.
The Region of Queens owns the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre and leases it to the Astor Theatre Society.
Municipal councillors recently approved spending $1,050,000 this year and another $2,079,000 next year to install modern heating and cooling systems, air conditioning and long-delayed accessibility improvements.
Eric Goulden, chairman of the Astor Theatre Society, says he’s excited and grateful that the work is going ahead.
“All of these improvements are needed to update a 125-year-old building to today’s standards. … Most people don’t realize how busy we are and how much it’s needed to have a common point for people to get together and enjoy entertainment, but also learn and experience various crafts and meetings and that sort of thing. The vibe is very positive.
“We’re very, very pleased with the direction that we’re going in. We think that the next two years are going to be very positive for the Astor Theatre and a lot of the improvements that have been long overdue are going to take place.”
The Astor is limited in what it can offer in the warmer summer months, because the facility has only ceiling fans for cooling and air circulation in the theatre.
The region hired DSRA Architecture to detail what the building needs to improve operations and meet modern building codes.
The region plans to upgrade the facility’s electrical supply and install a modern HVAC system, including heat pumps, that will allow the theatre to maintain comfortable temperatures year-round.
It also plans to install a platform lift so that people with mobility issues can access the second floor.
The washrooms will also be upgraded to comply with provincial requirements for accessibility and universality.
A new fire escape will be installed from the second-floor balcony, which will allow for wheelchair-accessible seating upstairs.
And the backstage area will be expanded by 765 square feet to allow more room for storage, a workshop and dressing rooms.
The architects also said the building’s insulation needs to be upgraded for better energy efficiency and to protect the wood structure from humidity. So far, that has not been included in the planned work.
Goulden says that the upgrades will allow the Astor to offer more to its patrons at any time of year.
“We can’t do reliable programming in the summertime because of the lack of air conditioning, the lack of proper ventilation in the theatre. So it will give us at least another two months of programming that we can do in the summertime.”
He said the theatre is also shopping for a new movie projector to enhance its film offerings.
“Movies are going to be a big part of our growth. We will probably be the best movie experience on the South Shore.”
Councillors unanimously approved the work.
“I just have to say that I’m excited to see actually a plan for the updates at the Astor,” District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said. “It’s been a long time coming. So I’m very grateful for it.”
Mayor Scott Christian said the Astor board will continue to look for grants and other funding to try to offset some of the cost for municipal taxpayers.
Representatives from the municipality and the Astor plan to meet early next week to discuss the upgrades.
“I’m really quite excited about the future,” Goulden said. “A lot of good things happening at the Astor.”
Here’s a breakdown of the work planned at the Astor:
Year 1 (2026/27 fiscal year):
$245,000 – second floor platform lift (six months to install)
$175,000 – emergency egress from balcony (three months to install)
$210,000 – electrical upgrades (six months to complete)
$420,000 – Phase 1 heating and cooling upgrades (six months)
Year 2 upgrades – 2027/28 fiscal year ($2,079,000):
$1.4 million – backstage addition
$315,000 – Phase 2 heating and cooling upgrades
$168,000 – second floor washroom accessibility upgrades
$196,000 – main floor washroom accessibility upgrades
The Region of Queens wants ‘clear, enforceable provisions’ around e-bike and e-scooter use. (Mercea Iancu via Pixabay)
The Region of Queens wants to figure out how to regulate e-scooters and e-bikes in the municipality.
And that could include allowing them on sidewalks.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said that at the Nov. 13 police advisory board meeting, Queens District RCMP Const. Andrew Winsor reviewed the Motor Vehicle Act provisions around e-scooters.
“We discussed the uses of these devices on all roads, but the most challenged road was Bristol Avenue,” Amirault told her fellow councillors at Tuesday’s regular council meeting.
“ The board discussed sidewalk versus roadway use for the e-scooters. Due to the narrow lanes and heavy traffic in this area, it was suggested sidewalk use for limited areas, such as these supported by signage, with expectations for reductions in speed.”
Residents told councillors at their recent town hall sessions that it’s become too dangerous as a pedestrian in some areas, with the rise in popularity of the devices.
They reported people riding e-scooters and e-bikes at high speeds and not paying attention to what they were doing.
Councillors asked staff to develop “clear, enforceable provisions regulating e-bikes and e-scooters as recommended by the police advisory board”.
They also want staff to come up with amendments to a bylaw that restricts skateboard use in downtown Liverpool.
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton said the 1998 bylaw prohibiting skateboards at Fort Point, on Main Street, park of Market Street and near the Visitor Information Centre is too restrictive.
“The police advisory board wanted to remedy that since we have a lovely skate park and we’re promoting activity and further engagement with our youth. So that doesn’t jibe with the council of the day.”
She said Winsor told councillors that they can’t do anything about reckless e-scooter and e-bike use without a municipal bylaw.
“Where the municipality doesn’t have bylaws with e-bikes and e-scooters, he can’t do any ticketing. So once we have a bylaw in place that covers that, if someone is going excessive speed on Bristol, he actually would be able to ticket them.”
The Motor Vehicle Act does extensively regulate the use of e-scooters. It explicitly says they should be treated like bicycles, and are not allowed on sidewalks.
Users of bicycles, e-scooters, skateboards and other similar devices are also supposed to wear helmets.
“Where a roadway has a bicycle lane for bicycles travelling in the same direction that a cyclist is travelling, the operator of an electric kick-scooter shall ride in the bicycle lane unless it is impracticable to do so,” the act says.
“An operator of an electric kick-scooter who is not riding in a bicycle lane shall ride as far to the right side of the roadway as practicable or on the right-hand shoulder of the roadway.”
The Nova Scotia government recently passed a new Traffic Safety Act, which is due to replace the Motor Vehicle Act. It has not been proclaimed yet, so the current Motor Vehicle Act stands.
