{"id":8417,"date":"2025-03-05T17:50:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T21:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8417"},"modified":"2025-03-05T17:50:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T21:50:03","slug":"pam-lovelace-out-as-region-of-queens-municipal-clerk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/03\/05\/pam-lovelace-out-as-region-of-queens-municipal-clerk\/","title":{"rendered":"Pam Lovelace out as Region of Queens municipal clerk"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Pam Lovelace, a former Halifax councillor and mayoral candidate, is no longer the Region of Queens municipal clerk. (Facebook)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Region of Queens has dismissed another top staff member, just three months after she was hired.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pam Lovelace got the job as the region\u2019s municipal clerk in early December.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Interim CAO Dan McDougall would not comment on Lovelace\u2019s firing because it\u2019s a personnel matter. He said the municipality \u201cwill work towards filling the municipal clerk position\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Christian also wouldn\u2019t comment on her departure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI 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\u2019s personnel, it’s not really the realm of council.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Vaughn Mullen first reported Lovelace\u2019s termination on his Social Politics social media channels<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lovelace is a former Halifax regional councillor, who placed third in the 2024 Halifax mayoral race.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019t the right fit with the newly elected council.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a news release announcing her appointment as acting CAO, the region said Lovelace \u201cbrings a wealth of knowledge and expertise \u2026 with more than 20 years experience in the public sector.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil of the Region of Queens Municipality is confident that Ms. Lovelace is the right person to guide the municipality during this transition period.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

QCCR asked Christian if he was surprised by Lovelace\u2019s dismissal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo. I have a close working relationship with the CAO and it was something that had evolved in terms of Pam\u2019s role in the organization and the time that she spent here. No, I wasn\u2019t surprised.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At last Tuesday\u2019s council meeting, Lovelace was still on the job. She presented a progress report on the region\u2019s Dismantling Racism and Hate Plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lovelace could not be reached for comment.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

But he said nothing\u2019s been decided yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to rush it, we\u2019re going to be deliberate and intentional about it. If thorugh this first round, it doesn\u2019t 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\u2019ve received on the job ad thus far.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He said council decided to save time and money by not using a professional recruiting firm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian, Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton and councillors Courtney Wentzell and Stewart Jenkins are on the CAO search committee, with McDougall providing advice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christian acknowledged there\u2019s been some upheaval in the region\u2019s ranks since the new council was elected in October.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tumultuous obviously, it invites uncertainty and it\u2019s destabilizing when you have major shifts in the senior leadership. That\u2019s why it\u2019s really important to find the right person for this next role to provide some stability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/regionfiresclerkmar525.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s municipal clerk in early December.\u00a0 Interim CAO Dan McDougall would not comment on Lovelace\u2019s firing because it\u2019s a personnel matter. He said the municipality \u201cwill work towards filling the municipal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[1243,2665,2506,2022,2664,24,226],"class_list":["post-8417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-dan-mcdougall","tag-municipal-clerk","tag-municipal-politics","tag-municipality","tag-pam-lovelace","tag-region-of-queens","tag-scott-christian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8419,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8417\/revisions\/8419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}