New measures to be discussed at September public meeting
By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com
Station 1 Commander Richard Thouin spoke of two major events that had taken place in Beaconsfield during the course of last month at Beaconsfield council’s July meeting.
Thouin told the small but loyal crowd about the arrest of three drug traffickers who had been dealing out of a private residence for the last three years. “People had been waiting three years to call us and we got the call about two months ago,” said Thouin. “We began an investigation and even had the SWAT team on hand because the suspects might have been armed.”
Thouin would not release the exact location of the home but told the assembled that “this is our community and people should call us if they need help.”
The second incident was the armed robbery on St. Charles this past Saturday where four armed assailants burgled the TD Bank in broad daylight. The alleged thieves’ haul was short lived as officers made arrests within six hours of the incident.
During question period, a homeowner asked Mayor Georges Bourelle if public works could trim the publically planted poplar trees that continually invade his backyard. Bourelle told the gentleman he would look into the trees but is not ready to chop them arbitrarily because “we want to preserve as many trees as possible due to the inevitable EAB infestation.”
Regarding combating the emerald ash borer (EAB), director general Patrice Boileau spoke about an upcoming public consultation to be held on Monday, September 22, where the EAB bylaw will be discussed.
“The EAB is a a problematic bug that is sweeping across the island, province, country and the U.S.,” said Boileau. “We have been proactive on this issue since 2011 and want to prevent the spread. To date there are no EABs in Beaconsfield yet.”
Boileau told the assembled that there are about 3,200 ash trees on public land and roughly 10,000 on private.
Boileau detailed some of the new parameters of the bylaw including the banning of transportation or pruning of suspected trees between May and September as well as treating all ash trees found within 100 metres of an infected ash.
The director general noted that so far, 75 ash trees had ben treated by the city.