APELL - Volume 5 Issue 2

May 20, 1996

A new feature in these newsletter. We will review monthly decisions taken by your Blue Sea Municipal Council which affect cottagers in Blue Sea. We hope to keep you more informed about the decisions which affect you and your cottage lifestyle.

The first pat of our review will consist of "Happy Face Items" - decisions which impact favourably uponn you as a cottager. The second part will be "Sad Face Items" - decisions which we find unfavourable to cottage owners, environmentalists, or other concerned and adversely affected individuals.

We would appreciate your comments and criticisms.

Municipal employees have now finished the house numbering project they started two years ago. Property owners should now have received official notifications of their address. Please give us the information upon renewing your membership.

On February 5, council tabled a letter from Sanivague Inc. Our hardworking municipal inspector had apparently requested information on procedures and prices to clean out the septic systems of island residences in Blue Sea and Lac des Iles. Four individual owners to reasonably afford the service, at approximately $200 each, 15 properties would have to be serviced in one set-up. Since Blue Sea municipality has only 7 islanders, it would have to co-operate with Messines to cover all the islands. As far as Lac des Iles is concerned, the number of island dwellers is insufficient to meet the criteria, and the individual cost would be greater, say approximately $400.00 each. Considering the low initial installation cost of most of these systems, the higher cleaning out cost is hardly out of line. We hope the municipality will move quickly on this one.

At this same meeting, Blue Sea was given a $500.00 grant for a lake stocking study. More on this elsewhere in this issue.

At the March 4th meeting, Isabelle Clement again proposed switching council meetings for July and ust to the first Friday. Hooray for her courage. Unfortunately, again led by the Mayor with the same old rhetoric about drunks, it went down to defeat.

At the April 1 meeting of Council, our municipal inspector's contract was extended for a further term. We congratulate him and encourage him to keep up the good work. Now, of only Council were composed of more like him, we might have a much better community.

The survey sent out by the municipality in its newsletter received approximately 150 responses, 120 of which were from cottagers. We wish to thank all the cottagers who responded. Again a clear indication that cottagers seem to take more interest in the community than do the locals. The idea will be tabulated for the council to study.

The Comite des Loisirs for Lac Long requested $1,500.00 in monies from council to defer material costs on renovating the interior of the hall. Council has authorized up to $800.00 in materials supported by purchase vouchers.

Council informed us at the February council meeting that, although our subdivision has the best street signage in the municipality, since it is not in the official municipal colour, it will be replaced by cheaper, poorer quality official signs erected by the municipality. This thanks to Mr. Remy St. Laurent who complained in the recent municipal newsletter. Pity our council who usually penny-pinch at the wrong time have done it again. Instead of upgrading their signs to our higher standard, they have decided to lower our signage to their generally poor standard.

At the March 4 meeting council still had not made up their minds on the formation of a committee to oversee the 75th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the municipality, this year, 1996. At the time this article was written, on May 10th, Council had still not done so. Maybe they should start preparing for the 100th anniversary right now. Who knows, they could then even end up on time.

On May 6, Council was reminded they have still not responded to the letter of interest from Sanivague (See Happy Face, February 5th). I suppose this was to be expected. So much of the good which comes out of council is usually and quickly short-lived. Too bad.

La Sauvegarde Association of the Blue Sea has requested the municipality to provide picnic tables on public sites around the lake. Council has declined.

Municipal council have also decided to remove the portable toilets located at the public access at Lac Morrissette and at the lookout. This on the basis that vandals were constantly damaging them. Tourist families picnicking at the public access will henceforth have but one way to relieve themsleves - in the lake, within a few hundred feett of the Mayor's residence. Hmmmm...I wonder if he takes his house water from the lake ?

Councillor Paul Courchenes was not satisfied with this year's automatic pay raise. His 1995 annual salary was $1,989.60. In 1996, the Quebec government raised this to $2,023.42. He has filed a notice of motion where he intends to ask for a further salary increase, to bring councillors salaries to $3,000.00 annual, a tidy increase of 51% over 1995. Naturally, the Mayor's salary would be similarly increased. (See my further comments elsewhere in this issue).

You will remember prior to the last elections how most councillors promised to lend an ear to cottagers' concerns. On January 28, 1996 we sent a letter to the new council, requesting them to pass three resolutions which would not cost anything but would give a clear signal to cottagers in this municipality that they are not taken for granted:

• That regular meetings of council, during the months of June, July and September be held on the first Friday of each month, instead of the first Monday, thus allowing cottagers easier access to their elected officials.
• That council undertake to meet, in committee, at least once each summer, the presidents of the various lake associations within Blue Sea, to discuss problems of mutual concern.
• That the municipality undertake to give advance notice to affected lake associations whenever they plan to discuss changes in zoning or other subjects of interest and that council avoid, as much as possible, and when such matters are of no particular urgency, making changes to zoning during off-season months.

