Pontiac council report
Ecocentre instead of regional landfill
Mo Laidlaw
About twenty members of the public attended the regular meeting of 14 September 2004.
Future Ecocentre
Councillor Jim Coyle proposed a motion to inform the MRC des Collines, MNA Charlotte L’Écuyer, and the ministry of Environment, that council has rejected the LDC proposal for a regional engineered landfill, and that no further proposal should be considered within the municipality. All 7 councillors voted in favour. Council wants to support recycling by converting the dump to an Ecocentre — a sorting and recycling centre for the MRC. Mr Coyle explained that at present the dump is used for one small truckload of household garbage from Quyon daily, and for residents to dump their own garbage at weekends. This is “not much to transfer over the mountain” in addition to the rest of the municipality’s household garbage, which at present goes to the MRC’s collection centre and then on to Lachute.
Mayor Bruce Campbell said, “You’re putting an end to a very important project that will clean up a toxic landfill. In the law, our dump will be closed. Ecocentres are an awful cost ... you’re shooting yourself in the foot. We’re stuck with a rather old fleet of garbage trucks.”
Rats at the dump
Mary Theresa Murdock complained about the large number of rats at the dump, within a few kilometres of where she lives. Councillor Pierre Lafrance claimed that they are so hungry that “rats unload trailers”. Councillor Bill Twolan explained that $200 worth of poison has been used, and suggested that a rat-shooting competition might be more successful. Secretary-treasurer Sylvain Bertrand said that if there is no improvement the municipality should give a contract to an exterminator, for initial control with monthly follow-up to prevent further problems.
Although the current trench is full, councillors agreed that it must be left open until a new trench is dug, to prevent the rats from migrating to neighbouring areas. Shingles, steel and tires have been illegally dumped and buried in the compost area. Councillor Roger Larose said that it is the inspector’s job to see that such material is recycled.
Special collections, recycling
There will be a pickup of large items on the usual garbage collection day in the week of September 27. As there will be several trucks, please put items into separate piles of steel, tires and other garbage. A collection of household hazardous waste will be held on October 23.
Jean-Claude Carisse called the municipality about the “Breckenridge dump” — next to the recycling bins at the fire station — a week ago, but the overflowing garbage is still there. Because of the plans for recycling pickup there seems to be no political will to fix this continuing problem. A councillor blamed cottagers for dumping their garbage there at the end of the weekend.
Mr Carisse also asked about the bric-à-brac next to Dépanneur Poirier on highway 148, and hoped that the owner of Charme de la Campagne, which is opening on the corner of Mountain road and highway 148 on October 1, has been informed about Pontiac’s bylaws, since his move is due to noncompliance with Gatineau’s regulations about displaying merchandise outside the building.
Firefighters
Firefighter David Scully repeated that “a majority of firefighters don’t want to be union members. The union is not needed.” He said that a team of firefighters from across the municipality took part in trials at the Shawville fair, and that a Sunday morning practice of “guys from both ends” of the municipality had been carried out. Mr Campbell said to all the firefighters, “Thank you, we appreciate your participation,” and Mr Lafrance added, “You did well.” Council passed two motions to discharge two previously suspended volunteer firefighters, and request return of equipment, by 6:2 votes. Council is asking the firefighters’ union, SPQ, to send a bilingual representative who can notify members of their rights.
The fire department received 8 calls in August.
TransporAction and roads
Council agreed to contribute $5000 as its share for TransporAction Pontiac. There will be a public information meeting soon. TransporAction provides transport to medical appointments or shopping for those without cars. User fees are payable.
There was discussion about the grant from the ministry of Transport to connect Terry-Fox to Townline. Mr Campbell pointed out that the money has to be used within a certain time. A study of the costs of land purchase and construction should be carried out. Agreements with Chelsea and Gatineau can be reached later if the cost of this project makes it achievable.
Dubois road
Milton Maxsom and Mike Labonté had two concerns. First, beer delivery trucks and drivers with trailers block the Dubois junction with highway 148 when exiting from Dépanneur Eardley, causing dangerous situations. The ministry of Transport will be consulted about solutions. Mr Twolan suggested it might be possible to improve the angle of this junction by cutting off the corner of the adjacent property.
Secondly, traffic is speeding on Dubois road, “because of the construction on highway 148.” There are “cars flying through”, as well as “kids with no helmets racing up and down on ATVs. There are no police down here.”
Residents on tolerance (non-municipal) roads
Joan Letourneau of FRAPP, mentioned two upcoming meetings at the Luskville community centre: on September 25 at 10 am FRAPP will hold its annual meeting, and on October 18 at 7.30 pm there is a meeting of FRAPP, the mayor and the road associations.
Quyon sewage works
The next stage for the sewage works is for Hydro Quebec to provide an electrical supply. Startup date is September 27, but the official finish date is in early October. Bills totalling over $800,000 for work in August were paid to Marchand et fils and J.A. Lecompte.
Other business
Nearly $2 million of building permits were issued in August.
A new bylaw requires 20 year and 100 year flooding zones along the Ottawa river (high water mark) to be shown on affected building plans.
There were 26 complaints about dogs in August.