Dear Editor,

There seems to be an epidemic plaguing municipalities in the MRC Pontiac, with about a third of them having major issues around their council tables, or between new councils and DGs. If this was a medical outbreak that reached 33 per cent of a population, it would make national news. In the Pontiac, this has reached the level of mundane but gossip-worthy.

Are the current municipal problems due to a lack of the right people being involved, or just too many people being involved? Someone may be a very good individual candidate, but the current epidemic is suggesting we are failing to choose a group that can work together.

I see amalgamation as solving a lot of the issues that are plaguing this county. The delays to a “better situation” that people say we need are primarily caused by too many chefs in the kitchen, chefs who behave like only they have the right answer. The common ground needed to make things better is off the map in uncharted waters.

According to the Quebec government’s “Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities”, the number of councillor seats in a municipality shall be not fewer than six nor more than eight if its population is under 20,000. If the whole MRC Pontiac was a single municipality we would be allowed to have no more than eight councillors and one mayor.

Currently we have 102 councillors and 18 mayors. I have suggested that our 18 municipalities should be reduced to five, with Bristol, Clarendon and Shawville becoming one municipality (among other mergers that would be needed). Between those three municipalities, there are 18 councillors and three mayors representing the same population that could be represented by six councillors and one mayor. 

The reason for amalgamation is not saving money. What money is used now between Bristol, Shawville and Clarendon’s 18 councillors should be split between six. Based on current salaries, it looks like a combined councillor salary of these three municipalities would be approximately $26,000 per councillor per year. This could be bumped to at least $30,000. The new mayor position should be double what the highest paid of the three current mayors are getting. The raises would be covered by going from three DGs to one. Even with hiring an excellent assistant DG, there would be funds left to cover the raises.

Some say we don’t want councillors doing it for the money, we need people to do it because their heart is in the right place. I have problems with that. First, someone’s heart might be in the right place but their common sense could be in Winnipeg; second, we need to pay our councils well enough to try and lure the best people available to work on our behalf.

I see amalgamation as an efficiency windfall. Dropping from over 100 councillors to 30 should speed things up. In recent years we have been hearing about neighbouring municipalities sharing services. This is a lovely baby step towards integration. It’s a shame though we are not able to walk like grown-ups.

Tom McCann, Clarendon