Highlights from Bristol council

0
121

Deb Powell


Deb Powell

Bristol Municipal Council held their regular meeting Monday March 5. Input from the public included appreciation for the excellent winter road clearing. The first item under correspondence and motions was the tender for the 2-year waste and recycling pick-up contract. The Ottawa River Company will continue to provide the pick-up service having submitted the lowest bid.
Council accepted the revision of proposal for services, totalling just under $19,000, from the engineering firm WSP to oversee remaining road surfacing of the Aylmer Road. A motion to request that the Ministry of Transport take over the maintenance of a portion of the chemin Bois-Franc (Jim Lake Road) was passed unanimously.
Council received news that a new director, Martin Parent, had been appointed at the Sûreté du Québec. In response to a letter from the Bristol Fire Department, council agreed to give notice of motion that changes would be made to regulations concerning open fires in high-risk areas such as Norway Bay. The Planning Committee will examine the issue in order to more clearly define what is allowed and increase fines when the fire department is called in.
Councillor Kilgour agreed to contact the Nature Conservancy of Canada to get more details on what they were offering for an Information Session on Beaver Management. A request for support from the Pontiac Scholarship Fund was turned down as Bristol already offers its own scholarships to graduating students.
A tentative date of May 7 is set for a public information session on cadastral reform. Council discussed a stone sign for McLellan Park and councillor Holmes suggested that the installation of any more memorial chairs in the beach area be put on hold until planning for the park is completed. Council was favourable to the suggestion that a memorial chair could be placed in the pier. Council agreed to a request from Gatineau Plein Air to use the Ottawa River beach on municipal property for their Chats Falls canoe trip.
At the planning meeting held before the regular meeting, Larissa Holman from the Ottawa Riverkeeper spoke about the possibility of partnering with the municipality to share information about the value of naturalized shorelines in reducing erosion, with particular attention to the access ways that will be worked on this year. Kari Richardson, MRC Pontiac Environment Coordinator, spoke about changes in provincial policy regarding shorelines and wetlands.
Highlights from previous meetings: Bristol Council held their 2018 budget meeting December 19. The mill rate was lowered to .64 from .66 where it had been for the last three years meaning that some property owners would see a lower tax bill if property evaluation remained the same.
In February, council passed a motion to proceed with the name change of Aylmer Street in Bristol Village for reasons of public safety. The proposed new name is Cenotaph Street. Councillor Holmes suggested that the municipality offer help to any residents requiring aid with paperwork related to the address change. Council also discussed measures to be taken in the case of repeated false fire alarms that can be costly in cases of high-risk buildings where Pontiac and Clarendon Fire Departments must respond as well. It was agreed that two warnings would be issued after which the property owner would receive a bill.