Series A: General municipal records. — 1926-1986. — 6.1 m textual records. — 137 architectural drawings. — 2 maps.

Series contains records created or received by the municipal office during the period 1926 to 1986. The majority of the records were created by the municipality’s core employee, the municipal clerk, and all were maintained by him during the early decades and by the municipal office staff during the later period. The series is arranged into 4 sub-series including:

• the clerk’s files
• council and committee minutes (1975-1986)
• deeds
• West Pubnico sewer records.

Note:
Title based on contents of series.

Sub-series 1: Council and committee minutes. — 1926-1986. — 2.38 m of textual records.

Sub-series consists of minutes of all municipal council meetings and the meetings of its committees from 1975 to 1986. Also included in the sub-series are minutes of meetings held by other bodies which were relevant to the municipality’s interests and which were usually attended by a representative from the Municipality of Argyle, ie the Joint Expenditure Board of Yarmouth County, the Joint Social Service Committee of Yarmouth County, the Yarmouth Arena Commission, the Emergency Measures Organization (see note), the Airport Consultative Committee, Yarmouth-Argyle Transit, the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities and its Southwestern Region, etc.

In addition to copies of minutes of meetings, many folders contain other material relevant to the issues discussed at the meeting concerned, ie correspondence, applications for employment, financial statements, reports, etc.

Notes:
Title based on contents of sub-series.

From 1975-1976 the clerk kept the files of minutes in alphabetical order by committee name and in date order within each set of committee minutes, in groups of one calendar year. From 1977-1981 he maintained the alphabetical arrangement of the files, but kept the minutes in reverse date order (again in groups of one calendar year) so that the minutes of the most recent meeting would be the first to come to hand within each committee’s set of files. In 1982 he altered his system yet again, by arranging the files in strictly chronological order by the date the meeting was held. This arrangement in particular, and the variety of minute-filing systems in the sub-series in general, was considered to make retrieval of the records unnecessarily difficult. Consequently, all of the minute files were rearranged to conform to the alphabetical and chronological scheme used from 1975-1976, described above.

Prior to 1975 only Council meeting and Arbitration meeting minutes exist. These records are filed in the Clerk’s files (Series A, Sub-series 1).

An Emergency Measures Organization minute book (1981-1987) is filed at end of 1981 files. Folders containing minutes for this organization also exist within this sub-series.

The majority of the minutes for this period (1926-1986) are found in the formal minute books of Council as opposed to the files.  See Appendix 3 for a detailed description of the minute books for the Municipality of the District of Argyle.  This fonds is covered by minute books numbered 2-11.   Minute Book #2 is shared with RG3 – Municipality of the District of Argyle fonds 1879-1926.  Minute Book #11 is shared with RG5 – Municipality of the District of Argyle fonds 1987-2000

Sub-series 2: Clerk’s files. – 1926-1986. — 3.48 m of textual records. — 26 architectural drawings. — 2 maps.

Sub-series contains the municipal office files created through the daily work of the clerk in administering the decisions of the council and the customary and legislated responsibilities of the municipality.

The sub-series consists of the minutes of council meetings and arbitration meetings (1949-1974); correspondence; appointments and oaths of municipal officers (sample file, 1952); annual reports to the provincial treasurer (1926-1952) and to the Department of Municipal Affairs (from 1953); municipal borrowing resolutions; Southwest Nova economic base study (1977); reports to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics regarding building permits granted annually; county weed inspector reports (1969-1984); minority language program minutes and correspondence (1971-1976); federal-municipal grants in lieu of taxes; records pertaining to community fire departments and fire taxes; municipal boundaries (1965); court house building, its restoration and official opening (1957-1970, 1980-1984); pollution control studies in West Pubnico (1968-1976) and Wedgeport (1969); government funded works programs (ca.1971-1986); regional homes for the aged (1968, 1975, 1981); the Rio Algom tin mine; Canadian National Railways grant in lieu of taxes (1970-1977); by-law officer (1980s); Robb refuse burners (1970); ambulance service (sample file, 1971); proposed subsidised housing development (1973); jointly funded animal hospital (1974); civil defence; liquor licensing; school expenditure and construction; volunteer awards; municipal employees and their salaries (see folders labelled ‘Income Tax’); records pertaining to the concerns, seminars and conventions of various organisations of which the municipality was a member or in which they had an interest, ie Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, Municipal Finance Officers Association, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Association of Municipal Administrators, Institute of Public Affairs; newsletters, etc.

Sub-series is arranged in chronological order into annual groups of records, and in alphabetical order within each annual set of records for the period 1953-1986. The records for 1928-1952 form one alphabetical sequence due to the small number of extant folders for that period.

Architectural drawings consist of 21 drawings for Nova Scotia Housing Commission senior citizens’ rental housing : 10 drawings relating to accommodation in Wedgeport, 1976; and 11 drawings relating to accommodation in West Pubnico, 1979. 5 drawings relate to the Green Acres residential subdivision in Plymouth.

Maps include a survey of the Tusket Industrial Park, 1986; and the course of a 23,000 volt transmission line, Tusket to Lower Woods Harbour, 1960.

Note:
Title based on title of municipal employee who created and maintained records in the sub-series.

Minutes of council and committee meetings after 1974 are located in Series A, Sub-series 2

Sub-series 3: Deeds. — 1940-1971. — 1 folder (6 items).

Sub-series consists of six deeds conveying property from private individuals to the Municipality of Argyle, each for a consideration of $1.00.

Note:
Title based on contents of sub-series.

Sub-series 4: West Pubnico Sewer records and drawings. — Scales differ. — 1969, 1976-1986. — 21 cm of textual records. — 111 technical drawings : 56 pencil and ink on tracing paper, 55 blueprints ; 57 x 109 cm or smaller.

Sub-series contains records and drawings documenting the construction of the Municipality of Argyle’s only sewer system, the lengthy process leading up to the decision to go ahead with the project, and the taxation of area residents for the payment of the capital and operating costs of the sewer system.

The sub-series consists of municipal plebiscite records (1969); a petition to the Municipal Council to “make whatever expenditures as are necessary in order to provide sewer facilities” to the area (1976); applications for project approval and funding from provincial and federal departments; estimated project costs and other financial records; tender and specifications; technical drawings; progress reports; sewer tax reconciliations and reliefs, etc.

The technical drawings include 56 pencil and ink on tracing paper and 50 blueprints of the sewage system project drawn by Interprovincial Engineering Limited, the consulting engineers; and 5 blueprints drawn by Arthur T. Bent, Nova Scotia Land Surveyor, 4 of which show construction and maintenance easements over privately owned land in West Pubnico, Middle West Pubnico and Lower West Pubnico, and 1 showing lands in Lower West Pubnico to be purchased by the Municipality of Argyle for sewage purposes.

Note:
Title based on contents of sub-series.