In the news: the two lawyers arrested along with former Mayor Vaillancourt were from the Dunton-Rainville firm.
Dunton-Rainville is the law firm that provided the “legal opinion” on the cross connection issue in Kirkland and represented the Town of Kirkland in Court when the Council took legal action against its citizens. Must be a coincidence.
Read more: La Presse, CTV News
More from Beaconsfield – by Albert Kramberger, The Gazette, May 20, 2013.
It seems not everyone is pleased Montreal police have been keeping watch over Beaconsfield council meetings, though the mayor says public proceedings are proving to be more civil.
Last week, Mayor David Pollock confirmed that at the city’s request Montreal police from Station 1 dispatched two patrol officers to the council meeting because of unruly and unacceptable behaviour at previous meetings, adding it is a shame it had to come to this in order to have respectful public discourse.
However, the Beaconsfield Citizens Association has come out blasting the initiative as has councillor Rhonda Massad, who has already declared she plans to run for mayor in the upcoming fall municipal election.
“Diverting police from their regular duties is compromising public safety by reducing the number of police staff and vehicles on the road available to respond rapidly to calls,” charged BCA president Greg Stienstra. “The council is setting a tone of intimidation at public council meetings by putting the police officers in a highly visible location.”
Considering the city usually has one or two municipal public security guards on hand at each meeting, it is unnecessary to request police to attend as well, Stienstra noted, adding the police have better things to do that keep watch at council meetings as they have at the two most recent ones. If council cannot run a meeting without the presence of police officers, they are failing in their role as elected representatives, he said. He also wondered if there are any extra cost associated with this request, such as overtime for the police officers being dispatched to the meetings, which often last about two hours.
Pollock said he has no regrets about requesting police attendance, adding the past two meetings have been more civil in nature.
“Part of the unruliness at the meetings has been fostered by the BCA,” Pollock told The Gazette. “They often make statements without fact and get people excited and it creates a climate at council meetings. They contribute to people getting quite emotional and excited at council meetings without knowing all the facts.”
Pollock said the continued presence of police will be a month-to-month decision, adding the issue will be discussed in caucus prior to the June 17 council meeting.
“It’s regrettable some people can’t conduct themselves at a public meeting with more maturity,” he said. “Certainly the last two meetings people have been much more civil and respectful to everyone in the room.
“Three meetings ago some people got far too carried away. If it takes (police) to show up at a couple of meetings to realize they should be more mature, more respectful and more civil, then (so be it),” he continued.
Richard Thouin, the commander at Station 1, said the officers dispatched to the council meetings are on regular duty and are not racking up overtime. He added if a call of a more serious nature occurs, they will be summoned. “They are available for any call if there were an emergency,” he said.
As for the fact the patrol officers carry sidearms and wear bullet-proof vests, that is standard equipment for Montreal police. “Any routine call can go bad,” Thouin said. “We have to be ready with our vest on.”
Thouin said officers are meant as a preventative measure and it is not unusual for civic officials to request police attend a public event.
“We answer their request and if we are available, we will be there but these officers are on call. We don’t call in police officers. It’s on their shift,” he said, adding normally two patrol officers will attend a meeting but a supervisory sergeant may also show up for a period.
Thouin said citizens shouldn’t feel intimated if police are at a public function. “Some people have the wrong perception. We are there to work with the community and I emphasize a lot that it is a partnership between the citizens and the police department.
Meanwhile, Massad said the request to ask police to attend council meetings is symptomatic of a larger problem and it isn’t a suitable solution. She said the mayor’s responses during question period are infuriating residents who may feel brushed off. “Responses are vague and incomplete. Leaving people frustrated and out of sorts. This is now being reflected in more aggressive behaviour than we have ever seen,” she stated.
Although Pollock didn’t pinpoint a particular incident that sparked the city’s request for police presence, the mayor had threatened to have former mayoral candidate Hela Labene ejected during the March 25 meeting after a heated exchange with councillor Karin Essen on whether she still resided in the city and if she should remain on council. At the time, the mayor called on a municipal public security officer, normally in attendance at each meeting, to eject Labene when she refused step down from the microphone during question period. While Labene, at the time, challenged the mayor to call the police on her, she finally returned to her seat and remained for the entirety of the meeting. In March, Pollock pleaded with residents to be more respectful.
