Will election results end years of squabbling between Windsor and West Hants?

The newly elected mayor of the Town of Windsor, N.S., hopes Saturday's municipal election will end a controversial plan by the neighbouring municipality of West Hants to create its own fire department.

Irked by years of squabbling over delivering shared services, voters took their frustration out on the West Hants council, which had resisted co-operation with nearby Windsor. Six of nine long-serving incumbents were defeated in West Hants, including Warden Richard Dauphinee.

"I'm hoping the new council in West Hants will put a halt to all the future development, building, purchasing of equipment for a fire service until we look at a real, true regional study," Windsor Mayor Anna Allen told CBC News.

Symbol of gridlock

West Hants' decision in 2015 to drop the Windsor fire service and create its own department — and borrow $3 million to do it — became a symbol of the gridlock between the two councils.

Kathy Monroe was so frustrated she led a citizen initiative to dissolve the two municipalities and amalgamate. About 20 per cent of voters in both units signed a petition in support of the application submitted by the Avon Region Citizens group.

The application is currently before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board. On Saturday, Monroe was elected as councillor for District 2 in West Hants.

"There was a clear message from voters that they wanted change. They were beyond being able to accept the lack of communications, the lack of input they had in government," Monroe said Monday.

She said one of the first orders of business for the new West Hants council will be to discuss co-operation with Windsor.

"We need to see where we can undo some of the damage over the past couple of years."

New council coming

The previous West Hants council had strenuously opposed the Avon Region Citizens amalgamation application before regulators.

One of its final acts — just days before the election — was to pass a motion challenging a Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board ruling that it equally share the cost of studying the impact of amalgamation, pending the outcome of the election.

"Well, we saw the outcome of the election didn't we?" Monroe said with a laugh. She hopes the challenge to the ruling will be shut down at the first council meeting. 

The new council will be sworn in on Oct. 25.

'People are looking for more co-operation'

Jennifer Daniels was one of the West Hants incumbents who survived. Her opponent strongly opposed amalgamation, but she has an open mind.

"People are looking for more co-operation and better communication and transparency," Daniels said.

Allen said there's plenty of places to co-operate.

"There's so many. Recreation is a huge one for me. It doesn't make sense not to have a regional service. We all use the same services, yet we have two recreation departments."