The Regional Planning Commission is known to have been active between 1964 and 1970. The nine member commission consisted of two council members from the City of Halifax, Dartmouth, and Halifax County, as well as one ratepayer from each of the aforementioned municipalities. The commission received funding from each of the municipalities as well as the provincial government. Working with a Technical Advisory Committee of municipal planners, the commission received and considered plans for building and development in all three municipalities. After considering the plans in light of their regional implications, the commission then advised the relevant Council of whether it approved or disapproved of each plan. The Commission was replaced by the Metropolitan Area Planning Committee.
The Arts and Culture Committee was formed to develop a cultural policy for the City of Halifax.
The Athletic Commission was composed of seven members, two of whom were members of Council, appointed by Council. The objects of the commission were to regulate and control wrestling in the City of Halifax.
Jackie Barkley was a social worker in Halifax who practiced, taught and wrote in areas such as child welfare, mental health, and adolescent counseling. She started out as a community organizer in the North End of Halifax, and assisted in the development of anti-poverty programs, welfare rights and tenants organizations.Ms. Barkley was an active member in many social justice organizations, most prominently:
-
the Metro Coalition for a Non Racist Society - an advocacy group of African Nova Scotian, Aboriginal and new Canadian communities who gave presentations on racism and white privilege, and published the book "Racism: Whose Problem?";
-
Nova Scotia Coalition Against the KKK, a grassroots multi-ethnic group that sprang up in the early 1980s to confront the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in Canada;
-
the Social Policy Review Committee which was an umbrella group of Nova Scotia social workers, advocacy groups, labour and consumer groups;
-
the Municipal Action Committee which was active in the 1991 municipal elections promoting public participation and social justice issues.
As a parent and resident of the North End, Barkley was also very involved with St. Joseph's A. McKay elementary school.
Her publications include chapters in Power and Resistance: Critical Thinking About Canadian Social Issues , Daily Meaning: Counternarratives of Teachers’ Work , and a commentary in the November 2009 issue of the “Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry”.
The community of Bedford was originally called Sackville after Fort Sackville which was built at the head of the Bedford Basin in 1749. It wasn’t until 1856 that the part of the community immediately surrounding the basin was renamed Bedford. Originally governed by the Halifax County Municipality, the Town of Bedford was incorporated in 1979. According to the Towns Act, the new council exercised the same jurisdiction, power, and authority previously exercised by the municipal council of the County of Halifax. The new town council consisted of a mayor and six councillors. The first mayor of Bedford was Francene Cosman. On 1 April 1996, the Town of Bedford amalgamated with the City of Halifax, the City of Dartmouth, and the Municipality of Halifax County to form the Halifax Regional Municipality. For a list of former mayors of Bedford and biographical information about them consult H. Millard Wright’s One Region Many Leaders. Bibliography
Bedford (N.S.). Town Council. By-law Number 9, Respecting Rules of Older of Council. 14 April 1981. sec. 4. Towns Act, Revised Statutes of Nova Scotia. 1967. c. 309, sec. 18. Wright, H. Millard. One Region Many Leaders. Halifax: Halifax Regional Municipality, 2002. c. 4, p 1.
The Board was established after Bedford was incorporated as a town in 1979. Prior to that Bedford schools were under the County of Halifax Municipal School Board. It was responsible for all aspects of the operation of Bedford schools, including but not limited to: financing and grants, staff hiring and contracts, administrative structure, curricula and programs, area rates, bussing, insurance, school property, and the impact on schools of population change. The Board occasionally met with representatives of the provincial Department of Education.
The 1981 Walker Report from the Commission on Public Education Finance recommended the amalgamattion of municpal school boards, and so the Bedford Board of School Commissioners combined again with the County of Halifax to form the Halifax County - Bedford District School Board in January 1982.
The Committee, which existed 1982-[1996], was established under the provincial Heritage Property Act. It advised Council on which properties should be designated heritage properties.
The Committee, which existed 1980-1996, helped to review and create policies in planning and development matters. It studied strategies and policies of the Municipal Development Plan; the financial, environmental, socioeconomic, and aesthetic impact of proposed developments; andthe general Policy Direction on any planning issue referred to it by Council.
Members of the public could participate in all discussions and address the Committee on any important issue.
The Waters Advisory Committee, which existed 1986-1996, acted as an environmental advisory committee. It reported to Council on the probable impact of proposed developments on water systems. It met monthly.
The Engineering and Works Department was responsible for providing many of Bedford's municipal services, including snow and ice removal; refuse collection and disposal; maintenance and construction of bridges and tunnels, sewers, sidewalks and streets; traffic and street lighting; downed trees on town property; and design and drafting duties.