Under the new act, however, much of the responsibility for regulating the use of bicycles, e-scooters and e-bikes would fall to municipalities.
Mayor Scott Christian said he’s unsure why provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act aren’t being enforced. But he said he hopes the staff report will help clarify who’s responsible.
“It seems to me that some other municipalities will have already tackled this one. So I’ll be interested to see what approaches to regulating the appropriate and safe use of those devices within a town context where there is sidewalk infrastructure in place.”
Councillors also asked staff to investigate traffic calming measures in the town of Liverpool to respond to residents’ concerns about speeding by motor vehicles.
Region of Queens councillors have granted a funding request from the Brooklyn Recreation Committee. (File photo by Rick Conrad)
The Brooklyn Recreation Committee, which operates the Brooklyn Community Hall, the Hank Snow playground and Brooklyn Waterfront Park, has been given a grant of almost $6,000 to finish work on the hall.
At their Sept. 23 meeting, councillors unanimously approved a request from the society from the Community Investment Fund for fixing trim, walls and drywall as well as painting the whole interior of the building.
The group had asked for $8,976 under the fund’s capital investment portion. But councillors accepted a staff recommendation for $5,999.71 in funding.
The recreation committee said it needed help to pay for the final work after completing significant upgrades like new windows and heat pumps.
The region charges Brooklyn residents an area rate on behalf of the non-profit society. That rate is expected to generate $49,761 in revenue in 2026 to help with maintenance of the playground, park, hall and the cemetery in Brooklyn.
Before the request, $71,000 was left in the region’s Community Investment Fund to fund eligible applications.
“Accounting best practice would not normally consider painting and the repairing of trim a capital expense, however, it could be considered the final phase of the capital work that has taken place over the last year involving conservable investment in the hall and remediation of some damage caused by the installation,” according to the staff report from Steve Burns, community economic development officer.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault declared a conflict and did not vote on the matter.
Region of Queens councillors want more traffic enforcement in places like Liverpool and Summerville. (Rick Conrad)
Region of Queens councillors want the RCMP to crack down on traffic violations and drug crime and they say they’re willing to put up the money to hire extra officers.
Staff Sgt. Dan Archibald is the commander of the Queens District RCMP detachment. He recently provided a quarterly police report to council.
He said that having a dedicated street crime enforcement team of two officers to investigate drug complaints would free up other officers to address longstanding irritants like traffic.
“I feel that it’s too easy for individuals to sell illicit drugs from their residences with the lack of enforcement or capability in doing enforcement on our behalf. A designated street crime team or general investigations team would not only give us the resource power to do it, but it would come with the knowledge and experience that would be required to do it.
“To me, it would make (Queens County) that much better of a place to live to be able to enforce those on a routine.”
There was one charge under the controlled drugs and substances act from April to June this year. Last year, there were four in the same period.
The detachment is currently staffed with 10 constables, which includes one community policing officer. Two corporals act as shift supervisors and operations manager, in addition to Archibald himself. There are also two civilian employees.
The Region of Queens spends just under $3 million a year on policing.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said council decided more than 10 years ago to pull funding for an extra officer. And she said another officer left the area soon after that and wasn’t replaced.
“I’ve been getting a lot of complaints lately of drugs, needles, within Pine Grove Park,” she said.
“I think council has to tackle that right away. … I think now we do have the need to support that extra officer without a doubt, with what’s going on now in today’s world. And I really hope that council will support this initiative. ”
Overall, Archibald said there was no big spike in crime in Queens County over the same period last year.
But calls for assaults, extortion, harassment or threats were up to 48 from 32. There 42 calls related to intimate partner violence. Twelve people, nine male and three female, were charged in those incidents.
RCMP also dealt with 388 traffic violations, up from 250 the year before.
Archibald said the increase in traffic-related charges is the result of targeted enforcement.
“We’ve been doing some proactive traffic enforcement throughout Queens County,” he said.
“ For the two months of that first quarter, we’ve focused on North Queens, Caledonia area, and rural roads off of Caledonia, which has been great. And what that looks like is a day designated with some extra members coming in, doing strictly traffic enforcement, road safety things. People are happy to see us in places where they haven’t seen us previously. We’re looking at keeping that up every month at the very least focusing one day in various areas throughout the community.”
Some councillors want more of it.
Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he regularly gets complaints from residents in his downtown Liverpool district that they never see police.
“The lack of police presence in this community, I find quite appalling. I never see a cop. Privateer Days, I think I’ve seen five of them in the tent, but I don’t see them. And I live on the west side of Main Street, which is a drag strip. They start around around the fire hall or Cameron’s Corner, and it is a drag strip, and you can talk to anybody on that street, and they’ll tell you. And we never see a cop. We never see a radar set up.”
Archibald said that covering a large area like Queens County can be challenging.
“Policing has changed over the last however many years, (and) the demand for police presence has grown. Every time someone calls the police, whether it’s North Queens, West Queens, East Queens, wherever it is, if we have two members on during a day shift or two on night shift, a call in North Queens drags two members, whether it’s mental health, whether it’s a mischief, whether it’s a domestic, whether it’s a traffic complaint, that drags the only police officers out of Liverpool to a different area which takes them away from town for two hours. So it’s harder to designate police to the town of Liverpool when there’s other needs.”
But Archibald said they’re trying to address those kinds of concerns with their monthly traffic initiative. And he said installing more digital speed signs in some areas would also help, especially during tourist season.
Archibald told councillors that residents should report traffic violations to the detachment as soon as they see them.
“If they call us in real time, and we’ve got some new recruits here … who are gung ho on getting out there and if someone gives information as to who these people are, what they’re driving, like, they are out of the office to go look for them. So now’s a good time to report those people as well. You don’t always get that in certain detachments, but we have some young folks who who are enjoying traffic enforcement.”
