Former Cornwall CAO to help province with municipal amalgamations

Kevin McCarville is following up his more than three decades in municipal administration on P.E.I. by joining the province as it works to implement the new Municipal Act.

• After 34 years of municipal service, Cornwall CAO moving on

McCarville announced in June he would be retiring from his current job as Cornwall, P.E.I.'s chief administrative officer at the end of August.

Now he's taken on a new job, he will be working on amalgamations.

"I believe that there are too many municipalities on P.E.I. ," said McCarville.

"I think the province did the right thing moving forward on this amalgamation."

• Legislation would allow P.E.I. to force communities to amalgamate

As part of his decades of experience in municipal administration, McCarville was in involved in the last major round of amalgamation in 1995, working for West Royalty and for St. Eleanors, which became part of Charlottetown and Summerside respectively.

McCarville said his first job will be to work with municipalities to see that their bylaws are in place for elections next year, before turning his focus more towards community amalgamations.

A health scare

McCarville said he does not hesitate to take on these new responsibilities even after suffering a small stroke last month while at the gym.

"I finished the workout and a couple of people told me you need to sit down," he said.

"Twenty minutes later I was on my way to the QEH in an ambulance."

But he has recovered well. He tires easily, he said, but is getting better every day, and he's not done with municipal government yet.

"I find the whole municipal field quite interesting," he said.

"[The province is] doing the right thing and I think I have something to offer them."

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