Council notes

At the Feb. 4 borough council meeting Saint-Sulpice councillor Jocelyn-Ann Campbell countered fellow councillor Noushig Eloyan's assertion that Chabanel St. is unsafe, bringing Montreal police Station 27 Cmdr. Carole Lalonde to the microphone to back up the argument. Lalonde said "The Chabanel sector is a very peaceful and quiet area, and crimes against people are rare," she said, adding no particular police measures had to be put in place to insure safety in the area. Citizens can rest assured they can visit borough hall with no fear.

Sault-au-Récollet district councillor Jean-François St-Onge gave the latest news on the democratic-reform plan. With the Office of Public Consultation already on board, “we now need approval from the City of Montreal’s executive committee, which should come by the end of February.” The Office of Public Consultation has established a four-step process. The first step, which consists of listing an inventory of tools and mechanisms already existing borough to compare them with those in other boroughs, is currently in motion. The second step will be a preparatory tour, after which the public consultations will be held before a final report is submitted.

Eloyan reiterated her demands to get access to the investigation report on former public-works assistant director Daniel Labrecque, who was let go last week. Mayor Marie-Andrée Beaudoin refused to make information in the report public because of confidentiality concerns. Borough manager Réjean Durocher indicated the reasons for Labrecque's dismissal would be revealed eventually.

"The file is still fresh, and we have been asked not to make it public, but as soon as we can do it, we will be happy to make it public," he said.

In an interview the day after the council meeting, Beaudoin had no comment on the Labrecque’s allegations of harassment at work, adding the matter is a legal one, "because (Labrecque) is about to sue us”.

After a resident complained that Montreal snow removal compares badly to the snow removal in Quebec City, Campbell intervened to answer that, if Quebec seems less beset by snow after storms than Montreal does, it's because the two cities policies are different.

"In Quebec City, they push the snow onto peoples' lawns and into parks. It's much faster, and after the complaints the city has received regarding snow removal, that might be something to think about," she said.

Eloyan also filed a notice of motion regarding hiring practices that will be put to a vote at the next borough council meeting. The law was amended in 2006 to allow the hiring and firing of level-three civil servants and division heads by the borough managers. Eloyan said that, in light of what she called "mistakes in the hiring process," those high-level decisions should be left only to the borough council or general director.

Eric Lachapelle's firing still haunts some citizens, and a number of them pressed Beaudoin for answers on the former borough manager's departure. Beaudoin had said Lachapelle accomplished all the tasks conferred to him in record time, but that the borough had entered a new era and needed new leadership. The citizens wanted to know exactly what these special tasks were. The mayor stayed vague, repeating that answers would be provided by a mid-mandate progress report.

Marc Giasson has been hired by the borough to fill the clerk's role, which was formerly held by Sylvie Parent, who held the titles of clerk and division head for administration. Giasson comes to the borough from the Plateau Mont-Royal borough, where he also performed the clerk's duties.