A consultants report does not recommend installing traffic lights at the Main and Market intersection in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
A study of the troublesome three-way stop in downtown Liverpool has found traffic isn’t that bad and that it doesn’t warrant installing traffic lights.
Engineering firm CBCL presented its findings to council this week about the intersection at Main and Market streets.
“We found overall that the intersection has sufficient capacity for the current traffic volumes and the future traffic volumes with the current stop control configuration. We found that the traffic signals are not warranted,” David Copp, a transportation engineer with CBCL who conducted the on-site traffic study in February, told councillors at their regular meeting Tuesday.
Copp said that opinions about the intersection are mixed. While some pedestrians and business owners believe there’s no problem, others told him it is hazardous.
“There was a number of folks who identified that cars or trucks were not yielding to pedestrians. They were sort of blasting through the stop signs and just ignoring any pedestrians who were waiting. There definitely seems to be a bit of a lack of trust on the part of the pedestrian that vehicles will actually stop where they’re supposed to when they approach the intersection.”
Collision data for the area is very limited. There have been 36 reported collisions within a 100-metre radius from 2009 to 2024. Most of those were vehicle collisions. Five of them involved pedestrians.
“So it made it very challenging to draw any conclusions or highlight trends or causation between these incidents,” he said.
Overall, the study found traffic flow and vehicle speeds were within acceptable limits. And it also found that five new housing developments planned for the Mount Pleasant area just outside downtown Liverpool won’t make volumes a problem in the next 10 years.
Copp said some changes could make the area safer for pedestrians.
He said combining the through and right-turning westbound lanes at the post office on Main Street would shorten the crosswalk there and improve visibility.
There would still be an issue of cars entering and leaving the angled parking spaces next to the post office. He said most of the collisions in the area were related to those spaces and that council should consider removing or reconfiguring them.
The intersection has been the scene of lots of close calls over the years.
District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy said he doesn’t believe combining westbound lanes on Main Street is enough to protect pedestrians.
“We’ve had people hit and I think due diligence, if we just walk away from this and say we’re going to combine those two lanes, I don’t think we’re doing our job,” he said.
“I can live with the car to car (collisions), you can fix those. Car to pedestrians, you can’t fix. So I think the car to pedestrian is our biggest concern.”
He wants to see some kind of pedestrian-activated signal to alert drivers when somebody wants to cross.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said the intersection and the sidewalk approaches have to be improved to be more accessible for people with visual, hearing or mobility impairments.
“It’s very scary to go through that intersection for pedestrians, very scary. So I think there’s a lot of work we have to do there, and if it doesn’t warrant traffic lights, maybe put up the lights for the signals for the pedestrians. But I think this is a situation where we really have to do a lot of a lot more conversation, a lot more work. We just cannot leave it the way it is.”
Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton told QCCR after the meeting that even though the traffic count was done in February, when numbers would be typically lower, she said it still gives a good baseline for council to consider.
“And so our conversation with that particular intersection, I think, is far from over, and we should consider if there’s any improvements that we can make to the parking there (at the post office), how we make that the best it can be, given the information that was presented today.”
Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian, right, wraps up the municipality’s second budget meeting on Monday night. Also pictured is interim CAO Dan McDougall. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)
Region of Queens councillors began their 2025/26 budget discussions with some money in the bank from 2024/25, as they look to make life a little easier for people on low or fixed incomes.
Mayor Scott Christian said the region has a surplus in the million-dollar range. But he said it’s difficult to know for sure until finance staff crunch the final numbers.
Last year, council began budget deliberations with a $650,000 surplus from 2023/24. Nova Scotia municipalities are not allowed to run an operating budget deficit.
Councillors are following a different process this year. While the meetings are public, residents don’t have access to draft budget documents as they did in last year’s discussions.
“I think in past years, there was a lot of emphasis on starting with a tax rate and then working down or whittling away at that or as you add things, the tax rate implications,” Christian told QCCR.
“I think that this year we wanted to focus on funding the right things, identifying what are going to be appropriate things to include in the capital investment plan, and then get that operating budget right. So I think it was a conscious decision but that was staff-driven that they thought that let’s try to get it right, try to set the appropriate budget given what the needs of the community are, and then look at it on balance with revenue and see what the implications are for the ratepayer.”
In their second public budget meeting earlier this week, councillors discussed boosting the low-income property tax exemption and helping the Queens County Food Bank with its rent.
They also found out that the region has about $325,000 left over from the renovations to the new Thomas H. Raddall Library space. Councillors had approved up to $1.26 million for that work.
And revenue at Queens Place Emera Centre is forecasted to be down this year because of less advertising and sponsorship and no major full-facility rentals planned to March 31, 2026.
Heading into 2025/26, the region expects to get $20.5 million in property tax revenue, an increase of $900,000, based on the current base tax rate of $1.04 per $100 of assessment.
That increase is mostly due to higher property assessments, which rose by $86.9 million.
Director of corporate services Joanne Veinotte took councillors through the region’s preliminary operating budget.
It was a chance for councillors to request changes, more information or additional funding.
Councillors like District 4 representative Vicki Amirault want the low-income property tax exemption increased to give more relief potentially to more people.
“I would like to up the income level,” she told councillors. “ I think we should up it $5,000 on each stage there, and up the rebate as well. I think it would be very helpful to our residents.”
Last year, the region increased the maximum income threshold to $35,000. Those in the lowest income range, up to $25,000, can get a $400 break on their taxes. Those in the top group can apply for up to $300 in relief.
Veinotte said she would report back to councillors on what relief the region could offer depending on how much more money councillors devote to the program.