We attended council on February 5, 1995 when the matter was discussed. As usual, lead on by the Mayor with the old-hat excuses of drunks disturbing council deliberations on previous attempts, our requests for the most part were resoundingly defeated. We received a letter from Council, on February 8, 1996 informing us that:

1. regular sessions of council would be maintained on the first Monday of each month
2. Associations would be requested to meet with a committee of council during the summer months and would be advised of the time in due course (the only recommendation they accepted).
3. Council felt that present provisions under the Quebec municipal code, which they claim to adhere to, provide ample opportunity to interested parties to make themsleves aware of proposed changes.
4. Council intends to treat zoning request as they are submitted, regardless of the time of year they are presented to council.
5. The lake associations can count on the complete co-operation of municipal council, in as much as the requests are realistic, and within the framework of the Quebec Municipal Code.

It has not occurred to council that 1) and 5) are a direct and blatant contradiction of each other.

On February 9, 1996, we addressed a formal complaint against Council to the Minister of Municipal Affairs. This in regard to council's decision to refuse to facilitate meeting cottagers during the summer months by altering the meeting nights. There would be no additional costs involved. Shifting council meetings to Friday is entirely within the perimeter of council to do so, and within the framework of the Municipal Code.

The question of drunks present at these meetings is a non-issue. If the drunks are locals, holding the entire cottage community hostage to a few local irresponsible individuals is patently unfair and unjustifiable. If the drunks are cottagers, there is a simple solution. We are informed by the Ministry of Public Security that, if in fact this is a potential problems, the Mayor has only to request the presence of the QPF during Council sessions, and it will be provided. Council's assured co-operation is a farce and an insult to any intelligent individual and in fact shields the true nature of their intent - to deliberately make it difficult for cottagers to meet their elected representatives, and to permit them to become actively involved in local municipal affairs.

At present, we are discussing the problem at various levels, including getting the assistance of FAPPEL (who are presently assisting us on other fronts) and through the Quebec Ombudsman's Office. We will keep you informed.

We have been advised that the Salle des Loisirs is not available for the proposed date of June 1 and that we have June 15th instead, same time, same location.

The Meeting will start PROMPTLY at 10:00 AM. The meeting will be kept short, since most information has already been included in this newsletter.

These guys had a good winter season on our lake. They trapped and eliminated 15-20 beavers during the winter months on Lac Latourelle. I have proposed to them to repeat the effort again in the winter of 1996-97. In the meantime, they have already removed their traps, so there is no danger to residents.

We faired rather well this winter, as a community. It seems that only Rita Lingen's place was burglarized. No other break-ins reported.

One annoying incident however. Morris Richardson's cottage was used liberally during the winter months by person(s) unknown. The cottage front door was found open on four occasions during the winter. The hydro bill showed usage totalling $240.00. And Frank Capello, Morris' neighbour, suffered the loss of a complete cord of maple wood. It seems Morris' visitor was not satisfied with using Morris' own woodpile, he had to go over to Frank's place and stead his maple to keep warm. If anyone can shed light on the intruder, please contact Morris.

We have once again requested a grant from the Quebec government for stocking our lake. Under the same general guidelines, they will meet our contributions on a 4:1 basis. Please be generous and please forward your contributions early, since we need to have the financial ends sewed up before the end of June.

It's that time of the year again. Get out your checkbooks and send in your membership renewals now. Same price as last year. And don't forget to add the lake stocking contribution. Also, on your application, please remember to give us your new civic address. It will permit us to update our files. If you have a new phone number, or if you have not previously given us one, please do so. It will enable us to reach you in case of an emergency.

On January 29, 1996, we were invited to attend a meeting held at the municipal hall, to bring together businessmen, association heads, councillors, and other interested parties to discuss possible commercial development within the municipality, for the purposes of creating employment in the area. Subsequently, a number of videos (Self-employment and entrepreneurial themes) were supplied by a Quebec Government agency, and these were viewed and discussed over a period of several weeks. The municipality's natural resources were identified and explored. So too were potential tourist attractions. I attended every meeting of the temporary committee since I felt it had an important function, and also to enable me to monitor any projects envisioned for our lake area.

I must state my utter disappointment with COUNCIL in the endeavour. At the first meeting, the Mayor and 3 councillors were present. At the second meeting, the Mayor and 1 councillor. After that, no member of council attended any subsequent meeting I attended. It would seem that creating employment in Blue Sea is a low priority with our councillors.

