BIBLE HILL, N.S. — For more than 27 years Bob Taylor immersed himself in municipal politics, including two terms as mayor of Colchester County.
Taylor took his role as an elected official seriously but after being defeated in the 2016 election, the retired truck driver/businessman found himself at loose ends. And that gave him time to think about an issue that had bothered him for decades.
“Over all those years, I was always concerned about the lack of interest in, and the knowledge of, municipal government by the majority of the taxpayers of the municipality,” he said.
To help change that, he recently published a book called "Municipal Awareness An Insider View," about his time in office and the intricacies of municipal governance.
A large part of his effort had to do with "just the fact that people don’t realize the importance of municipal government,” the Bible Hill resident said.
That point was driven home to him as he went door knocking during the last municipal election. Despite nearly three decades as an elected official, he was discouraged to discover his face was still unknown to many local residents.
“Personally, it was very evident when I ran in the last municipal election in 2016,” he writes in the book. “On my door-to-door visits through the urban areas of the county, a large portion of the residents didn’t know about my history with the county, or really, who I was. Not a good feeling.”
While Taylor said he has seen a lot of publications on the history and structure of municipal government, he has not found one where an elected municipal official in Nova Scotia ever wrote a book about their actual experiences.
In his preface, Taylor describes municipal government as the “closest to the people and is appropriately called grassroots democracy.
“Elected officials work in their communities, either full or part time,” he says. “Decisions are, or should be, made in the best interest of the people and the businesses they represent, with no affiliation with a political party.”
Taylor makes reference to a quote he read about the three levels of government – federal, provincial and municipal – that he feels solidifies that point.
“If the federal government were to shut down tomorrow, the effect wouldn’t be felt for a month or two,” he wrote. “If the provincial government shut down tomorrow, it would probably be a month before the effect would be felt, but if your municipal government shut down, you would notice by tomorrow.”
The reason for that, Taylor said, is because such day-to-day services as water, sewer, garbage collection and police and fire protection would immediately cease.
“This is why we should all appreciate the value of municipal government and be more aware of its importance to everyday life,” he said, in the book.
"Municipal Awareness An Insider View" is available by calling Taylor directly at 902-893-8283 or by contacting him via email: [email protected] .
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BY THE NUMBERS:
Taylor’s history as an elected municipal official:
27.5 years in politics;
8.5 as Bible Hill village commissioner (four as chairman);
11 years as Colchester County councillor;
8 years as the county mayor.