District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he wants council to have a serious look at the Mount Pleasant water and wastewater extension. The region has budgeted $10.8 million toward the $21-million project. The Nova Scotia government is covering the rest.
The project would extend municipal water and sewer access to two new private housing developments in Liverpool. It would also improve existing infrastructure.
“The extension to Mount Pleasant boggles my mind when we have so much infrastructure need, including sidewalks … but not just that, with the upgrades needed in water on the west side of town, up till Union Street, I’m really having some reservations about the extension at all,” Wentzell said.
“And I’m speaking from the heart. I’m sorry if that upsets some people.”
Christian said after the meeting that councillors want to understand what exactly is involved in that project and potentially look for ways to lower the municipality’s share of the cost.
“This council’s not OK with incurring a huge amount of debt that could potentially be paid for by the general ratepayer and/or utilizing reserves that have been accumulated from the general ratepayer to pay for that service extension. And we currently don’t have any federal monies that are committed to that project. I think that that’s problematic. What is the plan with service extension? What impacts does that have on preparing us for future growth but also what impacts does it have, attending to known and foreseeable issues associated with the existing infrastructure for our utilities?”
Councillors will resume budget talks on Tues., May 6 at 6 p.m. at council chambers on White Point Road.
Region of Queens councillors chose District 2 Coun. Maddie Charlton on Tuesday as the region’s deputy mayor. (Rick Conrad photo)
District 2 Coun. Maddie Charlton is the new deputy mayor for the Region of Queens.
Councillors voted for Charlton, who was the only nominee, at Tuesday’s meeting, the first since the Oct. 19 municipal election.
Charlton’s term as deputy mayor is for two years. She won’t get a raise, though she will be compensated at the mayor’s rate of pay while she acts as mayor.
Scott Christian presided over his first council meeting as the region’s new mayor. Charlton was re-elected to council, as were Jack Fancy and Vicki Amirault. New councillors are Courtney Wentzell, Stewart Jenkins, Wanda Carver and Roberta Roy.
Region of Queens councillors make $20,865 annually, while the mayor makes $41,730.
Scott Christian, mayor of the Region of Queens, is preparing for the newly elected council’s first meeting. (Rick Conrad photo)
Queens County residents can expect more than just new faces around the table as regional council meets Tuesday, for the first time since the October election.
Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian says people will also notice changes in how meetings are run. He says they’ll be a little less formal, and give councillors more opportunity to address residents’ concerns.
“Where we can, making it feel more approachable and trying to generate good, fulsome conversation,” Christian told QCCR in an interview.
“So a little less formal, a little more conversational with the hope of making it more engaging for the public and to really foster good conversation around the table.”
One of the first issues they’ll tackle on Tuesday is the new outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre. In his campaign for mayor, Christian said he wants the pool to be a year-round, indoor facility.
The region broke ground on the new pool on Oct. 4. The $8-million structure is slated to be open by 2026.
Christian says he and the rest of council will discuss the region’s options if councillors eventually decide to upgrade the project.
“We haven’t had an apportuity as a council to debate this and I look forward to hearing what my fellow members of council, what their perspectives are on it,” he said.
“But at this stage, the motion will just be related to having better information. From my perspecitve, that’s the first appropriate step, is to have a complete understanding about if we go down that path what are we getting ourselves into, but also what opportunites are there, what willingness is there on part of the various funders at the table and the construction company who’s been engaged to pursue a shift in scope?”
Before becoming mayor, Christian was a private and public sector consultant. He was elected in a tight race in the Oct. 19 election with former Queens County educator Terry Doucette.
The other new faces on council are Roberta Roy, Courtney Wentzell, Wanda Carver and Stewart Jenkins. They’ll be joining re-elected councillors Maddie Charlton, Jack Fancy and Vicki Amirault.
Christian says he’ll be working as mayor full time. And he admits he has a lot to learn.
But he says he and the rest of council have had a good start, thanks to guidance from CAO Cody Joudry and a productive two-day training and orientation session in Halifax last week.
“What I heard loud and clear throughout the campaign was a desire to see our council working effectively together. I think that we’ve already made some really great strides. I’ve had conversations with each and every member of the council and sought to hear them out. … I think we made some really positive strides as a group in terms of coming together while we were in Halifax. … And another thing too is working effectively with other members of the community, with other organizations, and other orders of government, and what I hear is a real comitment across the team to start to do those things.”
Christian says there’s a lot of work to be done. But he also says that with a staffing crunch at the region, he and the rest of council need to be patient.
“We as a council need to be realistic in terms of the capacity of the staff right now to execute on some of the work that is important. The whole team has a real commitment to addressing the priority concerns in the community, but we need to do it in a way that makes sense.”
Ultimately, Christian says he hopes he and the rest of council can get the public more involved and engaged in the region’s business.
“We are accountable to the pepole of Queens and we need to make sure that they are well informed and that they have access to the decisions that we’ve made and the conversations we’ve had in reaching those deicsions.”
The new Region of Queens council meets Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. at council chambers on White Point Road. You can see the agenda here.
Region of Queens councillors Jack Fancy, David Brown and Vicki Amirault have declared their intentions for October’s municipal election. (Rick Conrad)
With less than three months to go before October’s municipal election, incumbents and former councillors in Queens County are declaring their intentions.
So far, three of the seven sitting councillors have said they won’t run again. Three others have declared they will run again.
District 1 Coun. Kevin Muise could not be reached. And Mayor Darlene Norman hasn’t yet announced her plans.
District 6 Coun. David Brown is one of the councillors who won’t be reoffering. District 2 Coun. Ralph Gidney and District 7 Coun. Carl Hawkes are the others. Gidney’s area will be changed to District 3. Former councillor Susan MacLeod, who placed second in the 2020 mayor’s race, will be running to replace Gidney.
