Councillor for Ward 3

Danika Bourgeois-Desnoyers
Home address: 26 Génier Street, St-Albert, ON
Cell: 613-552-7309
Email:   dbourgeoisdesnoyers@nationmun.ca

To all the residents of Ward 3,

After a successful first year, I would like to take this time to thank you for all your encouragement, support and helpful suggestions during the year.

The 2012 budget is completed and many projects are confirmed and ready to proceed with in the New Year.  It is a very conservative budget due to the fact that the municipality will concentrate on repaying its loans.  Our costs have doubled and resulting in the need to cut back on some capital projects for 2012.

I wish you and your family a happy, safe and relaxing holiday season.  While celebrating with friends and family, please remember not be an impaired or distracted driver.  I look forward to working with you in 2012 in hopes to ensure a prosperous future for our municipality and also our Ward!!

Danika

Dear residents of Ward 3,

As you may have noticed, the Municipal Council has adopted the 2011 budget. After having worked many months on this project, I sincerely think that it is a responsible and favourable budget for taxpayers.

I would like to take the time to enumerate some positive elements of the budget for Ward 3:

FOREST PARK

- As you all know, in order to save on certain extra costs for the sanitary sewers project in Forest Park, the amount assigned for repaving the streets was cut.  The only option was to re-pave one street per year. 

After several long discussions with Marc Legault, Director of Public Works, we found a strategy that is both favourable for residents and acceptable for the Council.  Marc calculated the inflation cost for materials for the next five years and suggested that it would be more economically feasible for the municipality to take out a loan over five years in order to repave the streets which are ready and need no work now.  As a result, $74 426 of the roads budget for Ward 3 will be taken every year over five years to repay that loan.  I hope that residents realize how much work and effort was invested to get to that solution!  Thank you Marc for putting up with me every time I would repeat, “What can we do for the streets in Forest Park? We have to do better than that!”  I am very satisfied, and I hope that residents are too.
- I would also like to remind the residents of Forest Park that Marc Legault and his team will be doing some ditch rehabilitation most likely around mid-May if the weather permits it.  Please note that a very wet spring could cause delays for this project.  It is important to remind everyone that the common practice is that sump pumps must run off on top of the property and flow into the ditches in a gradually.

ST-ALBERT

• It is with great pleasure that I announce that the St-Albert firefighters will finally get their tanker truck!  Their work is indispensable to our community, and, for that, I thank them.
• The planned construction for 2011 in St-Albert is for the bridge on Montée Guérin.  The bridge condition is deteriorating and the repairs are urgent. This estimated investment of more than $170 000 will be managed by Marc Legault’s team.
• Some renovations are planned for the Community Centre in order to comply with the Fire Code.  The Council’s objective at the beginning of the budget was to prioritize health and safety in the municipality.
• Thanks to the reserve funds of the St-Albert Park, a little “shed” will be built for the baseball field.  It will be used for storage during baseball tournaments.
• Finally, some details are still being discussed.  Council has not yet heard any presentation from the committee of Village d’Antan Franco-Ontarien. Council has been criticized for not allotting them any funding for this year.  Since we have supported the project since the beginning, we will reconsider our decision.

I would like to thank the The Nation Municipality Department Heads for their involvement and hard work during the budget sessions.  A special thank you to Treasurer Cecile Lortie and her team for their numerous hours invested in making sure that the numbers added up.  Finally, thank you to CAO/Clerk Mary McCuaig for always being there to answer our questions and to clarify important details.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Thank you

Danika Bourgeois-Desnoyers
Councillor Ward 3

Dear Residents of Forest Park:

I would like to thank you for your patience.  Through this experience, I have certainly come to realize that it isn’t easy to step into a leadership role at the end of any project, and one as big as your sanitary sewer project has definitely posed some great challenges.  I understand your frustrations - promises were made and, given some changes in circumstances, deadlines weren’t met.  Dans cette lettre, j’ai l’intention d’adresser certaines de vos questions…

First, you have all received your final invoices for the sanitary sewers.  Many of you wonder why the storm sewer survey was not attached to the invoice.  Our intention is to keep both projects completely separate.  Some final details had to be tweaked on the survey, which could not be completed by the date on which the invoice was sent.  I think it is appropriate on our behalf to take the necessary time to evaluate all options concerning such a project before involving residents. 

It is my pleasure to announce that the survey has been sent out and will need to be completed and returned by March 2, 2011.  The project would be considered as a whole and not by street, as was previously proposed.  Since Forest Park is considered a sub-division, we have to comply with the norms stipulated in the Local Improvements Regulations.   In order to move forward with the project, at least 66% of residents, owning 50% of the value of the lands, must be in favour.  If you have any questions concerning the project, please contact Mary McCuaig at ext. 222.

Paving is also an issue of concern for you, the residents of Forest Park.  As many of you know, re-paving was taken out of the sanitary sewer project to eliminate some cost.  At the time, it was mentioned that re-paving the streets of Forest Park could possibly be done with the municipality’s gas tax money for 2011.  The council will be discussing this matter during our budget exercise.  All I can promise for now is that at least one street will be re-paved with the Ward 3 road budget in 2011.

Finally, during one of the council meetings where many of you were present, we had asked for a legal opinion concerning the issues experienced on Manitou (plus the extra cost associated with it) and the soil testing study.  No legal action will be taken, as we were advised that the test procedures were normal and not negligent.  It would not be cost effective to pursue the matter, as it would add an even greater cost to the project, which, at this point, isn’t favourable for anyone involved.

J’espère avoir clarifier certains aspects, n’hésitez surtout pas à me contacter si vous avez besoins plus de clarification.

Thank you again for your cooperation.

Danika Bourgeois-Desnoyers
Councillor Ward 3

Member of the following municipal committees:

 

 

Send us your thoughts.

return to top