English version follows
Le 13 mai, le conseil municipal de Beaconsfield a pour la deuxième réunion du conseil d’affilée, organisé par demande spéciale d’avoir plusieurs officiers de police de Montréal armés de gilets pare-balles montent la garde près de l’entrée du public à la réunion du conseil pendant toute sa durée.Le Conseil Municipal de Beaconsfield ont déjà eu un ou plusieurs patrouilleurs municipaux présents à presque toutes les réunions antérieures du Conseil ainsi (financées par les contribuables), le personnel de sécurité de Beaconsfield est régulièrement à la main aux réunions du conseil.Les citoyens de Beaconsfield paient environ 5 millions de dollars à Montréal pour les services de police, et plus de 500,000 de dollars pour notre propre patrouille municipale, le temps de ces policiers se traduira probablement par une charge supplémentaire pour les citoyens de Beaconsfield, un gaspillage de l’argent des contribuables. Le coût par heure d’un officier en plus de leur voiture de patrouille, probablement au taux des heures supplémentaires, est considérable.Prenant police à l’écart de leurs tâches régulières compromet la sécurité publique en réduisant le nombre de fonctionnaires de police et des véhicules sur la route disponible pour répondre rapidement aux appels.Le conseil fixe un ton d’intimidation lors des réunions publiques du conseil en mettant les policiers dans un endroit très visible.Si ce conseil, dont la plupart sont assis dans la quatrième année de leur mandat, ne sont pas en mesure d’exécuter une réunion publique (où il n’ya pas de danger à rien, sauf peut-être leur crédibilité) sans la présence de plusieurs officiers de police et le personnel de patrouille municipale, ils sont sûrement manquent à leur rôle de citoyens élus.Nos policiers ont des choses beaucoup plus importantes à faire.————————————————————————-On May 13, Beaconsfield council has, for the second council meeting in a row, arranged by special request to have a number of armed Montreal police officers with body armour stand guard near the public entrance to the council meeting for its duration.Beaconsfield council already have had one or more municipal patrol officers present at almost all previous council meetings so Beaconsfield’s (taxpayer funded) security staff is regularly on hand at council meetings.Although Beaconsfielders pay around $5 million dollars to Montreal for police services, and over $500,000 dollars for our own municipal patrol, the time of these police officers will likely result in an additional charge to Beaconsfielders, wasting taxpayers money. The cost per hour of an officer plus their patrol car, likely at overtime rates, is substantial.Diverting police from their regular duties is compromising public safety by reducing the number of police staff and vehicles on the road available to respond rapidly to calls.The council is setting a tone of intimidation at public council meetings by putting the police officers in a highly visible location.If this council, most of whom are sitting in the fourth year of their mandate, are not able to run a public meeting (where there is no danger to anything except perhaps their credibility) without the presence of multiple police officers and municipal patrol staff, they are surely failing in their role of citizens elected representatives.Our police have far more important things to do.Beaconsfield Citizens Association
Published on April 15, 2013
Marc Lalonde
The West Island Chronicle
Wider range of experiences, diversity needed among local councils: Weaver
Susan Weaver has gotten a taste of community leadership, and she sure did enjoy it.
After being a leader of the – eventually successful — group opposed to the installation of a cell-phone tower in the forest at Dave Beck Park in Pointe Claire last year, the 65-year-old potter has decided to throw her hat in the ring of municipal elections and has started garnering signatures of support for her run at elected office in November.
Weaver, who has been a fixture at Pointe Claire city-council meetings since that time, said she feels like the all-male Pointe Claire council (which was universally acclaimed without opposition in 2009, with the exception of district 1, where incumbent Rob Geller defeated challenger Claude Cuillerier. Weaver hasn’t yet decided which ward she plans on running in, however.
“I feel like there needs to be more diversity on council,” said Weaver, who campaigned door to door gathering signatures for her official nomination papers last Tuesday. Weaver, who has little municipal experience, brings instead boatloads of enthusiasm and a willingness to learn.
“I find I’m actually interested in this stuff,” Weaver said. “I guess I am interested in politics on the municipal level. I’m a bit of a junkie. I do think, though, that we need more women on council. In a perfect world, it would be half men and half women on council,” she said.
No one in her neighbourhood has yet laughed her off the doorstep when she’s gone looking for support, Weaver said.
“The more people I talk to, the more they’ll know I’m serious about this stuff,” she said.
In Pointe Claire Village, optician Alain Dubuc is living the same situation. The longtime (36 years) Pointe Claire Village optician said the current council sitting in Pointe Claire needs “rejuvenation,” and that’s why he will be running for Geller’s district 1 seat.
“I have collected my signatures and will be presenting myself for council in November,” Dubuc said. The lack of opposition in 2009 wasn’t a deficit of democracy, Dubuc believes.