Brown told QCCR that he feels he’s done what he can for his constituents. He represents the areas around Port Medway, Mill Village, Greenfield and Labelle. A newcomer to municipal politics in the 2020 election, he beat Jason Croft by about 130 votes.
“I feel like I’ve accomplished as much as I can accomplish in council and I’m not really happy with the process, so I’m looking at different avenues for moving on,” he said. “I just feel like we’re a municipal council, but we don’t govern like a municipal council. We still govern like a town council.
“It seems like everything we do is centred around Brooklyn, Liverpool and Milton and any time we try to get anything done outside of that core, it’s a struggle.”
He said he wasn’t criticizing his fellow councillors or municipal staff. And he didn’t want to provide examples of some of the struggles he’s had.
But he said he feels the Liverpool area is over-represented on council, with five councillors who have some part of their district in Liverpool, Milton or Brooklyn. With the redrawn boundaries, that’s down to four.
“Whoever goes into council from rural areas is just going to have to fight harder to try to get their areas recognized. Maybe if councilors coming in from Liverpool, Brooklyn, Milton, realize that they’re not funding 100 per cent of the cost of what happens in Queens County, but they’re expecting 100 per cent of the expenditures that are happening in Queens County, it’s not a fair and equitable solution for anybody.”
Brown said he was also frustrated with some of the criticism he’s received online and in person since he became councillor. He said he welcomes feedback from constituents, but he said sometimes it goes too far.
“There’s a lot of anger with people, in the public. They seem to think that because you’re a public figure they can say whatever they want to you. And council is not a high-paid position to put up with the amount of hours and the abuse that we’ve been taking from some people. So I’m just not interested in doing another four years of that.”
“I’m happy with what I did. I think council has done the best job that they could for the most people. It’s just most of the work is done in the centre of town and that frustrates me.”
District 3 Coun. Maddie Charlton will be trying for a second term. She joins District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault and District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy, who have announced they will seek re-election.
Because of the boundary changes, Charlton will be running in District 2 this time. But it’s essentially the same area as she represents now in District 3, with the addition of part of White Point Road.
Amirault will still run in District 4, but her area now includes Danesville and East Port Medway. It also has less of Brooklyn.
And Fancy, who represents the Milton area, has said he plans to run in District 7, which is where he grew up. That area includes much of north Queens, including Caledonia and Kejimkujik National Park.
In 2020, Charlton made history at age 29 as the youngest person elected to Region of Queens council.
She told QCCR that she’s enjoyed her past four years in municipal politics.
“Although it has certainly come with challenges,” she said.
“I have certainly learned a lot over these last four years and I really think that younger representation at the council table is important.”
Along with bringing a more youthful perspective, she says she’s proud she’s been able to advocate for better access to council meetings for the public. She pushed for a regular evening meeting to make it easier for people to attend, as well as the upgrades necessary to livestream meetings.
Charlton says she believes that council’s communication with the public has improved.
“That was one of things that as a resident before I ran was something that was really obvious there was a bit of a disconnect there. There certainly have been improvements. And those are some that I’m really proud of as well. Besides the standing evening council meetings, I championed audio and video upgrades because people couldn’t hear when they tuned into the meetings. And I think it’s really important that residents can do that and access those meetings and listen to those meetings if they can’t be in the room. So I would say that’s still not perfect. But I think it has gotten better.”
Charlton said that communication breakdowns were partially responsible for the controversies over a new library.
“I would say that we need to slow down before we speed up. … We hit the gas too fast and different information was evolving over cost and I think if we would have just slowed down, we could have pieced things together in a more sensible way to then confidently make a plan that we could endorse going forward.”
David Brown says he regrets that council didn’t commit to a new library. They decided instead to move the library, at least temporarily, to the business development centre on White Point Road.
“I would have liked to have seen a library built. Having an actual brick and mortar standalone library built and not having that happen and the way the process worked out was one of my biggest frustrations in the last term.”
Charlton says that if she’s re-elected, she’d like to advocate for more youth programming and recreational opportunities. And she says she hopes other young women take a crack at council this time around.
Brown says he’s not sure what he’ll do next, but he’s going to enjoy his free time. His advice for people who want to run for council? Do your homework and be prepared to stick up for your district.
“Just to be prepared it’s not going to be the happy smiley place that you think it’s going to be,” he says.
“You’re in for a fight every day. If you want to get your area recognized and you want an equitable amount of expenditures for all areas of the county, it’s not going to go smoothly. There’s a fight involved with it. There’s a lot of argument. You have to do your research, know the policies, know what you want going in and know what your consittunts want going in because you’re representing those constituents, you’re not representing your own personal interests. … You have to know what all those constituents want so you can make the best decision for the most people.”
The municipal election is Oct. 19. This year, for the first time, Queens County voters will be able to vote in person or online.
Region of Queens councillors want a staff report on installing traffic lights at the three-way stop at Main and Market Streets in downtown Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
Queens County pedestrians and motorists won’t see orange crosswalk flags at a busy intersection in downtown Liverpool, but they could see a return of traffic lights.
Region of Queens councillors on Tuesday voted against installing the flags at the three-way stop at Main and Market streets. But they did support getting a staff report on having full traffic lights at that intersection.
The area did have traffic lights decades ago, until they were damaged by a transport truck, and taken down.
Safety concerns have long been an issue at Main and Market streets. In 2015, regional councillors commissioned a study by Insight Traffic Engineering that found traffic control wasn’t an issue and recommended minor changes.
In 2019, councillors rejected installing pedestrian-controlled crosswalk lights at a cost of $27,000.
But a collision in January which sent a 79-year-old woman to hospital rekindled concern in the community about safety at that intersection.
