gŏđŏ Who will the next warden for the counties be?
editionap.ca
GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
L’ORIGNAL | There are just three choices for next year’sWarden of the United Coun- ties of Prescott-Russell. Two of the pos- sible candidates are already planning to vote the third into the seat. Mayors Gary Barton of Champlain Town- ship and François St-Amour of The Nation Municipality both say they will support the nomination of East Hawkesburymayor Rob- ert Kirby as warden when the new counties council inaugural meeting is held later this month. “I’m supporting Mr. Kirby,” St-Amour said during an interview following the Nov. 26 "- nal regular meeting of the current counties council. “We need somebody with experi- ence (as warden).” “I support Mr. Kirby as our next warden,” said Barton during a later interview. “I’m going to propose Mr. Kirby as the next war- den.” All three mayors are the sole remaining members of the past counties council who were able to retain their own mayoral posts after this year’s October civic elections. Bar- ton and Kirby were both acclaimed without any challengers stepping forward before the September nomination deadline while St-Amour won his re-election bid with a majority vote against his opponent, Denis Pommainville. Each of the three also has past experience as wardens for Prescott and Russell counties and would be able to provide the continuity needed between the past and new councils and leadership on any outstanding coun- ties projects and issues. Two other members of the new counties council, Jeanne Charlebois and Conrad La- madeleine, the mayors-elect for the Town of Hawkesbury and the Village of Cassel- man, also have past experience as wardens dating back to their previous terms as may- ors. But they have both been out of o!ce losing their positions in the 2010 civic elec- tions and may not be considered as current on counties-related issues and projects as mayors Barton, Kirby, and St-Amour. The new mayors for Clarence-Rockland and Alfred-Plantagenet have no counties experience while Russell Township has a mayoral by-election in progress.
Kirby outlines priorities if elected warden Chances are good that Mayor Robert Kirby of East Hawkesbury (far right) will be next year’s Warden of the United Counties of Prescott-Russell. Photo Gregg Chamberlain
L’ORIGNAL | While he does not know if he will be nominated or not and declined to speculate on the possibility he will be the next warden of the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, East Hawkesbury mayor Robert Kirby was willing to com- ment on what he sees as some of the im- mediate issues for the next warden. He thinks a "rst priority would be con- tinuing the economic development work begun by the late-warden Jean-Paul St. Pierre. “And continuing to put pressure on the Highway 174 (issue),” said Kirby. “That means seeing that the process moves along as fast as possible.” Kirby noted that the counties have be- come the lead for all of the municipalities that are a#ected by the tra!c $ow situa- tion with the County Road 17/Highway 174 connector between the Town of Rockland and the City of Ottawa. Residents in both the City of Clarence-Rockland and Alfred- Plantagenet Township commute on a regu- lar basis to Ottawa and its Orléans suburb for either work or shopping. The idea of ex- panding the present two-lane link between Rockland and Orléans to a four-lane high- way has been an ongoing issue for two or more decades. The present Environmental Assessment Process (EAP) about either four-laning the route or "nding an alternate method of dealing with the increasing amount of traf-
their construction schedules "lled fast be- fore the spring thaw. This way, they know their companies have projects to work on. The 2014 fall municipal election has de- layed the counties budget approval process because of uncertainty how many, if any, of the mayors sitting on counties council would retain their positions after the Octo- ber polls closed. In the end, just the three mayors are left of the past term’s eight- member counties council. Both St-Amour and Barton listed police service costs for Prescott-Russell as another issue that next year’s counties council may need to review. The current counties council had looked into whether or not a regional police contract with the OPP might be fea- sible but decided in the end it was not be- cause of the individual di#erences between policing costs for member municipalities. Now, St-Amour noted, the provincial gov- ernment has proposed an equalized rate for municipalities for policing contracts, al- lowing for a “once-size-"ts-all” rate to apply. “Once every municipality is equalized,” he said, “maybe it would be time then to re- open the discussion.” Barton noted that the counties council needs to lobby the province on infrastruc- ture support funding. “No one has enough (money) to do all the projects that need to be done now,” he said. “That is a main prior- ity.”
"c is on hold right now while the City of Ot- tawa does its own EAP about a proposed Light Rail Transit extension route into Orlé- ans. The "nal placement of the Orléans LRT route could have an impact on the 174/17 four-lane expansion proposal. Kirby also said that one other issue that the counties council needs to look into next year is lobbying for expansion of nat- ural gas service to all of the rural areas of Prescott-Russell. Right now heating options for rural landowners are hydro, oil, and tank propane. Kirby said having natural gas as another heating option would help provide more of an economic edge to the local ag- riculture sector. St-Amour and Barton The two other returning mayors, François St-Amour and Barton have their own ideas about the immediate priorities for the next counties council in 2015. “Starting with the budget,” said St-Amour. For the past few years the counties coun- cil has managed early approval of its annual budgets, getting them signed o# before the end of December when the current budget was due to expire. This allowed counties sta# to get an early start on any public ten- dering processes for capital works projects and reap the reward of getting contracts at lower costs given that all contractors are anxious at the start of the new year to get
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