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Retiring from council after 25 years doesn’t mean Reg Rankin is retiring from the government payroll.
The District 12 councillor has accepted a job offer from the Otter Lake landfill’s Community Monitoring Committee (CMC), and will officially start as its new executive director on November 1.
Rankin announced earlier this year that he would not be re-offering in October’s election.
“Reg has been working on the Otter Lake file since before the landfill site was selected 20 years ago,” CMC chair John Cascadden said in a release. “No one has more knowledge of the landfill operations, the community, the landfill operator and of course, the municipality.”
Halifax has provided nearly all of the CMC’s funding since 1999, at a budgeted annual total of $65,000. The executive director’s monthly salary accounts for 40 percent of that funding.
In February, Regional Council approved a $25,000 raise for the committee’s total budget, to $90,000—more than half of which went towards raising the executive’s salary (from $25,000 to $37,542, with taxes included).
“Regardless how much time the executive director puts in, he would get this lump sum figure? Sweet gig.” —Councillor Lorelei Nicoll
At that meeting, Rankin spoke at length in defense of raising the budget for the organization that four months later would wind up offering him a job.
“I wouldn’t make the connection at all,” Rankin says today, about his advocacy for the budget raise. “I wouldn’t isolate the increase. I defended the overall budget.”
Rankin had pegged that budget raise as needed for the committee’s “increased activity” in dealing with operator Mirror NS now that a new contract has been signed by the municipality, but acting CAO John Traves corrected him at the February meeting that it was merely an adjustment for inflation as CMC’s funding hadn’t increased in 18 years.
Even without knowing the councillor most strongly in favour of an increased budget would months later be employed by that very organization, many of Rankin’s fellow councillors back in February still questioned the vague rationale behind CMC’s request.
“What warrants it? What validates this,” said councillor Bill Karsten. “I don’t see a business case. I really, truly do not see a business case.”
The Community Monitoring Committee formed in 1999 to monitor operations and act as a voice for nearby residents of the Otter Lake landfill. It exists as a requirement of the landfill’s industrial permit.
The organization is comprised of the mayor, the two local councillors (Rankin and Stephen Adams), another councillor appointed by council, two appointed HRM residents and nine elected residents (most of whom come from the community).

Most of the CMC’s funding goes towards consultation services (see below), but the next highest expense is the executive director’s monthly salary. Under the increased budget, Rankin will earn $3,000 a month on top of his municipal pension.


“So regardless how much time the executive director puts in, he would get this lump sum figure?” councillor Lorelei Nicoll asked in February. “Sweet gig.”
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Rankin is an obvious, if controversial choice for the job, given his dedicated work with the committee and community over the last two decades. Just recently he sided with the CMC over his fellow councillors to support a rushed piece of legislation put forward at Province House by his son, MLA Iain Rankin, to enact new provincial controls for the height of the Otter Lake landfill.
Outgoing CMC executive director Ken Meech (who’s also former CAO with the municipality) stepped down from the position on June 15. According to a release from the monitoring committee, discussions with Rankin about taking on the role occurred back in May.
“People can read whatever they want to read into it,” Rankin said. “That offer came after that, and Mr. Meech gave notice after that.”
Neither Meech nor Mirror Nova Scotia were able to get back to The Coast before deadline about the former executive director’s new job.
Aside from consultations and its ED salary, the only other expenses invoiced by the CMC in 2014/15 were $1,500 to Trade Centre Limited for meeting rooms and $318 in administrative costs. The totals—at least as presented to council back in February—aren’t broken down any further.


