Public Council Meeting May 15, 2020

The availability of high speed internet is a huge priority for residents living in the many areas of the Municipality that are not properly served.

Many residents have also found it very difficult to work from home during the pandemic due to very poor internet services.

Since ISF Quebec has been very successful delivering services in the St. Michel area of the Municipality, I made a request to Council that they authorize action to accelerate the delivery of high speed internet services in the Montfort sector of the Municipality.

A copy of the resolution I presented to Council can be viewed by clicking here. Unfortunately Council was not prepared to act and the resolution was defeated by a vote of 4 to 2 as only the Councillors in the Montfort area voted for the resolution.

If you would like to verify if the ISF Quebec service is available in your area please visit their coverage map site by clicking here.

I also presented a resolution concerning the road repair program undertaken by the Municipality. Full info concerning this point is available by clicking here.

The public meeting of Council was once again held virtually due to the COVID-19 directives issued by the Provincial Government.

The full Council meeting was recorded and a video of the meeting can be viewed on YouTube by clicking here.

Another special measure provides residents with a complete draft copy (French only) of the official Council meeting minutes; all details are included and this information is normally not available online until approved at the following Council meeting. Click here for a copy.

The English agenda for the meeting is available on the Municipal website, click here for a copy.

Since everyone has access to a full set of minutes of the meeting, I will just highlight some of the points as follows:

5.3

This was the final step in the process to provide all residents a reprieve on the interest charged for the late payment of property taxes: the grace period is extended to July 31, 2020.

5.5

Purchase of a piece of land which had a section of the Sentiers des Orphelins on it. This settles a long standing problem of unauthorized use.

5.9

The Council wanted to make sure that there were proper sanitary conditions before opening the Aerobic Corridor so we asked for more detailed plans from the MRC.

7.2

The Municipality received a very fair offer of $30,000 for the truck box that they wanted to sell. This was good news. Point 7.4 of the agenda approved the purchase of a used 4 season truck box for $20,000 which will be of better use for our needs.

9.4

Final approval was given for the expansion of the telecommunications tower in St. Michel which is used to deliver the high speed internet signal to homes in the area. The company offering the service is ISF Quebec.

9.16

Since public gathering are not permitted any public consultations must be done in writing.

10.1

This item is the renewal of the management of the MRC owned Montfort Pavillon by the Municipality. A new item added to the agreement allows us to manage the free parking in the area with the objective of making sure that all boats using the lake are properly washed.