ARICHAT – Richmond County has given its chief administrative officer (CAO) the authority to investigate the cost associated with holding a public vote on whether county residents would prefer having a mayor or warden govern county residents at the municipal level.

In May, Richmond CAO Don Marchand confirmed during the regular monthly council session that he had spoken to officials with Nova Scotia’s Department of Municipal Affairs and Housing (DMAH) about the possibility of placing the mayor-or-warden question on the ballot for this fall’s municipal elections. Marchand also pledged to schedule a similar discussion with an Elections Nova Scotia official once that person returned from his vacation in early June.

The concept of having a mayor elected at large by Richmond County residents as opposed to a warden chosen from among the elected councillors first arose in 2015, during the consultation process that accompanied the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board’s investigation as to whether Richmond County should shrink from ten municipal districts to eight, seven or five. The board ruled in favour of a five-district council in mid-2015, but left the question of a mayoral system up to the council of the day to discuss.

In January 2016, council voted in favour of replacing its warden system with a mayoral system. However, the vote came too late to meet the deadline set by the NSUARB to have the new system established in time for that October’s municipal elections.

While approximately 70 per cent of Richmond County residents who took part in a survey on the subject in 2018 preferred a mayoral system, multiple councillors questioned the legitimacy of that survey, suggesting that the sample size – roughly 400 people – was too small.

With the exception of District Five councillor and former warden Jason MacLean, council then repeatedly rejected calls for a plebiscite on the issue and refused to hold public consultation meetings to get a more accurate reading of residents’ feelings on the mayor-warden debate.

The last such discussion on this issue occurred in the fall of 2019, with Richmond councilors voting 3-2 against a motion that would have seen $3,500 spent on public consultation sessions on the mayor-warden issue. Warden Brian Marchand cast the tie-breaking vote when that motion came to the floor at the Richmond Municipal Building in Arichat.