CALEB NICKERSONPONTIAC May 20, 2020
On May 20, the MRC Pontiac council of mayors held their monthly meeting virtually, via a Zoom video conference. All 18 municipalities had officials in attendance, though three, Campbell’s Bay, Alleyn et Cawood and Calumet Island, were represented by their respective pro-mayors.
The meeting opened with a tribute and moment of silence in honour of the late Raymond Durocher, a long-serving Pontiac politician and former warden who passed away on May 15.
It was also noted that the conference would be recorded and the video would be made publicly available following the meeting, as per new provincial guidelines.
TNO garage, outfitter support
The TNO meeting, which deals with the non-organized territories of the MRC, was dominated by discussions about the beach at Lac Dumont, near Cayamant. Pontiac Warden Jane Toller was told by MRC Vallée de la Gatineau Warden Chantal Lamarche that there had been a sizable gathering at the beach over the long weekend. MRC Territory Director Réjean Dugas recounted the long history that beach has had, noting that the MRC had blockaded the entrances to in recent years due to damage caused by reckless revelry. It was agreed that council would send a request to both the police and the provincial ministry of natural resources to better enforce the closure of the property, especially in light of the COVID-19 distancing measures.
MRC engineer Kim Lesage gave an update on the garage being constructed adjacent to the MRC offices in Campbell’s Bay to store vehicles and equipment used in the TNOs. They had received three bids for the cement slab and footings for the garage and agreed to go with the lowest, submitted by Josh Pasch for just under $10,000. Lesage added in an email following the evening that they would be requesting estimates for the building construction in the coming weeks and hoped to have a contract lined up within a month or so. During the meeting, she said that preliminary estimates for the 40x48 ft. Structure were pegged at around $100,000.
Council also passed a resolution in support of the Outaouais Outfitters Association, who are requesting that the provincial government allow their businesses to open with certain restrictions for the summer.
Council also approved a grant of $24,000 to pay some outfitters to clear brush from roughly 60 km of access roads, which are also used by seasonal cottagers.
Public question period
Warden Toller opened the regular council meeting with her monthly report, which detailed her many conference calls and virtual meetings. She noted that the energy from waste committee, which she sits on, is meeting weekly and recently had a discussion with the Ottawa city councillor responsible for waste.
This council meeting was the first to feature questions from the public since the pandemic began, and five were read to the council by Toller.
The first was from a resident of Campbell’s Bay, who asked about reimbursements for those affected by the spring floods in 2019, as well as whether their taxes would be lowered as a result.
MRC Director General Bernard Roy explained that by law, the MRC would have to adjust the assessment of any properties affected by the flooding before the end of the year, but said that even with the complications posed by COVID-19, he expected the majority of the work to be complete by the end of the summer.
The next question had to do with an algae bloom that had appeared at the beach in Sand Bay, and ongoing situation that has been previously reported on by this paper.
Clarendon Mayor John Armstrong said that his council had responded to the Sand Bay Association and was on top of the matter. Despite the meeting being recorded, a few minutes later Armstrong asked that the media not report on his initial response, since his council had already responded to the interested parties directly.
“I’m asking the papers involved tonight, to not print this in the paper, what I’ve stated, we are dealing directly with the individuals,” he said. “We are not getting into a conversation in the paper, so I would appreciate this not being put in the paper because they have received information today on our answer from last night[’s meeting].”
The next question was about the status of the MRC’s community forest initiative. Toller responded that the project has not been abandoned, and said council had sent a request to the minister responsible for forestry to approve the pilot project for the area.
Another question had to do with the consultations on the MRC’s Vision 2020 plan, which had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Toller said that she hoped public consultations would be able to take place by the fall.
The final question was from a resident of Allumettes Island, who asked about the health care services available locally if Pontiac has a COVID-19 outbreak, and what improvements could be made to the system going forward. Toller responded that any serious COVID cases that were discovered in the Pontiac would be taken to the regional facility set up at the Hull Hospital. She added that the Pontiac Community Hospitals and CLSCs would remain open for other types of medical emergencies.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, MRC communications officer Colleen Jones explained that the MRC had received 8 questions total, but three didn’t pertain to the MRC council and were re-directed. Toller said that decisions about answering questions should be made during the public meetings, in order to be as transparent as possible.
“One thing that I wouldn’t ever want to see is us screening things and deciding some things are not appropriate, so I think for our next meeting, everything that comes needs to be brought to the council,” she said.
Administration
Council approved $79,000 for the opening of a Maison des Jeunes service centre in Rapides des Joachims. Toller said that Mayor Jim Gibson had been a driving force behind the funding allocation, which came through the Table de développement social du Pontiac.
“Although it’s a small community, his point was that if they don’t have that in place then there’s nothing for the kids to do,” she said.
Council also approved funding for TransporAction and their para-transport service, with $55,800 coming from the Territory Development Fund, and $62,500 coming from municipal shares.
Another $19,381 was approved for Transcollines as well.
The council also passed a resolution to thank local police officers for their enforcement of the inter-regional transport restrictions in April.
Economic development
Pontiac Economic Development Director Cyndy Phillips introduced a resolution to council that would finance the hiring of two full-time rural social workers, in partnership with the other rural MRCs in the Outaouais. The cost for MRC Pontiac would be $4,000 per year for a three year period.
Phillips also announced that the MRC’s application for regional funding from the FARR program had been approved, and put forth a resolution to hire the firm Visages régionaux to put together a territorial marketing strategy, at a cost of $85,000.
Phillips also gave a breakdown of the MRC’s emergency aid fund.
“Emergency aid fund loans have been approved by the investment committee, to date 10 loans have been approved for a total of $360,650, leaving us with $170,226 available,” she stated.
The investment committee also recommended a grant of $25,000 to a business in Bryson, which was approved by council.
Council agreed that the Fort Coulonge Country Festival would be able to keep the $1,400 they had already received for this year’s event, which had to be cancelled, in order to cover some of their expenses. The other half of the funding allocated for this year was allowed to be rolled over for next ye ar’s festival.
Public safety
MRC Fire and Public Safety Coordinator Julien Gagnon told council that the search and rescue committee, which oversees the coordination of offroad rescues in the region, would be merged with the fire safety committee, as all the members of the former committee already sit on the latter.
Lesage recieved approval for an update to the security system and access points for the MRC offices, at a cost of just over $25,000. The work was awarded to WePC and Eric Pilon Construction.
Dugas introduced a resolution to approve for two to three “hydrometric” stations to be installed along the Ottawa River, in order to collect data to be used to update local flood maps. Dugas said the resolution requests that any costs incurred by their installation be reimbursed by the city of Gatineau, who received funding to conduct the study on river levels.
In the scrum with media following the council meeting, Jones noted that the council had yet to publish a list of all MRC committees and their members, though they received a draft copy of the list in their plenary meeting. Toller said that she agreed that the list should be made public, but said council was waiting until they had informed all the members of the committees that their identities would be made public.
“At the plenary meeting, we saw the list, we saw the names of people on the committees, and it was very much stated that yes, this should be public information,” she said. “There is a need to perhaps inform the people on the committees that this is going to be posted. But it is going to be posted, perhaps in a month.”
THE EQUITY has been requesting a full list of MRC committees and their membership for nearly a year, and even filed an access to information request for the data in July 2019.
