Pontiac council report - Luskville school gym
Mo Laidlaw
About 20 members of the public attended the June 13, 2006 council meeting. Mayor Eddie McCann was absent so Acting Mayor Garry Dagenais was in the chair.
Doreen Sigouin updated council about many recreation-related items, including the street light at Davis Park (Breckenridge) and reported progress in contacting the owner of land that could be used for basketball.
“Who is responsible for checking grass-cutting?” at municipal parks, she asked, pointing out that no trimming was done in the past week. Aylmer will be renting the ball park in Luskville for a provincial tournament in August. Finally she mentioned that the business at highway 148 and de la Montagne has a tent and sign that obstruct the view at the road junction. Council will look into whether there is a relevant bylaw.
Marie-Claude Pineau asked for more employees in the planning department. She waited nearly four weeks for a reply from the municipal office about the site of a neighbour’s new well. In comparison she was able to speak right away to a technologist in Chelsea, who responded in a professional manner, and Ange Gardien has four environment specialists.
Pierre Robillard (Kawartha, Breckenridge) thanked municipal workers for cleaning up the sand that accumulated over the winter, in early May. He informed new councillors and reminded the others that in May 2004, residents in the McKay sector as well as Sumac, Filiou and Lilas, signed a petition asking that their residential roads and the former rail-line be excluded from any public bicycle trail. Instead the path should follow Terry Fox, Smith Leonard and de la Rivière. (The timetable for the trail foresees the Breckenridge section as the last to be realised, in 2008. The section being discussed and perhaps implemented this year is from Wyman through Quyon on Clarendon road, back to the highway 148 - on old highway 8.)
Michel Séguin asked about the group postboxes area on Pères-Dominicains, that serves residents of Bélisle, Albert-Tremblay and Pierre-Tremblay beaches (Luskville). Altogether there are nearly 150 mailboxes, and this is also a school bus stop. Councillor Lawrence Tracey explained that it is planned to buy land to make a parking area and a turn-round at the mailboxes and to improve safety for residents.
Jean-Claude Carisse asked when the recycling pickup will start. The official date is now 3 October 2006. Wheelie-bins will be distributed before then.
Roads, snow removal
Robert Lussier had questions about road work on Cedarvale (Breckenridge), and Claude Boucher had questions on road work on Stanton and Leblond (Quyon area). The latter is a private road and it is up to the owner to grade the road.
Snow removal contracts are coming up for renewal. The municipality will ask for offers for the next 3 or 4 years by 15th July or August, depending on sector.
New gym to be available for residents
Council adopted a resolution to allow the mayor and secretary-treasurer to sign an agreement with the Portages de l’Outaouais school board for use of the new gym at Notre-Dame-de-la-Joie school in Luskville. The gym was officially opened on 19 June. The municipality invested $300,000 in the project which cost $1.2 million.
Be careful what you flush
A bylaw concerning what can be put into a sewer network (the municipal one in Quyon or a private network) was adopted. The bylaw lists several pages of materials that must not be put in the sewer, with fines for contraventions, and what to do if there is an accidental spill.
Dumps, sandpits
Council adopted a resolution to ask the ministry of Environment to close the dry materials dump in Cantley - supporting Cantley council.
Council agreed to pay a security deposit to keep the municipal dump in Onslow open till 2008. The municipality is asking the CPTAQ for authorization to open a sandpit at the Onslow dump on Lac-des-Loups road.
R.H. Nugent is also requesting authorization from the CPTAQ for a new sand and gravel extraction zone on the same lot as his existing pit. This was approved by council.
CPTAQ decisions
Jason Jones residence has been authorized, although it was built before a farm building, going against the condition set earlier by the commission.
Robert Keon’s request for authorization to build a residence before selling his 44 hectares of farm land near the highway 148 and Gold Mine road junction was refused. The reason given is that permission to build a residence would increase the property value, so farm use would be less attractive, and consolidation of farm property would be compromised.
Other business
Building permits for work estimated at $2.3 million were issued in May. There were seven calls to the fire department in May and 17 calls to animal control.
Three more files will be transferred to the lawyer for action. These are cases where owners are still not complying with the bylaws on cleaning up properties after several notices from the municipality.
Bills for $84,313 and fixed expenses of $141,759 for May, were approved.