STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC Feb. 17, 2021
L’Isle aux Allumettes Mayor Winston Sunstrum informed The Equity that he will be going to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MAMH) to challenge the decision by MRC Pontiac staff to not table three items on the agenda; which he had submitted prior to the Feb. 17 council meeting.
After Sunstrum submitted the items on Friday afternoon to Warden Jane Toller, she recommended to staff that the items not be included on the agenda due to . . .
her deeming them not time sensitive. Following Toller’s recommendation, Director General Bernard Roy notified Sunstrum that the items would not be included in the agenda. Since January, Toller had informed the council of her preference that all non-time-sensitive issues be discussed at plenary, a week prior to meetings.
According to Sunstrum, the three untabled items were: (1) a point of information regarding a January article from the Journal of Environmental Management to the attention of council, as it used the sustainability of a biorefinery in the Pontiac as its case study focus, (2) a point of information that would seek to make the entire council aware of what grants the MRC has received from the province through the Sustainable Forest Development Program (PADF) and (3) a resolution that would aim to finalize when a forestry committee meeting would take place among the Council of Mayors, as Sunstrum said it had been nearly six months since an official committee meeting had been held. The resolution would be a follow up on a December resolution that Sunstrum submitted and was passed that sought to organize a forestry meeting.
Minutes into Wednesday night’s meeting, Sunstrum asked for an explanation as to why the agenda did not contain the items he had sent to Toller.
Toller explained that they were not time sensitive, and asked that Roy explain the reasoning further.
Roy acknowledged that the Municipal Code states that documents should be submitted just 72 hours in advance — Sunstrum submitted his 120 hours in advance — but he explained that the MRC must factor in many variables that the code does not specify.
“Municipal codes and other guides are providing very general statements, so we have to adapt those, they are not adapted to our context,” Roy explained.
The Municipal Code article in question states, “Any documents useful in making decisions must, barring exceptional situations, be available to the members of the council not later than 72 hours before the time set for the beginning of the sitting.”
In an email to THE EQUITY, Roy later clarified his understanding for how the council must acknowledge the municipal code while proceeding with agenda items.
“This section of the Municipal Code refers to ‘documents useful in making decisions,’” Roy wrote. “The Municipal Code does not provide a direct, clear definition of what those useful documents are and moreover this provision doesn’t relate specifically to the determination of items that make their way onto the agenda of a Council sitting.”
While speaking during the meeting, he also referenced an MAMH-developed guide that he sent to Sunstrum to justify the decision. Sunstrum replied by saying that the guide did not have legal weight, in contrast with the Municipal Code which does.
