By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com
At Monday night’s Sainte Anne de Bellevue council meeting, question period had residents seeking answers for issues that have dominated council meetings for months such as when will the exit that has been closed for more than two years open up as well as newer issues such as composting bins for the entire city and how to repair, once and for all, the Leslie Dowker pumping station in the northern sector that tends to flood during severe storms.
Regarding Exit 41, one citizen asked what was being done to advance the dossier and Mayor Francis Deroo responded that “an entente had been reached with the MTQ” and that council would be voting on the new arrangement shortly.
One resident asked about what caused the pumping station to overflow within the last three weeks and director general Martin Bonhomme explained that a recent short circuit to the electrical panel during a storm meant that the main breaker burst so the alarm could not sound to engage the generator to pump out the water.
Bonhomme said that the entire electrical panel was changed last week with a battery system added to prevent the situation from recurring. The resident suggested that the city install a second “mirror” system to avoid any repeats. He also asked the municipality to be more helpful when it comes to northern sector residents who have to file claims with their insurance.
Councilor Paola Hawa, who lives in the northern sector, noted that for some homeowners, having flood insurance is no longer an option “because they can’t get insured because of the frequency of floods.”
Another citizen, who lives in a condo development, asked council why he and his neighbours were not giving the brown composting bins. Councilor and Environment Committee chair Ryan Young explained that the composting units “are harder to have in buildings with more than five units. Brown bins are not found in apartment complexes in the city of Montreal either.”
Young agreed to consult with the committee to see if something could be done for the condo owners.
One resident sought clarification regarding “aggressive solicitation” from some of the boardwalk restaurants who “hassle clients to eat at their restaurant by telling us the other restaurants are not good or they block our way from getting past.”
Bonhomme said that while the city has definite rules about solicitation, there was no rule yet for that scenario and that city administration and the merchant’s society were looking to find “a solution that can satisfy all parties.”
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