Civic Alert: A lot more — although “not much happened”

It was a case of a lot of little things adding up to be quite a lot! And not all of them were so little.

After usual reports by mayor and councillors as well as questions from citizens, Monday night’s business began with a block approval for the Mayor to make whatever decisions she thought fit at the Agglom meeting which was to follow later in the week.

There were 41 items on that agenda, which got no attention from Council — at least publicly — even though they represent the larger property tax payments by Westmounters. (Our local agenda, by contrast, had slightly more than 20 items.)

The Agglom business routinely includes such varied items as an upgrade to the Fire Department’s service with Bell Mobile Radio ($109,000), for which we clearly share some responsibility, and an exclusive contract for vehicle towing rights in Anjou and repairs to the changing pavilion at Jarry Park ($1.6 million) — neither of which have much obvious relevance to Westmount’s needs!

Under the present system they go without public comment, although hopefully it is still in the forefront of our MNA Jacques Chagnon’s mind as an unfortunate situation the Liberal government created.

As Westmount Council continued its business, Cllr. Thompson was appointed Acting Mayor for the next three months, taking over in rotation from Cllr. Martin.

Council authorized a staff panel, including Finance Director Claude Lachance, to call tenders and evaluate bids for a new time management payroll system.

Payroll system

This is to manage the increasingly complex Blue-Collar payroll needs and will replace a punch-card system with something more efficient and less costly.

Contracts accepted included two Ford pickup trucks ($92,000), which will be needed for the crew taking over management of the water pipes. The vehicles will be supplied from a group purchase deal that the City of Montreal took over from the former MUC and to which Westmount has access.

Council also approved a $177,000 deal for asphalting, and contracts for water pipe rehabilitations on York Ave. ($200,000) and Grove Park-Anwoth Rd. ($199,000).

115 years old

A road collapse on Mountain Ave. exposed a brick sewer built in 1892. It led to emergency action by Public Works costing $154,000, which Council approved retrospectively.

The proposed bylaw reducing the fine for first-offence garbage infractions from $1,000 to $200 was passed.

A major makeover of the landscaping seems likely at 4801 de Maisonneuve Blvd — at the north-west corner with Roslyn Ave. Council issued a permit for the work, limiting shrubs and hedge to one metre high and roses to indigenous species.

The preferential use of indigenous plants has been encouraged by the Healthy City Project for some years and has been formally recognized in the new Urban Plan currently before Council,

In all, 49 other building permits were approved, although 12 of them had conditions attached.

Council also gave a three-year authorization to the Ministère du Revenu to disclose confidential information to Dominic Agostino, the city’s division head responsible for accounting and customers.

$600 expenditure for Cllr. Kathleen Duncan to attend the Sept. 21 national awards of the Communities in Bloom in Moncton, NB, was approved.

Marianopolis parking

One-hour daytime parking limits were extended to areas of Grosvenor and Roslyn Avenues as part of the control of Marianopolis traffic. Mayor Marks pointed out that the STM had now added a shuttle service between Sherbrooke St. and the college, as well as from Vendôme Station.

In addition to the above business, all of which was in public, some documents were provided that shed light on the closed meetings of councils and committees. As WMA President Henry Olders mentions periodically, the committee reports are not very timely or complete.

Last week’s batch showed that on June 13 — nearly 14 weeks earlier — the Recreational and Cultural Services Committee met and reviewed arrangements for the Swimming Sectional Finals which were to be held in August. Potential parking problems seemed to have been of special interest.

Members began a review of the criteria for booth displays at Family Day in the Park.

Use of city facilities is a concern for the committee. A request to use Victoria Hall for a dance resulted in a response that such events be Westmount-based.

A request from the Visual Arts Centre to hold an all-day workshop in the Park was refused as being against city policy.

Other matters before the committee included the Communities in Bloom flag being hoisted on the City Hall flagpole, the programme for the 2007-8 season of Gallery exhibits, a possible Young Performers Programme and the criteria for the Vin d’Honneur, which is next due in 2009.

SUE’s heavy load

Two weeks later, on June 27, the Safety, Utilities and Environment Committee (SUE) met. It was attended by Mayor Karin Marks and three councillors (George Bowser, John de Castell and Patrick Martin) and Directors Jacques Lahaie (Public Works) and Richard Blondin (Public Security). Director-General Bruce St. Louis was unusually absent. In his place was the Assistant D-G Alan Kaluga, who is also Human Resources Director.

Its work covers a large part of the City’s affairs, including traffic, water, bikes, garbage and parks.

Dir. Lahaie was authorized to buy new bicycle racks as a pilot scheme and also given the go-ahead to re-line the water main and renew the entrances on Wood Ave., north of Sherbrooke, because of serious deterioration. (This work has since been completed.)

The SUE also considered road crossing audible signals, a project they began in summer, 2006, and was told that Westmount was to have a Green Patrol for eight summer weeks.

A “Parks and Green Space Master Plan” is mentioned by council from time-to-time. At the June SUE meeting, Cllr Patrick Martin, the committee chairman, asked staff to supply him with a copy of the mandate for it.

A little-mentioned consequence of the extension of the Bike Path eastwards is that 44 parking spaces will be lost on the south side of de Maisonneuve Blvd. The Director-General Bruce St. Louis was asked to notify merchants around the area of the coming change.

Bike safety

Public Safety chief Richard Blondin was asked to suggest solutions for bike safety and bylaw infringement.

Mayor Karin Marks remarked that people had used recycling containers as garbage cans at the Fête de la St-Jean event, and she asked that clear recycling rules be established.

Lahaie was asked to prepare a detailed policy for all public events.

Concerned over the increase of concrete surfaces in Parks, the Mayor asked that such future changes be first brought to the Urban Planning Committee.

Cllr. Bowser proposed that restriction of water use on lawns for certain periods be promoted, and the committee thought that an educational flyer should be prepared as a first step.

$1.6 million more

There was no report provided last week of any Finance and Administration Committee assembly in the same period, but at the full council committee on June 18, its chairman, Cllr Tom Thompson reported that the City had received $1.6 million extra income than anticipated.

The Council had asked City Treasurer Lachance to report on the current year’s financing. (It is understood that, if the surplus continues at that level until the year end, Council hopes that it can be added to restoring the pay-as-you-go fund.)

Last week’s council received a monthly report from the Director-General, highlighted by the seven major road and infrastructure projects scheduled for this year.

He reported that major work on Chesterfield, Olivier and Wood was completed, and work on Carleton and Aberdeen was expected to be finished this month.

Repaving on Arlington, Gordon Crescent and Côte St. Antoine is due for completion next month. The complex work by various utilities on the underground infrastructures of Belvedere Place had begun.

The new Sherbrooke St. doors of the Library have been subject to many delays. They were ordered last year. Their installation recently caused all patrons to be diverted to the Park entrance.

The Library collection has been supplemented by a French-language database, Encyclopédie Hochette Multimédia, aimed at high school students. By contrast, the Library welcomed 14 newcomers from the Manoir, the neighboring seniors’ residence, for its annual “Tea and Tour”.

As can been seen from the summaries of the last two weeks, Council members and citizens go away from the meetings well informed, but sometimes belatedly, about the conduct of their City.



Community activist Don Wedge can be reached at calert@web.net. His columns are archived at www.westmountexaminer.com, go to Opinion.