Opening Comments by Mayor Peter J. Malouf - Regular Meeting of Tuesday, May 16, 2023

‘’ Good evening everyone,

Thank you for joining us this evening and for taking an interest in Town’s matters.

I will be brief because there are important items on the agenda that deserve attention.

Centre Sportif & Communautaire

I am pleased to announce tonight that we are taking the first concrete steps towards the realization of this long-awaited infrastructure for our residents.

My colleagues at Council and I have been discussing the various options and possibilities for many weeks. We are convinced that the second version (v2) presented during the consultation evenings will best meet the needs and expectations of the residents by being executed in a design-build mode.

Therefore, this evening we mandate the administration to take the required actions to carry out the project. In addition, we approve the bid weighting and evaluating system to launch a call for tenders in a design-build.

So good news! Le Centre sportif & communautaire file is progressing and taking shape.

Union of Québec Municipalities (UQM) Conference

Council members and I have just returned from 3 days at the UQM conference held in Gatineau. Not only were the conferences themselves of great interest and very appropriate, but the visit to the suppliers’ exhibits were informative.

A variety of interesting conferences on a different, and sometimes topical, subject were given, for example:

• Municipal Revenue Diversification,
• Eco-taxation
• The labour crisis and its impact,
• Intimidation of elected representatives by abusive residents

These workshops and conferences were very rewarding.  Not to mention the opportunity to interact with our colleagues from other municipalities and expand our network.

These conferences are a great occasion for council members to share experiences and learn from others.

Financial Statements

In accordance with the legislation and following the audit already completed, a complete report of the financial statements is tabled for the year 2022.

It reveals an operating surplus of approximately $6.4M. The accumulated surpluses, the reserved funds and the financial reserves as of December 31, 2022, represent a total of $38.2M.

Under the law, I will present the highlights of the financial report and those of the report issued by an external auditor at the next Council meeting.

Regarding surplus utilization, a discussion will take as soon as possible in caucus.

Summer Work on Tmr’s Public Acces

Our various contractors are currently working on the replacement of the water mains. The sidewalk and roadway work will soon follow.

Residents affected by the work will be notified and this information will be available on our website.

We remind everyone to be careful in the work areas.

REM

As for the REM, work on the tracks has been completed until further notice. Work will continue inside the new station.

The traffic signal configuration in the downtown area, particularly at Cornwall and Canora, needs to be improved to avoid long lines of cars. In order to do so, we are working with REM to re-timing the lights more efficiently. However, the priority remains the safety of pedestrians and school children.

In closing, I wish you a good evening, a beautiful spring and I thank you again for being with us.”