“I suppose it means that people were satisfied with the job that was being done,” he said, but now, it must be refreshed, Dubuc asserted.
“This is a council that has been here a long time and must be rejuvenated,” he said.
Beaconsfield mayoral candidate Rhonda Massad, who announced her intention to challenge sitting incumbent David Pollock about a year before municipal elections in the name of transparency, said more diversity of opinion is not only crucial to maintaining a gender balance, but also to getting a well-rounded look at issues.
“(Women) make up 52 per cent of the population across Canada, but we only make up 17 per cent of municipal councils,” she said. “It’s not only that, but women bring a different perspective. They have a different way of looking at things. They’re more nurturing and more willing to listen,” she said. Currently, two women – Massad and Karin Essen — sit on Beaconsfield city council. Massad believes that on Nov. 3, voters will make the decision as to what is a good balance.
“The citizens will decide what’s best for them,” Massad said. “I think inevitably, we’ll end up with a fair (gender)split (on council).”
Albert Kramberger, The Gazette, Dec.11, 2012:
Councillor’s legal fees will stay under wraps
Kevin Woodhouse, The Suburban, Dec.12, 2012:
Kirkland resident seeks access to information on employee pensions
As you may recall, citizens could not obtain the requested information from the Town Council.
For example, the amount of money spent on on the Councillor’s legal fees (as they call the tax money spent on Allard’s alleged defamation legal exercise) allegedly “pertains to confidential information benefitting from the protection of professional secrecy under section 9 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms…” However, after some hesitation and a call from the “Commission d’accèss à l’information”, the Town Hall had to admit that the funds were taken from budget item “Legal consultation fees – citizen.”
This answer leads to another simple question: “Why?!”
If you wan to get an answer to any of the questions not answered in the materials quoted above, do your bit – and ask the question yourself. It can be done within minutes through Kirkland “iCare” system, or go directly here (English) or here (français) - and keep us posted on the progress.
Issue #43, November 29, 2012, page 4
Dear Editor,
As a Kirkland resident, I am signing the city’s waiver in order to receive a portion of our plumbing connection repair cost. (Your Local Journal November 15) We do not mind signing this waiver except for paragraph # 13.1 which reads: The present contribution agreement binds the Beneficiary and his/her successors, heirs and assigns.
This will tie us up and also our heirs in the future. City pipes on Alta Vista Street are already cracking and contain debris.
Our original Inspection certificate was issued and signed by the City Engineer of Kirkland in 1975. Th is new document is referred to as The Certificate of Compliance with the Environment.
In my opinion, this reimbursement of $ 5000 is not offered in good faith. Why tie up my grandchildren when presently the pipes in the City Line are very old and crumbling? This would mean that my heirs will be responsible.
Sincerely,
Benjie Calcetas
Kirkland
Come to the Council meeting, make yourself heard, be with the community!
Please read and pass this on:
Good evening friends and neighbours,
There has been a plan to rezone Elm Plaza. The new zoning would include 3 storeys that would intrude on the privacy of the homes that surround the Plaza and depreciate the value of our properties.
Only developers and contractors benefit financially.
Mayor and Council have not listened kindly to our repetitive request to retain the old zoning of two storey -which is what we signed up for when we purchased our homes.
Councilor Baird and Councilor Massad have been very supportive to try and block the densification initiative.
We need your help. Please circulate our facebook page to encourage others in our zone to show their support by signing the register on Dec 6 between 9-7pm.
Unfortunately we have a small window of opportunity to motivate almost 200 people to go to city hall during a work day and exercise our democratic right.
We would like to invite you to our facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beaconsfield-Life/468101166574515
Read THE PAGE THREE STORY by Carmen Marie Fabio in “Your Local Journal”, on page 3 obviously: Tightening the cap on Kirkland pipe issue.
Albert Kramberger attended our Council Meeting on November 5th. Read his article in The Gazette: Pipe repairs still plague Kirkland.
Another interesting read – a post in Brenda O’Farrell’s blog: Where there is corruption, things happen. Where there is no hint of corruption – like the West Island – public projects get stalled. Think there’s a link?
Come to the Council meeting, make yourself heard, be with the community!
MONDAY, November 5, 2012 AT 8 P.M.
More news about “the establishment of an environmental restoration program to rectify crossed sewer connections affecting certain residential immovables and of a financial assistance program to carry out remedial work” are expected.
We hope you will continue to show your support by attending the upcoming Nov. 5th Town Council meeting (8:00pm @ the Town Hall on Hymus blvd.)
KCA
