Summary of the September 7, 2022 Town Council Meeting

A replay of the Town Council meeting is available on our YouTube channel. The official minutes (in French only) of the meeting are also available on our website.

MAYOR’S UPDATE

The Mayor followed up on the following items:

• Vandalism: Damage associated with vandalism is approximately $50,000 to the Town. The Town has taken action, initiated a poster campaign, and has made two attempts to hire a street worker, but has been unsuccessful due to labour shortages. The Town does not want to add cameras everywhere because of the limits of invasion of privacy.
• Break and enters in the village, not related to vandalism: the SQ is investigating an organized network that is also active elsewhere. The CDES and the SQ have sensitized merchants to take protective measures.
• Citizens’ meetings: three meetings were held at the end of August. A summary of these exchanges has been published.
• Light pollution: for security reasons, we will not reduce the intensity of public lighting in the village, but the arrival of an environmental inspector will allow us to gradually regulate the situation on private property (see By-Law).
• IHR Fiber Optics: unfortunately, IHR Telecom is behind schedule and is citing a manpower problem. The mayor reminds us that the Town of Sutton is a guarantor for the amount of $1.3M. A meeting at the MRC with IHR is scheduled for September 20.
• Meeting with the MTQ on September 26: the Town has several requests concerning safety and speed on Principale and Maple Street, among others.
• Short Term Rentals: A public meeting is scheduled for September 29 to present the proposed regulatory changes that will be released a week before, following a press conference. We are looking for feedback.
• Fall programming for recreation, community and cultural activities will be released: website to watch (link toward schedule).

ADMINISTRATION

• End of hiring of the maintenance worker.
• Hiring of Jacquelyne Foster as coordinator of the Sutton municipal and school library.

REGISTRATION

• Authorization to sign a transaction and the appropriate notarized acts to settle a request for acquisitive prescription concerning vacant lot 4 848 494, located on Western Street: to put an end to a dispute between the Town and the owner of 63 Western Street concerning a vacant lot located along the railroad (see resolution 2022-09-382).

URBANISM

• The Town has issued a call for candidates for membership on the Planning and Sustainable Development Advisory Committee (PSDAC).
• All discretionary decisions related to planning applications are available in the minutes of the meeting or in the recording of the meeting on YouTube.

PUBLIC WORKS

• Awarding of a contract for the supervision of the rehabilitation work on North Sutton and Draper roads, carried out by Pavage Maska, for $37,910 to FNX-Innov, an engineering firm;
• Purchase of supply and installation of lighted signs on a service truck for $9,000;
• Awarding of a contract for the supply and installation of a charging station at Town Hall for the new hybrid SUV of the Public Works Department for $7,500 to Groupe Comptois Électrique Inc;
• Awarding of the contract for the supply and delivery of two 250-2500 range vans for $184,300 to Garage P. Venne Inc;
• Submission of an application to the MTQ for financial assistance for eligible work to be done on chemin Réal: authorizing Tetratech to prepare a grant application for major work on a culvert costing approximately $2.8 million and scheduled for 2023-2024.

RECREATION, COMMUNITY LIFE AND CULTURE

• Funding for the annual Canada Day 2022 contribution of $1,000;
• Funding for the Town’s employee Christmas event of $4,000;
• Authorization for the passage of the “Les 100AB7” cycling tour on September 25, 2022;
• Holding the Christmas Market on November 26-27 and October 3-4, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.: it should be held on the Filtex grounds;
• Holding Dr. Julien’s Food Drive on Saturday, December 10, with proceeds going to the Hand in Hand Social Pediatrics Center;
• Signing a release in favour of ParticipAction regarding the Défi Ensemble, tout va mieux won by the Town.
• Financial support of $2,000 to Ballet-Théâtre Sutton: this amount had already been granted in their initial request for support, which they had abandoned, but reconsidered for their new Nutcracker project.

QUESTION PERIOD

This is a summary of the questions and answers. For the full content of the question and answer periods, please listen to the session online on YouTube. Additional [information] may be added for clarification or new information.

• (last session) Has a request been made to MTQ for street lights on Maple Street? ANSWER: This has not been verified.
• The sidewalk on Western Street, especially in front of the Villa des Monts is deteriorated: is it possible to change the asphalt or remove it and correct the cement? ANSWER: we will check.
• Has a resolution been made for the request concerning a sidewalk on Maple Street in the mountain? ANSWER: [No].
• Have the branches on the side of the road when we go to get compost been removed? ANSWER: This has been checked and there are plans to prune the branches to improve safety.
• What is the news about the first responders (number of interventions, etc.)? ANSWER: We have already mentioned that we have responded to 100% of the life-saving calls received from 9-1-1, to the satisfaction of CIUSS, the paramedics and the people involved. 
• There was a response on Saturday and six vehicles, probably PR’s, were parked and blocking a lane on Maple Street – how much is this costing the Town? ANSWER: There is no evidence that these six vehicles were RPs and no calls to RPs are answered by 6 RPs. The RP budget that was audited the day before is fully respected. The annual PR report will be released at the same time as in the past.
• What are the plans for the 300 new units that are being minimized? ANSWER: The Town is working with private developers to develop residential projects for 300 doors. When these projects become a reality, the entire population will be informed.
• Why is information that was not said during the meeting being added to the meeting summaries? ANSWER: [A summary is not a verbatim and responses in session summaries can be edited when relevant and verified information can be given after the fact to supplement a response. Verbatim responses can be listened to at any time by replaying the audio recording of the session]. 
• Was the amount of Christmas activities $40,000? ANSWER: No, it was $4,000 [for a total of 91 employees, including firefighters and first responders].

Next council meeting: Wednesday, October 5, 2022 at 7:30 pm.