Council's Decision "Insensitive to Communities" Board Rules

Today the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board published its decision on the number of districts that Kings County will have in the upcoming October election. 

It ruled against council's proposal of eight districts in favour of the consultant's recommendation of nine districts. 

If the board's ruling stands Centreville, Meadowview and Aldershot will be included in a new District 2 (the light blue area highlighted in the map below). This new District 2 will also include North Kentville (approximately 1,686 voters) in addition to 2,413 voters from the old District 3. Halls Harbour and District will become part of the district to the west (shown below in green).

The ruling lists many reasons for why council's decision was rejected including that: "The Board saw the eight polling district scenario developed by the CAO as being almost entirely insensitive to communities of interest." 

The full ruling can be accessed here: Kings Decision but here is some of what the ruling contains.

The board commented at length on why it ruled against council's proposal. Interestingly, several sections question the motivation of those voting for the CAO's recommendation and how the recommendation came to be:

"...whether Deputy Warden Hirtle told Mr. MacEwan to prepare a new scenario after the Stantec Report was first presented to Council on November 17th (as Mr. Hirtle, in effect, said he did), or whether he did not (as Mr. MacEwan says) - Mr. MacEwan did immediately begin preparing Alternate 8 within hours after Council (including Mr. Hirtle) first saw the Stantec Report." The report notes that the Alternate 8 district proposal provides the Deputy Warden will a better scenario for his district in the upcoming election. 

"With respect to the matter of polling districts it appears from the minutes, and other evidence before the Board, that Stantec’s recommended nine-polling district scenario was not presented to Council to be debated and voted upon. Instead, Deputy Warden Hirtle and Councillor Atwater simply moved the adoption of Mr. MacEwan’s Alternate 8.That motion was carried by a vote of 6:5, with Warden Diana Brothers, Deputy Warden Brian Hirtle, and Councillors Atwater, Lloyd, Best and Ennis voting in favour. The five councillors voting in opposition were Councillors MacQuarrie, Muttart, Raven, Bishop, and Winsor."

The Board also stated "several concerns with the Alternate 8 scenario assembled by Mr. MacEwan." These included:

• "In response to questioning from the Board, Mr. MacEwan testified that this was his first attempt at developing a municipal boundary scenario. He had no prior experience, whatsoever, in conducting such an exercise. He had left his private legal practice four years earlier to become the Municipality’s CAO, his first venture into municipal administration."
• "Further, Mr. MacEwan stated that he developed the Alternate 8 scenario on his own, without any input from anyone else. By his own admission, he intentionally avoided attending any of the three public consultation meetings held by Stantec. If he had attended those meetings, he would have had some opportunity to learn the views of the public with respect to the various scenarios."
• "Moreover, Mr. MacEwan created his suggested model in the matter of a couple of hours, with the primary emphasis on polling districts having both rural and urban components, and simply moving blocks of electors in one direction or the other to address relative parity of voting power. In his testimony, he added that creating districts with urban and rural parts would help balance the geographic size of the districts."
• "Indeed, while in the Board’s experience the task of drawing municipal boundary scenarios has, typically, proven to be very challenging for both municipal administrators and consultants alike, Mr. MacEwan testified that he was confident he could develop his own scenario, and communicated this fact to Mr. Heseltine, even before he embarked on the work. As a result, upon leaving the Valley Waste meeting in the morning, he 'went back to the office and just rearranged the data sheets'. In his view [stating]...'it’s not difficult to move things around. Because you can only move numbers around that are close to each other. ... It’s not complicated...'"
• "...Having reviewed all of the evidence, the Board finds that Mr. MacEwan’s Alternate 8 scenario seriously offends, in at least two ways, one of the important requirements of s. 368(4) of the MGA, that being to reflect communities of interest in the municipal unit."

