Beaconsfield Citizen's Association
2020 AT THE COUNCIL
The BCA is at the Beaconsfield Council meetings. We use this public access to question the Mayor and the councillors on their reactions to new issues, on their plans and on the results of their previous actions. The interactions at these question periods are webcasted live and on demand.
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Please note that this page was not updated during the Pandemic (April 2020-December 2021) even though we kept on asking questions to the mayor each month.
Council Meeting : February 2020
The BCA was at the February 24 2020 Council meeting.
We asked three questions about the pools, the Ash Tree and the sound wall:
Pools renovation
There are 6 public pools on the Beaconsfield territory: The interior pool at the Rec Center has been overhauled. There are outside pools at Beaurepaire, Beacon Hill, Windmere, Allencroft and Lord Reading According to the mayor these pools are slated be rebuilt at a cost of 3 to 5 Million $ each.
(1) In what order are the pools to be renovated / rebuilt ?
The mayor answered that no plan has been made yet.
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Tree Azin - New solutions
For the past 5 years the city has supported the use of Tree Azin to fight against the Emerald Ash Borer. Recent scientific reports show that tree Azin may for certain reasons may be not the best product to fight the Emerald Ash Borer. We have learned that some alternate products show better results and even bring back trees to life to full foliage WITHOUT drilling holes in the trunk). The BCA gladly provides you with a copy of a study on this product.
(2) We urge City Hall to consider this treatment option keeping cost and result effectiveness in mind.
The mayor said he is expecting our letter and the scientific report
Sound Wall Cost
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In a recent newspaper interview the mayor mentioned that the sound wall would cost up to 40$ Million, forgetting to mention that the city’s share is only 25% of the cost.
(3) Where does that number come from ?
The mayor answered that this is the number he bets on. Betting on the health of his citizens?
He then added that the wall should bear M. Rheault name. Why does he disrespect his citizens?
The same source told us that the “Bourelle Centennial Park Multi Purpose /Library on the lake” will cost more than 40$ Million. The only difference is that there will NOT be a 75% subsidy to cover that cost.
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In other words the “Bourelle Cultural center” will certainly raise our taxes more than any sound wall.
Council Meeting : January 2020
The BCA was at the for the January 27 2020 Council meeting. We asked many questions and made one comment to support the mayor into challenging the Agglo taxation.
Agglo Taxes
Following the mayor’s request for citizens to send letters to the minister of Municipal Affairs, we reminded the citizens that the BCA has prepared a template letter ready to be personalized, and including the e-mail addresses of the minister of Municipal Affairs, of our MNA, and of the mayors of Beaconsfield and of Montreal. Here is the link : https://bca-acb.wixsite.com/bca-acb/taxes?
Marina
BCA asked what kind of increased waterfront accessibility and improvements outside marina user fee structure activities is foreseen for Beaconsfield Citizens under the new configuration of the called Centennial Marina? The General Manager answered that the marina itself will still be locked. The mayor added that there will be more waterfront access.
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Communication devices
BCA asked about the membership of both the B-Citi new App and of the previous e-mail information service. We learned that 9 months that after going live, the B-Citi App service has close to 2000 registered users and that 2820 were registered to the “Beaconsfield Updates/vous informe” e-mail service. The mayor added that some services are now implemented, such as the snow removal schedules.
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Note : at the Dec. 17 2018 Counsel meeting we were informed that B-Citi would cost 17,246.25 $ to acquire and integrate, 3,449.25 $ per month, plus an undisclosed monthly variable cost. For a (minimum) total of 58,637.25 $ after 12 months.
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Attendance to conferences by elected city officials
BCA asked about items 30.2 to 30.4 which are to approve the participation of elected people to conferences. The answer was that the mayor goes with 3 of the 6 counsellors annually go to the Union des Municipalities (UMQ) and the other 3 counsellors go to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). Only the participation cost per person is provided. We asked for the total costs including hotel and travel, but these were not provided.