Brett Thoms
Pontiac April 18, 2022
A decision on whether Chapeau’s Meilleur Residence will have to repay $30,000 to the MRC Pontiac will be taken at this evening’s meeting of the MRC Pontiac Council of Mayors (Wednesday, April 20).
According to Warden Jane Toller, the $30,000 constitutes an overpayment by the MRC to the not-for-profit retirement home because it was beyond the $150,000 that was requested in the original grant application, and so should be returned to the MRC.
Tonight’s vote is on a resolution to rescind a previous . . .
resolution requesting repayment.
In discussing the matter with THE EQUITY, Toller declined to name the organization, individuals or even the municipality involved because she didn’t believe they were relevant. Research by THE EQUITY , however, found that the minutes of the March 2020 MRC meeting pointed to the Meilleur Residence.
Winston Sunstrum, a member of the board of directors of the Meilleur Residence and former mayor of Allumette Island, told THE EQUITY that the group received two separate grants, one for $30,000 in January 2016 and the second in December of 2016 for $150,000, all of which was spent during the construction of the Meilleur Residence in 2018 and 2019.
As the mayor of Allumette Island, Sunstrum sat on the MRC Council of Mayors when these funds were allocated to the Meilleur Residence.
A resolution asking Meilleur Residence to pay back the $30,000 that the MRC claims was overpaid was narrowly passed by the council of mayors in March 2020, with Warden Jane Toller casting the tie-breaking vote in favour.
Sunstrum told THE EQUITY that his votes on the matter – both in support of the original grants and against the subsequent repayment – were not in breach of conflict of interest rules because he and his fellow board members did not gain personally from the grants.
According to Toller, the $180,000 was given in the form of FDT grants (Fonds de développement des territoires), meaning they did not have to be repaid. A March 2020 resolution changed $30,000 from an FDT grant into an FLI (Fonds local d’investissement), which is a loan, meaning it must be repaid, said Toller.
Toller said she is concerned that tonight’s vote to rescind the request for repayment might pass which would leave the MRC responsible for covering the $30,000 overpayment.
“The new council is 50 per cent new people,” said Toller. “They don’t understand the background or the history and they’ll just vote the way that they’re going to vote.”
Toller framed her interpretation of the issue in this sequence of events: “They asked for $150,000, got $180,000, said nothing about it, got caught, was asked to repay, did nothing about it, then convinced new mayors to rescind the repayment.”
Sunstrum said he presented Residence Meilleur’s case to the Council of Mayors at last week’s private plenary meeting and that he has documentation showing that the $30,000 in dispute was a legitimate grant, though he was unable to provide those documents to THE EQUITY before press time.
When asked why he thought the MRC was making an issue out of it when he had what he considers to be proof the grant was legitimate and not an overpayment, he said he didn’t know.
Sunstrum said Meilleur Residence didn’t pay the $30,000 after the March 2020 vote requesting repayment because it didn’t have the money and the MRC didn’t follow up.
He said it will be up to the entire board of Meilleur Residence to decide what the course of action will be if Wednesday’s vote doesn’t go their way.
Toller said she plans on asking each mayor to explain their vote on the issue at Wednesday’s public meeting. Toller referenced a section of the Municipal Code of Quebec that says public funds that are overpaid are legally required to be repaid, and that the MRC is willing to allow the Meilleur Residence to repay the $30,000 over a 30-year period interest free.
“This is my job as the elected warden to ensure accountability,” said Toller. “And if some members of our council aren’t being accountable, I have to bring that to the surface.”