Paddling the Jijuktu'kwejk

The launch of a new group in Kings County is under discussion. The group settled on the name Jijiktu'kwejk at its first meeting. The name means "Narrow River" and was the name used by the Mi'Kmaq prior to the colonization of Nova Scotia by Cornwallis. It isn't too hard to pronounce, you can come to the next meeting and find out how. In the meantime, some offer the phonetic "Gee-Gee-Wok-Tuk".

Nick Hill draws our attention to an observation along the way

Pre-colonial, the river and its watershed would have been in a drinkable, fishable and swimmable state. The initial group of about 25 people are focused on restoring the river and its watershed to that condition.

On June 18, four canoes and a kayak traveled from Lovett Road to Meadowview with 7 adults and 5 children. It was a great way to experience that stretch of the Jijiktu'kwejk first hand and to get some sense of the task ahead. It was a wonderful recreational experience in need of more repetition.

It was a leisurely trip with some obstacles along the way. See some photos below. Many thanks to Joe Benjamin at the Meadowview Community Centre for his kind welcome at the end. The washrooms were great :)

We will report our initial impressions at the second meeting of the group set for June 26 at the Annapolis Valley First Nations (1PM). If you have an interest in joining this group please get in touch. Everyone with a love of the natural environment and who could help work toward the restoration of the watershed is very much welcome. 

The quality of the water looked different as we traveled along

We experienced 3 spots were navigation was blocked by logs

The banks differed. Here there were trees, ferns and shade

There was evidence of cattle grazing right to the banks

There was little current, many narrow turns and shallow spots

 We packed up at Meadowview after the 4-hr paddle.

What does "2444 RCACC" mean to you?

For me it's happy faces, team work, meaningful challenges and advancement for youth aged 12-18 years. 2444 RCACC is the Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corp stationed at Camp Aldershot. I attended the Annual Ceremonial Review this June and was thrilled to meet so many cadets who were benefiting immensely from their participation in the cadet program.

Sergeant Adams 2444 Royal Canadian Army Cadet

The commanding and visiting officers, legion members and other guests in attendance were very impressed by these young men and women on parade.

The thrills of the day truly began as I traveled to booths to speak directly with cadets at the displays they had produced to outline what enrollment in cadets can offer. That includes summer learning opportunities and travel as well as employment that provides an opportunity for cadets to save for post-secondary education.

Sergeant Adams and his Commanding Officer Mandy Forbes are hopeful recruitment night at Camp Aldershot on Wednesday September 7 will bring many new recruits from the nearby communities of Centreville, Aldershot, Meadowview, North Kentville, etc.

It's Your Money. Keep Your Eyes on It

On May 30 pockets became lighter as municipal tax bills got paid. Valuable things happen with tax dollars. Some of those things we don't think about much, like sewer services. Other things we wish we had more of, like sidewalks.

Your community development association had their eyes on last year's tax bill. The result? Taxes for Centreville street lights were removed from your tax bill for this and subsequent years. The $20 charge paid by each household over several years was in excess of what was needed. When this cost returns in a few years time it will be less per year. A small thing, but significant, because it demonstrates the value of keeping eyes open when it comes to tax bills.

Each year I push to scrutinise every line of the county's budget. Why? I want to do a more thorough job of looking after your municipal tax dollar. In Kings County, department managers have to justify only changes from the previous year's budget. The assumption is that the “baseline” is automatically approved in advance of any examination by elected officials.

I've asked council to do a “zero-based” budget where every line item of the budget, not only the changes, must be approved. At a minimum this should be done at least once in each 4-year session of a council, in my opinion. The resistance by the top dogs in our council to opening up the entire budget to discussion has shocked me. Our experienced and talented finance staff could easily manage such a task if they were permitted. I believe more effective uses of taxes could be found in a number of areas and that program adjustments could be made to better serve us all. I could be proved wrong. If we could get to zero-based budgeting we'd all see if improvement is possible, or not.

Here are three key concerns my eyes are on.

