Trenton and Westville won't join Pictou amalgamation

Representatives from the towns of Westville and Trenton say they won't join the amalgamation agreement between the four other municipalities in Pictou County because they say they were snubbed in the initial deal.

"There was three municipalities that came up with the terms of the deal, and I believe when you're trying to move forward together all six of us should have been around the table from day one," Westville Mayor Roger MacKay told CBC's Information Morning.

The towns of Pictou, New Glasgow, Stellarton and the Municipality of Pictou County have signed a memorandum of understanding to amalgamate ahead of this fall's municipal elections.

Governance study 

Residents of the those communities will vote in a plebiscite on May 28 on whether to support the deal, but the vote is non-binding. The final decision rests with the four councils, and the province's Utility and Review Board must approve the plan.

In March 2014, Pictou, New Glasgow and Pictou County announced plans to go ahead with their own governance study after Municipal Affairs Minister Mark Furey announced the province was pulling funding for a joint governance study among the six municipalities.

The Town of Stellarton later joined the process and the four units signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2014.

'We were prepared to cooperate'

"We were quite prepared to co-operate with other municipalities in a study in March 2014," said Fergie MacKay, a town councillor for Trenton.

"However, after Minister Furey met with all municipalities he decided that there was not a good enough feeling in Pictou County to go toward regional government at the present time."

He said Pictou, New Glasgow and Pictou County then kicked off their own initiative, but Trenton wasn't included.

"By not being invited I felt a bit hurt, so when you're left out it's hard to get back in," Fergie MacKay said. "Not that it was impossible, because there were other invites. But there were some things happening that it wasn't always easy to work our way back in once the train left the station."

'Not really one Pictou County'

Fergie MacKay says Trenton has held off joining the memorandum of understanding because of that initial exclusion, and there not being a co-ordinator from outside the county to lead the amalgamation plan.

"The whole MOU is being driven strictly within Pictou County, and many of the people that are involved have not had a lot of experience in getting governments to work together," Fergie MacKay said.

Westville Mayor Roger MacKay says his council doesn't have any particular objections to the proposals contained in the MOU, but they still won't sign on.

"We're not against it, it's just the process that's taken place that has us stumbling with it," he said. "Just for the record, six years ago I stated publicly in a council meeting in Westville that amalgamation has to happen in Pictou County.

"I've talked to some numerous people — residents that are involved in the plebiscite — and they're saying it's not really one Pictou County because Trenton and Westville have not been participating."