Councillors asked staff to come back with options about how to make that intersection safer. Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works, said in April that there is no evidence crosswalk flags would help. And he said pedestrian-controlled lights at that intersection could interrupt traffic flow and create more problems. He said it’s unusual to have the lights at a three-way stop.
The Town of Mahone Bay installed an all-way stop in 2021 near Saltbox Brewery on its Main Street. It also has flashing red lights and orange crosswalk flags for pedestrian use.
The all-way stop in Mahone Bay by Saltbox Brewery. (Google Streetview)
Even though councillors on Tuesday rejected the flags, they said action needs to be taken to make Main and Market intersection safer.
District 2 Coun. Maddie Charlton said that it will only get busier with the new Queens Manor, the apartment building planned off Bristol Avenue and the planned Mount Pleasant development expected to house up to 1,200 people.
Charlton asked staff for the traffic light report.
“When I look around at other communities that have these three-way intersections, they have lights. And so I think it’s important that we understand what the criteria (are) for those lights. If another option has presented itself that we can consider, I think that would be helpful to have. We need something that tells us how we could get those traffic lights, what the criteria is, so if we’re not there yet, when can we pull the trigger on them.”
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said it’s time for the region to address the problem.
“One person getting hit there is too many, and it’s been many over the years. So I think we really need to look into this and go forward on this and not stall so much on this problem. I know it’s been years and years, but I think we need to find a way forward.”
District 5 Coun. Jack Fancy said the flags would have been better than nothing. And he said he also supports pedestrian-controlled lights.
“There’s always going to be issues with each thing, but I believe the good outweighs the bad with this. Especially, what we’re aiming for right now is doing nothing. And I don’t think doing nothing is the answer.”
District 6 Coun. David Brown said enforcement and education would resolve a lot of safety issues.
“The lights won’t stop cars, the lines on the pavement won’t stop cars. You have to look for yourself and guard your safety. We’ve got a lot of development coming and I’d like to know what would trigger a need for (traffic) lights at that intereseciton because I think the stop control works well now if we enforce it.”
Mayor Darlene Norman said that when the traffic lights were operating at that intersection years ago, it seemed to help.
On Tuesday, councillors also approved $1,000 to study the feasibility of reducing the speed limit on Main Street from School Street to Riverside Drive, near Fort Point Lighthouse Park.
Residents submitted a petition to council in November, asking them to improve traffic safety in the area by lowering the speed limit and installing an all-way stop at Main and School streets.
Melissa Thiele-Smale, treasurer of the Brooklyn Recreation Committee, spoke to Queens regional council in January. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)
The Brooklyn Recreation Committee will be reimbursed $1,150 by the Region of Queens for the cost of a financial review.
In 2023, the committee was granted a community area rate of four cents per $100 of assessment to fund its operations. The rate provides $32,000 in revenue.
Certain community groups can apply to the region to levy an area rate on their behalf. The group sets a proposed rate, which is calculated at cents per $100 of assessment or a lump sum.
An area rate request is subject to public consultation and a non-binding vote by those in the communities served by the group.
Queens is one of the only municipalities in Nova Scotia to offer an area rate to community groups to cover expenses. Other municipalities levy rates for assets owned by the municipality.
“There are many who apply different rates to different areas for different purposes. These rates are used to cover costs that are more specific to an area such as: fire protection based on fire service area, sidewalks, local recreation facilities, etc.,” Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services, said in her Jan. 9 report to council.
“Staff could identify very few municipal units that use this method to support community groups that operate independently from the municipal units.”
The region changed its community area rate policy on Jan. 23, and the financial reporting requirements for community groups.
Under the old policy, groups had to submit a financial review by a qualified chartered public accountant.
In the new policy, only those generating revenue over $50,000 have to submit a financial review. Those groups generating revenue from the area rate over $100,000 must submit audited financial statements.
The Brooklyn Recreation Committee had a financial review done by Belliveau Veinotte, which cost $1,150. District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault asked council at their Jan. 9 meeting to consider reimbursing that cost.
Councillors voted on the motion at this week’s meeting. It passed by a vote of 5 to 3.
Some councillors were concerned that the group knew it would have to pay for the financial review before the policy changed, and that taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook.
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.
Betsy Hartt and Bob Iuliucci, owners of Bear Cove Resources, will make an oral presentation at the upcoming Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board hearing in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
By Rick Conrad
UPDATE 9:25 p.m. Tuesday
The Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board hearing into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay has been delayed until further notice, the board posted on its website Tuesday night.
“The hearing scheduled for March 4-8, 2024, in Liverpool, has been adjourned until further notice,” the notice reads. “New dates will be announced here once these have been determined by the board.”
No reason was given. Elsewhere on the board’s site, chairwoman Jean McKenna’s name has been removed. The new chairman is Tim Cranston, a member of the board and a lawyer “with 20 years+ experience as in-house counsel for two award-winning marine bio-tech companies.”
QCCR has contacted the board with questions about McKenna’s status and the hearing delay.
Meanwhile, more than 150 individuals, businesses and other groups had their comments on the proposed fish farm expansion accepted by the board.
Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, has applied to expand its operations near Coffin Island and to add two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
If successful, Kelly Cove’s operation would grow to 60 pens from its current 14. It would mean about 1.8 million salmon would be farmed in the bay, compared to the current estimated 400,000. Farmed trout would also be added at Coffin Island.
In addition to the written submissions and oral presentations from the public, five groups have been granted intervenor status: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, a group of 23 lobster fishermen, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
People had until Feb. 12 to submit their comments or ask to make an oral presentation at the hearings.
Seven people or groups are giving oral presentations, including Bear Cove Resources Storm-cast Seaweed in East Berlin, owned by Bob Iuliucci and Betsy Hartt.
They say they’re worried about the effects of a four-fold increase in salmon and trout farming in the area.