1. For the past four years Kings County has been significantly below the average for rural municipalities on a liquidity score (average is 3.2 while Kings is 1.6).* Kings is also below the average when it comes to operational reserves (average is 47.8 percent while Kings is 16.7).**
2. A huge burden is being placed on Kings County taxpayers regarding capital reserves. We are paying four times the amount of the average rural municipality. Despite this the county hasn't been able to figure out how to catch up on needed sidewalks for many communities, including Centreville.
3. Our sewer rate per household has soared in the last 10-years (from $200 to $460). Local engineers and developers are questioning the reason given for these hikes and are calling for a review of our capital program. They ask why are we seeking to replace sewer lines they say have 50 plus additional years of useful life.

*Liquidity is defined by Municipal Affairs Finance Department as "a key short term financial performance score" where "low liquidity scores can indicate a cash flow problem, and may indicate concern in other areas such as revenue collection."

Here are three areas I think we can take pride in:

1. Relative to other municipalities a small but significant amount is returned in grants to community organizations. When this money is used in conjunction with volunteer hours we see each tax dollar magnified in ways that add valuable infrastructure to our communities.
2. The county continues to strengthen the tax shelter available to lower income home-owners. This helps keep home-ownership affordable for struggling seniors and others on small or fixed incomes.
3. Commercial and residential tax rates have not increased for several years.

A municipal election will be held on October 15. Either 8 or 9 councillors plus a Mayor will be responsible for the next budget. Will it be a zero-based budget? Will you ask this question of any Mayor candidate that knocks on your door? Among current councillors, Peter Muttart, District 2, is the only councillor who has declared as a candidate for Mayor. He can be contacted at 902.670.6429 if you have questions for him on this or any other matter. His campaign literature for councillor last October heralded skill and promise. His performance in chambers since his success in the byelection has been exemplary.

With brave new leadership we can ensure that no more than the right amount of money comes out of your pocket. It's been said taxes create civilised society by providing services communities as a whole need. I believe that. But taxes are only as good as the use they are put to and your attention to who controls the purse strings is greatly needed.

Kings 2050 Completion in February 2017

Your county's Municipal Planning Strategy and Land Use Bylaw will not be approved during this sitting of council.

It's been a long journey, marked by controversy with other municipal units, resignations by senior planning staff (who played a key role in consultations and the drafting of the original document), deep dissatisfaction voiced by the Kings County Federation of Agriculture after a sneak preview of a new draft's contents, and a letter of concern from the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

Delays are often frustrating. And the 2050 work aimed at replacing the current MPS/LUB with a regional planning document has been several years in the making. 

However, "a thing worth doing is worth doing well". From my perspective the current documents provide stronger protection of our agricultural land and economy that the draft currently before us so I'm happy to see it remain until a council can put stronger, not weaker, legislation in place. Slowing the process will allow the public to be able to : "read, discuss, and communicate with council our opinions on their contents," to quote Allan Melvin, President of the Kings County Federation of Agriculture.

The proposed timeline has just been released. And motions aimed at having discussions behind closed doors between staff and council have been amended to include the full participation of the public. 

The latest draft maps are coming in a week or two (early June) and a final reading by the next sitting group of councillors is slated for February 2017. Meanwhile, you can have your say at various times in the proposed schedule. It's important that you do.

Calling Municipal Candidates October 15, 2016

We are still waiting for a decision from Nova Scotia Utilities and Review Board on the number and boundaries of districts that the County of Kings will have in this fall's election. Meanwhile, local citizens, including me are thinking about whether or not they will be a candidate. To date, only one councillor has formally declared he will be a candidate for a district. Peter Muttart is the first declared candidate for Mayor.  

I've been your district councillor for almost 4-years. In 2012, I ran because I believed it was crucial to have new ideas and more decision-making skills in council chambers. I hadn't previously imagined a stint for me “in politics”. I have been told several times that I will never be a politician. With all that could imply, I think that's a compliment.

