Should a consolidation in Yarmouth County be explored?

Yarmouth town council to discuss issue at its Jan. 9 monthly meeting

Should there should be an exploration and discussion of potential consolidation of the three municipal units in Yarmouth County? This is an agenda item coming up for discussion and decision at the Town of Yarmouth’s Thursday, Jan. 9 council meeting.

A report coming to council, prepared by the town’s CAO, includes a recommendation that reads: “That town council submit, in concert with the Municipality of the District of Argyle and the Municipality of the District of Yarmouth, a formal request to the minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for the Province of Nova Scotia to coordinate a facilitated session between the said councils, to discuss the potential consolidation of the three municipal units.”

Says Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood about the agenda item, "The request for decision is simply to see if there is sufficient interest among council members to proceed with a facilitated discussion on consolidation.

“Agreeing to ask the province to support a facilitated discussion will provide us with additional information and allow all parties to make a better-informed decision on whether consolidation is something we wish to pursue,” she says. “Agreeing to participate in a facilitated discussion does not commit council to anything further."

The report, which can be viewed on the town’s website as an attachment to council’s

Jan. 9 agenda, notes a discussion about the structure of municipal government is not new to Yarmouth County.

“In 1993 the three municipalities were discussing amalgamation, and ultimately decided on focusing on increasing our shared services, while maintaining our municipal independence,” the report reads. Over 25 years later, the town says the three units “have more intermunicipal agreements than perhaps any other county” in the province. But as time goes on new agreements are needed and establishing renewed partnerships is complex and resource consuming work, the report states, estimating the three CAO’s spend up to 40 per cent of their time dealing with matters related directly to intermunicipal agreements and negotiations.

The report also notes that with a recent consolidation initiative in Windsor/West Hants that will lead to the creation of a single municipal unit there as of April 1, 2020, it may be time to take another look at whether combining the municipalities into one in Yarmouth County could bring about benefits worth pursuing.

“The idea of a facilitated discussion is to come together as three councils, with the assistance of an independent facilitator, to learn about municipal structural change experiences in other Nova Scotia municipalities, understand the consolidation process, discuss our motivations, questions, and expectations, and ultimately determine the interest and will to consider moving forward,” reads the report.

The discussion at council will be part of the public agenda and is not an in-camera discussion. The options before council are approval, rejection, or referring the matter back to staff with direction for more information.

If the motion/recommendation is approved, the town’s CAO will work with colleagues and the province in coordinating the date/time and any details around the session, the report states, although the recommendation contained in the report does call for a timeframe of “within 45 days” for a session, should a request go to the province.

“Our communications coordinator will work with

Mayor Mood and our partners to ensure the intent of this decision is to agree to a facilitated meeting to discuss consolidation and not a decision to move forward with consolidation,” the report states.