An Otter Lake committee has chosen two projects to receive money as part of the municipality’s participatory budget program launched this spring.
The Otter Lake 150 committee will receive $12,950 toward celebrations for the municipality’s 150th anniversary next year, and the Greater Otter Lake Residents’ Association (GORA), will receive $7,050 for the group’s ongoing fight to slow the spread of invasive species in the municipality’s lakes.
The money was made available through a provincial initiative that invited municipalities to set aside a portion of their budget to fund citizen-led projects. Otter Lake’s contribution of $10,000 was matched by the province, for a total of $20,000.
Last week, the committee in charge of evaluating submissions announced it had landed on the winning projects.
Otter Lake 150 committee co-chair Lory Beaudoin said the money will help her group expand the possibilities of their programming, including a time capsule, an acknowledgement of the first baby born next year, as well as several festivals spread throughout the year.
“We are very grateful for the funds we’ve received from the municipality to help us organize the festive, cultural and commemorative activities to celebrate our town’s 150th anniversary,” she wrote in a message.
Councillor and selection committee member Robin Zacharias said he hopes the expanded celebrations will bring more visitors and business into the town.
“We hope it brings people into town, and maybe some of them will be impressed and maybe want to buy a piece of property here. And from the local businesses’ perspective, they have more traffic,” he said.
The second winning group, GORA, is made up of citizen representatives from lake associations across the municipality.
Members plan to use the money for buoys and signs to alert lake users of thick areas of Eurasian milfoil, the invasive plant that has spread to several of the municipality’s lakes.
The group will deploy additional buoys and signs on Farm Lake, and a first round of buoys and signs on Little Hughes Lake and McCuaig Lake.
Otter Lake mayor Jennifer Quaile, who is a former president of GORA, said while the municipality’s ongoing application to put a tarp down on Farm Lake’s floor has been delayed while waiting for translation, this money will help efforts to slow the plant’s spread in the meantime.
“It’s hugely important to continue to install buoys and purchase signs for the buoys to alert boaters to stay away from the areas that have thick growth of milfoil,” said Quaile.
A third submission, a tall Canadian flagpole on a small island in Farm Lake, was received but determined ineligible by the MRC Pontiac, which is administering the province’s contribution, because “it did not have an economic benefit they could measure,” said Zacharias.
Quaile said the program is a good opportunity for the municipality to hear and support its residents’ ideas for the future of the community.
“I think this is a great program because we’re not only hearing about what citizens want and would like us to do as a council, but we are able to fulfill the expectations of the public by having this additional fund.”
Of the three other municipalities who participated in this program, Allumette Island is the only one to date to have chosen a recipient, announcing in May that Chapeau’s Harrington Community Centre would receive $20,000 for a new generator.
Campbell’s Bay, which announced its call for projects earlier in the summer, will stop accepting submissions July 30. A committee of elected officials, residents, and employees will evaluate submissions and make a final decision in early September.
No response was received from the municipality of Waltham regarding the status of its project.