“There’s absolutely no way (the farms are) going to withstand an easterly wind that can bring waves of 10 metres,” Iuliucci said Tuesday in an interview.
“We’ve had storm events (here), in one storm event the shoreline went back about five metres. … A net full of fish, it’s hopeless, it would be really unfortunate for everybody.”
Iuliucci says he’s also worried about what would happen if the new farm sites get caught up in tidal surges, especially given the current problems with flooding at Centennial Park on the Liverpool waterfront.
“We have the park inundated on a regular basis. So now we’re gonna have hundreds of thousands of fish stranded as well and on people’s properties.”
Hartt says their customers ask about whether their compost is affected by the current operation.
“The more their gear gets tossed around, the more their gear gets included in the seaweed we collect. And we get customers asking us questions already. ‘Does the fish farm affect the seaweed? Does that mean that I’m going to get microplastics in the seaweed compost I’m buying from you?’ I let them know at this stage, no. But when you consider the magnification of that project, that is going to be a concern.”
Most of the public feedback the review board received was in written submissions. It accepted 146 letters, which are published on its website.
Most of those written submissions oppose Kelly Cove’s application. Twelve support it. Among the supporters are the mayor of Shelburne and businesses who have done business with Cooke.
But several other submissions were rejected by the independent board.
That included two of the area’s politicians. According to a post on the Social Politics Facebook page, Queens MLA Kim Masland had her letter rejected because the board said it must be free of “appearance of any possible influence” by elected officials.
Masland has spoken out against the project. In her letter, posted on her Facebook page, she said the expansion would harm the environment, tourism, the lobster fishery and residents’ general enjoyment of Beach Meadows Beach.
Masland could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Premier Tim Houston also came out against the project last week, during a luncheon in Liverpool organized by the South Queens Chamber of Commerce.
The board also rejected submissions from people who were listed as a member of one of the intervenor groups. It ruled that their interests were already being represented.
Region of Queens District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault’s area includes Brooklyn and Beach Meadows. She was one of those whose letter was rejected, and she was also told she could not make a presentation at the hearings, because she is already represented by the Region of Queens as an intervenor.
“I’m not very happy about it. I’m the one that’s out and about in the community and I’m the one that’s hearing from my constituents and I believe I should be able to speak on their behalf.
“I have not heard from anybody yet that is in favour of this expansion.”
The proposed site for the new library at Queens Place lies at the end of the driveway beside the sledding hill. Photo Ed Halverson
Region of Queens Council has cancelled the construction of a new library near Queens Place.
In a recorded 5-3 vote, Councillors Amirault, Charlton, Fancy, Gidney and Muise voted not to build the library at that location, while Mayor Norman and Councillors Brown and Hawkes voted to go ahead.
In August 2022 council agreed to sell the land at Queens Crossing (the name of the site containing Queens Place, the Best Western Hotel, the skatepark, the planned long-term care home and the proposed library site) to the Queens Care Society for $2 per square foot.
The 479,000 square feet of land would bring in roughly $960,000, which is about what public works staff estimate it would cost to build a road, sidewalks and water infrastructure out to the end of the cul-de-sac to accommodate the library and long-term care home.
Historically, council has reinvested any proceeds from the sale of land on that site back into infrastructure at Queens Crossing.
Charlton says she supports the construction of a new long-term care home, but council was never asked if they wanted to spend that money and since it isn’t a policy, this council is not bound by the decisions of previous councils.
“We did not discuss a road extension when we agreed to sell the land,” said Charlton. “We were selling the land because it was already serviced for water and sewer to the point where it was required.”
Mayor Darlene Norman says if the municipality doesn’t cover the cost of extending these services it will need to come from the Queens Care Society’s construction budget.
“The whole idea that we would not show our support for this amazing facility is beyond comprehensible to me,” said Norman.
Councillor Vicki Amirault chairs the library site selection committee and voted against the committee’s recommendation.
The committee was tasked by council with finding the best location to build a new library.
Councillor Amirault was contacted to provide a comment for this story but did not reply before publication.
Council is now looking at options to move the library closer to the Queens Place Emera Centre.
They have requested costed studies for two different library concepts.
One will determine the price of a stand-alone library beside Queens Place; the other would examine building an extension on the Centre.
CAO Chris McNeill told council he was warned by the project manager an extension would be more costly.
McNeill says any extension on Queens Place would have to look at the existing capacity of the building to handle additional demands on electricity, heating and water supply among other issues.
McNeill also informed council the two studies could cost in the range of $200,000.
In the meantime, council is aware of the precarious situation the Thomas H Raddall Library finds itself.
In addition to infrastructure issues the building is currently up for sale.
Council is suggesting the library find alternative locations where they could relocate temporarily until a new permanent location can be built.
A notice indicating they had less than 24 hours to claim their mail came as a surprise to some residents of Brooklyn last week.
Canada Post left the notices in post boxes at the Brooklyn office Tuesday October 11 and before noon the next morning, the mailboxes were cleaned out.
In an e-mail, a spokesperson for Canada Post said, “that due to reasons beyond our control, we were notified that the Brooklyn Post Office would close at end of day Wednesday, October 12. Customers were notified of the closure on Tuesday, October 11 by letter and flyers posted on-site.”
Letter sent by Canada Post to Brooklyn residents. Photo courtesy Vicki Amirault
The post office was in the Wa-Su-Wek building on Hillside Road and operated by one of their staff members.
Board member Grace Conrad says they just couldn’t afford to operate the postal outlet any longer.
“One person is supposed to be doing that plus being able to look after some of the Wa-Su-Wek stuff,” said Conrad. “We don’t actually get enough money from [the] post office, or whatever, to pay a worker. We’re only getting a little bit of money.”
Conrad says the Wa-Su-Wek board members met Friday October 7th and decided they couldn’t continue to operate the post office at a loss.
