Pontiac council report - road work postponed
Mo Laidlaw
Pontiac

About 20 people attended the regular council meeting held on 14 October 2014 at the Marcel Lavigne Community Centre in Luskville.

Public input
Alain Larose wanted to know if council would make a resolution, before the deadline, about his problems with the CPTAQ. Despite being refused permission by the CPTAQ to build a residence on farmland, he has built foundations for a residence on his land at ch Lac des Loups near route 148, and also sold a “residential lot”. He claims that the municipality made an error in giving him a building permit and it should pay his costs. Mayor Roger Larose (his brother) said that this matter is with the municipal lawyer.

Pat Lusk suggested the municipality accepts M. Vaillant’s offer (Ace Hardware) for Christmas lights for the town hall, and puts them up earlier this year.

Mo Laidlaw asked if the Ecocentre accepts garden waste including brush, as this is not included in the list of accepted materials on the website. Mr Larose said yes, and announced that from now on the Ecocentre will no longer accept bulky materials, such as mattresses and refrigerators, which should be put out on the kerb on recycling day for pick up.

Loans for the new fire truck
Three resolutions were passed arranging financing for the new pumper tanker truck. A temporary $350,000 line of credit from the Caisse populaire will be used until the loan with la Financière Banque Nationale is set up (FBN tendered the lowest interest rate.) Payments will start at $30,700 in 2015.
Four new volunteer firefighters are hired: Simon Perras for the Breckenridge sector, and Nicolas Larose, Matthew Larose and Nathan Nault for the Quyon sector.

Changes to Municipal committees
The two infrastructure committees are merged and all members of council will be members. This committee involves municipal buildings, vehicles, roads, drinking water, sewage treatment plant and sewers, garbage, recycling, and protection of farmland, watercourses and wetlands.
The Community and Tourist development committee is merged with the Economic Development committee. Councillor Nancy Draper-Maxsom is the chair and Councillors Tom Howard and Denis Dubé are members.
Mr Dubé replaces Councillor Inès Pontiroli as chair of the CCU (planning committee).
A new Public safety committee has Mr Howard as chair and Mr Larose and Councillor Middlemiss as members. Mr Middlemiss will continue to be deputy mayor for another year.

Boulet housing project in Quyon
The municipality will notify Boulet Construction that it will not accept a plan that does not include an access to route 148, further east than that initially proposed, as discussed with the Ministry of Transport, André Fortin MNA and the developers, in August. This is to allow access to a future commercial development.

Road maintenance
The municipality is behind on repairs planned for 2014, and with only temporary engineering staff, has decided to concentrate on redoing ch de la Montagne, paving the Lusk project, and improving ch Braun. The remaining files will be carried to 2015 and reevaluated. These include taking over ch Wilmer and ch du Phare, and planning and repair of ch Pères-Dominicains and ch Tremblay.

Temporary employee contracts extended
Engineer Alain Bourgeois and a part-time clerical support worker both have their contracts extended until 19 December 2014.

Microburst damage
Hydro Québec replaced a pole on ch Dion that was broken during the July 1 storm, but the street light on the broken pole disappeared. Hydro Québec refuse to replace it. A new light will be installed by the municipality before winter for a maximum of $2500.
John Lapierre has offered to clean up fallen trees and branches at the municipal property at the intersection of rue Egan and rue de Clarendon in exchange for the wood. These have been there since the storm of July 1. The offer was accepted providing that Mr Lapierre has insurance and does not hold the municipality responsible for any injury or damage.

NCC donate two buildings
Former Rideau Canal buildings will be stored until the spring, and then used as tourist information booths for “municipal citizens” (and, one hopes, tourists).

Money matters
The following were approved:
Invoices for September amounting to $34,370, and fixed expenses of $597,499. 
$247,898 to Excavation Allen for snow removal for three winters (2014-2017) in the Quyon and South Onslow sector (E).
$51,290 to numbered company 92069467 for snow removal for three winters from Quyon sidewalks.
$44,095 to Nugent Construction for snow removal for three winters in the Lac des Loups sector (A).
$750 to “our accounting firm” to validate the budget according to new accounting standards.
$149.07 to Groupe Action Jeunesse for preparation of invoices.

Minutes of council meetings are posted on the municipal website. www.municipalitepontiac.com/en/council-and-municipal-committees/minutes-of-council-meetings/
(En français, Procès verbaux) www.municipalitepontiac.com/fr/conseil-et-comites-municipaux/proces-verbaux/
Mo’s reports are archived at: www.heritagepontiac.ca/Municipality