The society doesn’t provide annual reports. Its agreement with HRM only states it can offer written updates on businesses or affairs “at such times and in such form” as the municipality may reasonably require. A paid executive director position is not required under CMC’s agreement with HRM.
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This stinks! Thank you Coast!
People make comments without actually understanding what goes on. The CMC is a volunteer committee sanctioned by the municipality to monitor Otter Lake landfill operations. The CMC is made up of unpaid members… in other words “volunteers”. The members of the CMC give direction to a Executive Director who is available on a daily basis to liaise with Mirror NS, the landfill operator, HRM and the provincial authority (NSE) as required on behalf of the CMC. This is a paid position… some members of Council may say they do not see a business case; but I venture to say that those same Councillors would not agree to carry out the tasks of the Executive Director and make themselves available for daily action when required for free. Check out what Executive Directors get paid by other organizations and you will find that the CMC’s Executive Director is not over-paid. HRM has stepped back from being involved with the daily operations at the landfill and this will increase the workload of the Executive Director from what it was before. Environmental protection is the heart and core responsibility of the CMC and without the efforts of the Executive Director, the CMC and the public that supports environmental efforts, HRM would have implemented a height increase of the waste storage cells and removed the Front End Processor (FEP) and Waste Stabilization Facility (WSF) processes. 80% of the public who took part in the recent HRM solid waste management review were vehemently against any such height increase of removal of the environmental protections afforded by the FEP and WSF. Some people make comments without knowing the background information. Many of the members of the Halifax Waste Resource Society (HWRS) are also members of the CMC. There was a publicly advertised AGM for the HWRS, that was held this past Monday Jun 27, 2016. No one from the The Coast attended, Councillor Karsten certainly did not attend. Some people make comments without knowing the background information or participating in publicly held events, where they might become better informed. Just saying….
jdcas – The Halifax Waste Resource Society is so well run that the directors failed to file the annual renewal registration with the provincial government and defaulted for non payment on April 6 2016. The annual renewal was due in January 2016.
Eventually the directors arose from their slumber and on May 18 2016 filed the change of directors, paid the annual fee, filed the change of address and were reactivated.
They had the same problem in 2000,2002 and 2004.
In 2002 it took 19 months from a default to reactivation.
Back in the 2000,2002 and 2004 years, things were very quiet on the landfill site front… going so smoothly that I agree registrations were not at the top of the HWRS’s list. But then again if you look at a number of registered entities, they also forgot to file in time for the renewal date and they are still in business… if you think that is a big deal, you are welcome to that opinion… bottom line, the HWRS is still here today. In 2016, things were very, very busy so I guess as the story goes, S4!T happens. But the HWRS was front and centre and not backing down when HRM was getting ready to break every promise that was made to the local communities that surround the Otter Lake landfill… and most people who care, found that to be what is important. So nitpick away if that makes you happy. The mean salary range across Canada for Executive Directors of non-profit organizations is C$42,203 – C$100,906… the CMC’s Executive Director receives $37,542 today, but last year is was $25K… the average salary is $63,249… as I said, he is not over-paid…. funny that was not reported on eh?
jdcas – so they ‘were very,very busy’ in 2015/16 and they forgot to file and in previous years it ‘was very quiet’ and they forgot to file.
Comparing the HWRS with other non profits is laugable.
The HWRS is not the Red Cross, it isn’t EAC, but is a tiny organisation with a very localised and narrow focus with a budget less than $70,000 a year with one part time job.
And somehow the board cannot fill in a couple of forms once a year.
How many showed up at the AGM ?
Who failed to file the documents ?
Obviously you did not attend the publicly advertised AGM, that shows how much you cared then; but since you know so much and are interested now, I suggest you become a member of the HWRS… I am sure you will be able to straighten every thing out. The CMCs annual budget is only $70K or so but the landfill operation that the CMC monitors is a multi-million dollar operation and HRM is looking to save about $9million dollars a year by stepping back and having having the CMC take on additional responsibilities to monitor the environmental aspects of the operation. That is not an insignificant task. Meanwhile Mirror NS will be taking over the costs of operating the landfill based on a newly negotiated, but as yet not publicly released, agreement with HRM. HRM will certainly benefit from you becoming a HWRS member and bringing your vast understanding of municipal solid waste management operations into the organization.