On March 13, the provisional committee was replaced by a more permanent committee. I ceased to be a member at that point, since my nomination did not carry enough votes to be elected. I none the less hope the committees achieves a degree of success, since it is much needed.

It is my understanding that 2 of the most notable members of that committee, Christian Clement (who chaired it) and Mario Tremblay (the Caisse Populaire local director) have since resigned. It is my understanding that communications between council and the committee appear to be confrontational, rather than co-operative. I had forecast this sad turn of events in my comments to our executive on March 20 when I noted that certain wannabee politicians were taking over the committee and turning it into another political forum of inaction.

A study of lake stocking for Blue Sea has recently been undertaken. This one has several twists and turns. Apparently eggs would be taken from spawning area on Blue Sea Lake to another lake location, not yet determined. There they would be allowed to hatch. After hatching, the fish would be caught and returned to Blue Sea Lake.

And they thought our idea of stocking Lac Latourelle with Moulac was crazy. While we applaud any money given to the lakes for stocking purposes, it would seem that certain questions bed to be asked.

Since it was Blue Sea, no one bothered to inquire into the feasibility of this project before allocation the grant of $500.00.

• How will they locate the spawning area on Blue Sea Lake ?
• How will the eggs be removed to another location ? Who will remove them ?
• To which location will they be moved for hatching ?
• How will the hatching process be monitored, and who will monitor it ?
• How will the hatchlings be caught and brought back to Blue Sea Lake ? Who will catch them ?
• How will the success of this transplant be monitored. Who will monitor ?
• What will be the overall cost of this bizarre plan ?

Council, in June will debate giving itself a hefty salary increase. While the dollars certainly deserve scrutiny, larger principles are also involved.

Blue Sea has gone though a very harsh winter. Every businessman I have spoken to has complained about the long quiet winter and how it has adversely affected them.

While I applaud the newsletter which the municipality has recently started putting out, I would remind COUNCIL that many businessmen were asked to fork out several hundred dollars for advertising space in that publication., at the quietest time of the year for them.

When councillors discuss giving themselves a 51% pay raise at a time when the rest of the municipality is suffering from economic doldrums, it send a very poor message to the electorate of an unsympathetic council.

If council felt it deserved a higher pay, the issue should have been debated prior to the last election, with the increases effective with the new council. Not only would that have removed the self-gratifying aspects of this increase, but it might have also tempted more qualified candidates to present themselves based upon a higher anticipated renumeration.

Present councillors knew what the present rate of pay was when they accepted to run for office. Having now been elected, they should stick to that scale, and any pay increases should be made effective with the next council.

Now let us look at representation aspects. Council was elected to represent all of the voters, not just a portion of them. Since they steadfastly refuse to accommodate cottagers who represent a clear majority of the population, by changing their summer meetings, they are in effect reducing their own sphere of representation by that percentage of population. Instead of requesting a 51% salary increase, perhaps we should force a referendum or plebiscite to effect a reduction in salary of 60% to offset the reduced representation until such time as they see the error of their ways. Your comments are invited on this matter.

On Monday, August 5, 1996, we, from Ontario celebrate a civic holiday in honour of responsible municipal government. It is a long weekend for us, and most of us plan to spend it at our cottages. In Quebec, they do not celebrate it. Hence, as usual, on the first Monday in August, Blue Sea municipal council will hold its regular monthly meeting.

We sincerely hope you will avail yourselves of the opportunity to be present at this meeting., We would hope that hundreds of cottagers would be present on that occasion, that they would fill the hall to overflowing

We want to show our elected representatives that we count in this municipality too. That we want to have our elected representatives make themselves more available to us than they presently do. We plan to encourage the other associations within the municipality to take a similar stance with their members.

We had the opportunity to make our choices at the ballot box last November, and we missed it. Only a few cottagers bothered to cast their ballots. We have another opportunity to redeem ourselves on August 5th. Will we miss that one too ? If so, then we probably deserve to be ignored by Council, since we will have ignored them.

If you want your Association Executive to have some clout, you must support them occasionally with your presence. Surely this is not asking too much, Remember your membership is an investment in the future of our community. If you want it to reap good returns, you must occasionally nurture it

We have received a copy of the latest municipal financial statement, as well as the proposed 1996 budget, but time has not permitted us to fully analyse them. We will comment on this further in the next newsletter.

The Quebec government has taken a definite step backwards in its latest decree respecting shorelines and their environmental protection. Space in this issue does not allow me to elaborate, but I will be discussing this matter at length in my next newsletter.

The executive welcome calls from members, but we would ask they be before 9 PM.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our new sponsors for supporting our assocation, and we invite our members to avail themselves of their services and products whenever the opportunity arises.

Back to Newsletters page