But, a conscious decision to not re-offer is a key way to encourage others to step forward. I am willing to discuss the responsibilities of the councillor job with anyone who:

• can offer a sound set of skills.
• would consider becoming a hard-working councillor.
• recognizes the need for bold actions in Kings County to protect the economy of our agricultural base.
• Understands the role of small, sustainable businesses in growing jobs and keeping young families here.

My perspective in 2012, after watching county council for several years was that more hard-working people, willing to put their shoulder to the wheel, were needed. That is still my position. We don't need “seat-holders” ready to “hang in” for yet another term, we need hard-workers, with the time and commitment to serve their communities.

I entered council chambers in 2012 after a hard won battle against a family that had represented District 3 for more than 20-years and took a seat among councillors who had returned to add 4-more years to their 22-years plus as councillors.

In 2016, it is even more evident that new ideas and more diversity on our council is needed. I ask myself, “Why would I run for one of only 8 or 9 council seats?” 

I truly value the experiences I've had working with community groups and individuals to help create a better Kings County with some improvement of service for every part of the county. There have been many frustrations in chambers trying to ensure fair decisions, more efficient services, and an equitable distribution of resources. There is much more to do. The need for a different approach than “horse-trading” among the “good ole girls and boys” is key to arriving at better decisions and a more effective local government.

“Hey there, younger generation, is some-one ready to run?”

There is a lot of cynicism about the political process. My time behind closed doors, and even in open chambers leads me to believe the public's cynicism is well-earned. It is up to those choosing to run for office to commit to better ways. 

Peter Muttart, as the first declared candidate for Mayor of Kings County, has been a sitting councillor since only last fall. I believe he has the leadership and mediation skills required to ensure council and staff provide a higher standard of service. If a great set of councillors join him in chambers I believe much can be done, and relatively quickly, to improve “county politics”.

If I run for a second term it will be for one more term only. If returned, that would be a total of eight years. Long enough, in my opinion, to bring the best you have to offer. 

Whether in council chambers or not for the next 4-years, I am hoping for a wind to blow away the old dysfunctional ways of doing business this council has long been famous for. An elected Mayor, a collaborative, forward thinking and fair-minded set of councillors can make Kings County all it can and should be.

In a chat with Peter Muttart last week I learned that people are approaching him to ask about the kind of council that is possible. He is happy to discuss this with potential candidates and can be reached at 902.670.6429.

Those contemplating a run for council can find a Municipal Elections Handbook and a Candidate's Guide to Municipal Elections on line.

Please do not hesitate to give me a call at 902.670.2949 if you have any questions or wish to get together to talk about a run for municipal council.

Seeking a Mayor with Gusto and Smarts

While we are still waiting to learn about the number of councillors that will run in the 2016 election, it's now official that Kings County residents will elect a Mayor. This will end a 137-years history of Wardens having leadership responsibility for our rural municipality. 

Residents in large numbers recognized that the election of a Mayor held the promise of greatly improved governance and increased opportunities when hundreds were polled on the topic last fall. 

I think we are all very aware that those things that place all of our futures at some risk must be addressed sooner rather than later. Top of my hit list is our ageing population and a sluggish economy. These two problems are inter-related. 

I hope prospective Mayors for the county will bring strong platforms forward (and also insist that the required “bling” will be modest and locally produced).

Residents are now set to mark two ballots, and I fully support that.

But should we be marking two ballots?

1. A vote for a district councillor
2. A vote for a Mayor.

Or should we be marking three ballots? I would like to add a plebiscite question and seek a yes or no answer. Something like: 

3. Do you support conducting a study to determine if a regional government would serve residents more effectively and efficiently than four sets of governments?

The county currently has three town councils, and a county council. The goal is cooperation on development and other initiatives. But that isn't always the result as each government vies to increase development and tax revenues.

Ivany says: “It's now or never” and that municipal government must be streamlined. Let's get out there and get ourselves a Mayor with the gusto and smarts to help us find solutions together.

Please do not hesitate to be in touch if you have questions or concerns. 902.670.2949.