Patrick Hirtle - DCAO Region of Queens Municipality

10/17/2025

Cross-posting below the message from my personal page, with the news that as of today I'm officially wrapped up with the Town of Bridgewater -- I've turned in my badge and gun (access to the Town's socials), and I start the next step of my journey on Monday with the Region of Queens as the new Deputy CAO.

>>>>>>>>>>>

“We all change, when you think about it – we're all different people all through our lives. And that's okay – that's good, you gotta keep moving … so long as you remember all the people that you used to be." – Borrowed, with love, from Doctor Who

Okay, this is a big one – deep breath.

As most (if not all) of you know, I have been a proud member of the Town of Bridgewater’s staff team for more than a decade.

More than proud, in fact – it’s been my absolute honour to work for and with the community to help make Bridgewater the truly amazing place that it is.

Even on challenging days, I love my job, the people I work with and for on staff and Council, and the good work that we do together to build up our community.

All of which makes this next bit more than a little tough on the heart.

I wanted to share here with each of you that I have been offered and have accepted the position of Deputy Chief Administrative Officer (DCAO) with the Region of Queens Municipality. I'll be starting in the role on October 20.

While the decision to move on from Bridgewater was not one that I came to lightly, I am very excited about the opportunity before me to take on a new senior leadership role with a municipality that is poised to blossom over the next number of years.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn about the nuances of municipal government from three CAOs (Ken Smith, Richard MacLellan, and Tammy Crowder) and two mayors (David Walker and David Mitchell) during my time as a staff member here in Bridgewater.

The knowledge and experience I’ve gained working alongside each of these fine folks and the entire TOB staff team will help me serve the community, staff team, and Council in Queens.

It’s a time of change for sure, but I’m very much looking forward to the next adventure!

Thank you to everyone who has helped shape the person I am today … and who I’ll become next.

Send a message to learn more

05/06/2022

When you have to build and test out some online contact forms, you might as well give yourself a little laugh while doing it.

ALSO, Canada Day on the LaHave is FINALLY back this year. The organizing committee is looking to build out a really fun Kitchen Party on King Street for all ages from 4 p.m. until the fireworks (around 10:15 p.m.), so if you or someone you know is interested in being part of our Kitchen Party street performers or putting on a demo, please point them to www.bridgewater.ca/canadaday to submit their info.

Also, we already have enough one-man pillow fights, so if that's your thing, maybe check back next year.

04/27/2022

To borrow the words that my 12-year-old son once used in a book report about The Alchemist, we have a "butt ton" of jobs available with the Town of Bridgewater right now -- from seasonal to summer positions for students to full-time/perm positions.

Get your apps in gear, and get them in as soon as possible!

📣 SUMMER JOB OPPORTUNITY
>>> Front Desk/Support and Assistant Pool Facility Manager

Hey! You! Are you looking for a cool summer job this year? A great way to earn some money, add an item to your resume, and have a fun time while you're at it?

Have we got the gigs for you!

The Town of Bridgewater is looking to hire BOTH a Front Desk/Support staffer AND an Assistant Pool Facility Manager at the O'Regan's Subaru Outdoor Swimming Pool.

Details for both jobs are listed at www.bridgewater.ca/jobs. Don't delay -- these jobs are too cool to pass up, especially in the hot summer sun!

04/26/2022

We get this a lot. Too much. So much so, that I finally decided to make a meme about it for the purposes of public education.

01/15/2022

Post-storm pro tip -- if you're wondering what the streets in town are like in general, if you download the Town of Bridgewater app, you get access to two live-streaming cameras: one in the tower at Town Hall overlooking the downtown and the other on the north end of LaHave Street! You can learn about how to download the app here: www.bridgewater.ca/app.

But, just because I like y'all so much, the current stream links are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDkJLeIXs08

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GZU1fYqJDg

Don't get attached to them -- the links change periodically when the streams require resetting.

01/07/2022

🏠 I did a thing this week, which I think is kind of cool and hopefully will prove to be a very useful resource for our community.

In most of NS right now, it’s a struggle to find a home — especially if you’re looking to rent. In addition to challenges of increasing rent costs simply finding a place online can come down to sheer luck — there’s no one central repository where landlords post available units and that can leave folks looking for new homes frustrated and defeated after hours of scouring online.

To make that process a little bit easier for those trying to find a new home, I put together www.Bridgewater.ca/home. It’s basically an aggregator page, but is designed very specifically to give folks quick one-touch access to local Bridgewater and area rental listings on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, and through the websites of a variety of local developers. The “Find A Home” page, as we’re calling it, has also been added to the Town of Bridgewater app (www.Bridgewater.ca/iBridgewater). I also included a direct link to info on the province’s Affordable Housing program services.

It’s just a small resource, but anything we can do to give folks quick access to listings without having to do frustrating searches on their own can only help ease the stress around finding a new place to live.

12/10/2021

Had to do a reset of the LIVE Eye camera in the Town Hall Tower that overlooks the downtown this afternoon. Every 250 hours or so it requires a reset. You can access the livestream in the TOB app — don’t have the app? Visit www.Bridgewater.ca/iBridgewater to learn how to download it.

That view though, eh? Quite the winter wonderland out there. Too bad it’s going to rain away tomorrow.

12/09/2021

Folks. I know this is hard to understand but:

1) We had ~40cm of snow and clean up takes time (70kms of roads and 35kms of sidewalks in Bridgewater doesn’t get cleared in a heartbeat).

2) Our crews are humans — hardworking and amazing humans, I might add — and they require breaks and rest too. They’re working as quickly and as safely as they can.

3) Stay close to home if you can and, if you have to go out, expect it to be slippery and the going to be tough while clean up takes place.

Be careful. Be patient. Be kind. Help out your neighbour if you can. ❄️

05/03/2021

Let’s now go to a LIVE view of me, one year into the pandemic and moderating comments on the Town’s social media: