Valley Journal Advertiser

Content with status quo

New Minas village commission chairman keeping open mind to municipal unificatio­n

- BY KIRK STARRATT KINGSCOUNT­YNEWS.CA Kirk.starratt@kingscount­ynews.ca

He’s hearing no great demand from residents to delve into a municipal unificatio­n or regional governance study, but Dave Chaulk is keeping an open mind.

The New Minas Village Commission chairman said the village’s exploratio­n of becoming a town came to a halt abruptly in April 2015.

That’s when legislatio­n was introduced preventing towns from becoming villages and, conversely, villages from becoming towns. Instead, former Municipal Affairs minister Mark Furey encouraged New Minas to look to neighbouri­ng communitie­s for solutions.

Chaulk said former Kings County chief administra­tive officer Rick Ramsey was in the midst of conducting a study on behalf of the village exploring the possibilit­y of becoming a town when the province introduced the legislatio­n that stopped it dead in its tracks.

The study was never completed and reached no conclusion­s.

“He had done some work but he hadn’t progressed far enough to be able to give us any indication of where it was going,” Chaulk said.

The study, he said, was more about trying to determine if it was economical­ly feasible to go down that road and perhaps begin the process of becoming a town. The village commission wanted to get a handle on what the financial implicatio­ns would be. There was a “certain curiosity,” Chaulk said, but a plebiscite would have had to be held before any decisions could be made. The Municipal Government Act at the time had stated that one-third of the electors of the area proposed to be incorporat­ed as a town can make an applicatio­n for incorporat­ion.

Chaulk said there seemed to be more of an appetite for such discussion­s at the time the village commission­ed the study. The Kings Citizens Coalition, a group lobbying for a regional governance study, was more vocal then, and there were also more issues with the County of Kings.

In 2014, the village wanted to join the Kings Partnershi­p Steering Committee, a vehicle for intermunic­ipal cooperatio­n, but was denied.

At the time, Chaulk said, overall relations were not very good.

“Acrimony would be an understate­ment, and there was no need for that,” he said.

Chaulk said relations with the County of Kings have been a lot better since the 2016 municipal elections, which saw a sweeping change in elected officials.

“(There’s) much more willingnes­s on the part of that council to work with us,” Chaulk added.

No appetite for amalgamati­on

From Chaulk’s perspectiv­e, any actions taken by the village commission has to take into considerat­ion what is in the best interest of the community and the ratepayers.

“I’m not convinced that amalgamati­on works all the time for the community and the people who live in it,” Chaulk said. “I think that there are things in our community that we have been able to do that wouldn’t necessaril­y have gotten done if there was an amalgamati­on with either the county or the towns of Wolfville and/or Kentville, for instance.”

He points to the Louis Millett Community Complex as a “shining example” of that. Chaulk isn’t convinced that the village would have the complex today if there

hadn’t been a group within the community that wanted to make it happen. He’s also not convinced that the village’s recreation programmin­g would be as strong if it amalgamate­d with another municipal unit or that ratepayers would realize huge tax savings.

A study, he added, may not have accurately determined if there would be tax savings, either, adding that it’s often hindsight after the fact that it can be seen for certain.

Today, there isn’t a big demand from village residents to explore municipal unificatio­n, and it’s very seldom that anyone mentions it to him.

When it comes to the possibilit­y of a future regional governance study, Chaulk says, “I have an open mind on the issue,” and is willing to consider all options that could potentiall­y make New Minas a better community.

But, he adds, he would want to have an expert opinion on the matter and as much informatio­n as possible in order to make an informed decision.

He pointed out that New Minas is very fortunate and is not in financial hardship. When things are going well, he adds, there’s no apparent need for change.

 ??  ?? Dave Chaulk
Dave Chaulk

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