2012 – A Call for Cooperation

THE Editor,
Here we are, winding up 2011 on a note of discord at the council of Grenville-sur-la-Rouge. However, perspectives for 2011 are far from worrisome.
The year 2011 began with our financial base cleaned up and a coherent budget platform. An important list of discrepancies compiled by the auditors over the years was almost completely resolved. We are ending the year with an operating surplus, a reimbursement of $100,000 of old debts and $600,000 invested in infrastructure improvements.
Most important, we have for 2012 the first budget prepared entirely by the staff at town hall before submission to council for review and approval. The operating budget will be accompanied for the first time by a detailed capital works budget, tapping into three million dollars in grant money for roads, fire halls, holding tanks, hydrants, parks and heritage buildings.
The hiring in 2011 of a new public works director was the turning point toward rationalizing the town’s activities and affecting our infrastructure: clarifying job descriptions, improving work processes, filling vacant positions and planning capital works for the next few years.
Hiring our fire service lieutenant as a full-time director enabled the municipality to move quickly on meeting the new regional performance standards for fire protection service: rationalizing equipment purchases, firefighter training, fire hall and hydrant network planning and additional prevention activities. 
In the urban planning department, the municipality is in the process of complying with the MRC’s new regional plan and the response time on permit applications is improving. A very large part of this progress is directly attributable to the skill of our new general manager who is an excellent team motivator and who knows how to hold his directors accountable.
In 2012, it’s at the council level that we are going to make a lot of progress. With staff at town hall having now proven its capacity to deliver results, councillors now need to let go of micro-managing daily administration and focus their work on policy planning. By encouraging more interaction with the public, we will be able to identify policies and priorities needed to guide municipal managers in planning and prioritizing their work:
- What criteria should serve to prioritize investment in one or another of our roads?
- Is it desirable or possible someday to have a municipality without debt?
- How much are we prepared to invest in villages to reach a high quality of life for families, kids and elders?
- Do we want to become a sleepy suburb of Mirabel, or are we ready to support our own business and employment?
- What role should the public play in municipal planning?
- Has the time come to relocate the town hall onto our territory?
These are some of the pressing questions, the answers to which will define the future of our villages in the mid-term, and which are required to focus the work of our employees in the short term.
One thing is certain. The law does not provide for seven mayors to monitor and control the daily operations of the town hall – only one. This is not a question of ego, but rather of coherent management. The law does provide for six councillors to plan the destiny of the municipality through general policies and bylaws.
This should not be a work of the ego either, but one of democratic reflection and communication. We need to work together, each within his or her respective role, and all together in the common interest of our constituents.
So let us wish each other health, happiness and success in our work for 2012.
John Saywell
Mayor
Grenville-sur-la-rouge