Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood says she’s honoured to be vice-president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities, a position she assumed last week at the federation’s fall conference in Halifax.
Mood has held various positions with the organization (formerly known as the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities), including chair of the towns caucus, but this is her first time serving as vice-president.
“It’s basically our mission to enable effective local government for Nova Scotia communities and what we do is facilitate strategic advocacy, education, collaboration,” Mood said. “What I’ll be doing in my role is working with the president and the board and staff to basically build partnerships with the province on a number of issues.”
Some of those issues were the focus of resolutions put forward at the federation’s fall conference. The top five had to do with:
--capped assessment program (CAP)
--extended producer responsibility (EPR)
--freeze on mandatory education payments, and additional funding for things like accessibility projects
--municipal modernization
--funding for roads.
Mood assumed the VP’s role by acclamation. She was nominated for the position and no one ran against her for it.
The different types of municipal units – towns, regional municipalities, rural units – take turns filling the roles of the federation’s president and vice-president. This year it was the towns’ turn to fill the vice-president’s position.
(The federation’s new president is Waye Mason, deputy mayor of Halifax Regional Municipality.)
“It really is an honour,” Mood said. “It’s always a tremendous honour to serve, especially at the local government level. That’s where the people are. Certainly, anything I can do to make things better and easier to get us, keep us, on the right track, then I’m more than glad to do that.”
Mood was asked if she draws inspiration from her late grandfather, Fred Emin, who served five terms as mayor of Yarmouth.
He is “always sort of on my shoulder and in my thoughts,” she said. “He was a man of integrity. He loved people. He just wanted to serve and make things better and that’s exactly where I find myself.”