She contacted Canada Post that day to inform them of the board’s decision.
The board was prepared to continue running the postal service for 30 to 60 days to give Canada Post time to come up with an alternative method of delivery.
Conrad was surprised when a postal worker showed up at 10:00am on Wednesday and cleared out the mail.
Anyone with an outside post box is unaffected by the change while roughly 300 people who used the interior boxes, as well as those looking to buy stamps or collect larger parcels now need to travel to Liverpool for postal service.
District 4 Councillor Vicki Amirault has been working to get answers for her constituents since the notices went out.
She says it’s not just the 5 km drive to Liverpool that is a problem for Brooklyn residents.
“They are very upset. It’s the drive and as you know, our parking spaces are very limited in front of the Liverpool post office,” said Amirault. “So, if those parking spaces are full that means they either have to park in back of the Royal Bank or they have to park down in the parking lot and walk. It’s very inconvenient.”
Canada Post will be installing 19 community mailboxes on the Wa-Su-Wek property to service the 300 customers who have been displaced.
While that solves the problem of getting letters and smaller parcels to Brooklyn residents Amirault is concerned moving services to Liverpool could cause other issues.
“It’s creating confusion for Liverpool post office workers as well. They have taken on a lot of extra work. And the residents of Liverpool as well, there’s only so many workers so their mail is going to slow down, probably, as well,” said Amirault.
The Canada Post spokesperson says the community mailboxes have been ordered and will be installed as soon as possible.
The only concrete action taken at the latest Region of Queens council meeting was the decision to create a pool committee.
Councillors Jack Fancy and Vicki Amirault will be joined by two members of the Queens Community Aquatic Society and two residents at large on the six-person panel.
However, Mayor Darlene Norman says it still isn’t clear what responsibilities the committee will have.
“What they’re going to talk about? I don’t know. Maybe they can discuss how to encourage more people to become lifeguards or other things, because they really have no authority to make decisions,” said Norman. “We’ll just see how it goes.”
Since then, some members of council and the Queens Community Aquatic Society have been pushing to tie the new pool to the development of a new library.
The mayor says municipal staff time is at a premium right now and no one is available to sit on the committee and provide resources as they are already working on several other major projects in the community.
“Our engineering and our CAO and our planner, they’re very involved with the building of the new Queens Manor, highly involved with that. We’ve got some major street work going on,” said Norman. “We’re, like many municipal units, we’re struggling with our staff shortage numbers. We don’t have enough labourers in our engineering department.”
Norman says staff is fully prepared to take the on the development of a new pool in 2023.
“At which time they will consult with the community about an outdoor pool, location, etc.”
The committee is expected to meet in early October and Norman says council will attempt to determine what the committee’s function will be before that first meeting.
Back Row – Councillor Ralph Gidney, District 2; Councillor Carl J. Hawkes, District 7; Councillor David Brown, District 6; Deputy Mayor Kevin Muise, District 1; Councillor Jack Fancy, District 5. Front Row – Councillor Maddie Charlton, District 3; Mayor Darlene Norman; Councillor Vicki Amirault, District 4. Photo courtesy Region of Queens
The Region of Queens experienced a lot of “firsts” when council was sworn in last week.
In the region’s 24-year history, Mayor Darlene Norman is the first woman to ever hold the top post in the municipality.
At 29 years old, District 3 Councillor Maddie Charlton became the youngest person ever elected to council.
Norman and Charlton join District 4 Councillor Vicki Amirault, to account for the largest number of women on Queens council.
Mayor Norman sees this as people’s attitude’s becoming more progressive.
“People in Queens are not looking at gender,” said Norman. “They’re seeing people for who they are. They’re looking at their personalities and their strengths and it’s not who’s got the skirt and who’s got the pants.”
Norman says she’s never allowed herself to be pigeon-holed because of her gender.
“I grew up with three brothers and no sisters so I climbed the biggest trees and hunted and did what my brothers did. I never really felt that I was second shoe because I was a woman. But yet I realize that the world sees it that way, often,” said Norman.
Charlton says she was aware she was the youngest person campaigning to be on council but was pleasantly surprised by the reaction from people on the doorsteps.
“I was overwhelmed by the support I got from people,” said Charlton. “They were so excited that someone younger was running. People would often talk about how they wished people would. But given the current way council is run, it’s really hard for someone to be able to go to those council meetings in the daytime and work.”
Fortunately for Charlton, she is self-employed, operating her own hair salon out of her home. She says her clients have been very understanding about scheduling their appointments around council meetings.
Charlton said a few people did challenge her ability to maintain her family life and keep up with her council responsibilities, but they were in the minority.
“And I know that, had roles been reversed and my husband had been out campaigning that he would not have been asked that,” said Charlton.
She doesn’t take it personally and believes the question is all part of a learning curve for everyone in the municipality.
Charlton is hoping residents will be more involved in the work council is doing. To that end, she would like to change council meeting times to allow more people to engage with council.
“People just feel like they don’t know what’s going on. I would like to see more evening council meetings,” said Charlton. “At one point that’s how it always was, there weren’t daytime council meetings, they only happened in the evening.”
Charlton says live-streaming council meetings has been a great way for the public to be aware of what is going on and she would like to see that continue.
Mayor Norman feels the make up of this council is a good mix of older and younger people, each bringing their own perspectives to the discussions.
She says council will need to prioritize updating the their land use zoning and planning but aside from that, she will look to councillors to bring what they’re hearing from the community to the floor to determine the course they will take over the next four years.
“That’s really the role of the mayor, is to unite a group of people, bring them together to a common decision and accept that decision,” said Norman. “If I don’t agree with something but the majority of council agrees with it, even as the mayor, I will accept that decision and go forward with that decision, because that’s what a true council does.”
