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Hamlets get counties council’s eye
al for hamlet signage on county roads. He also noted that some of the municipalities within Prescott-Russell already do provide small road signs identifying the hamlets located along their backcountry rural roads and his staff might need to consult with their counterparts among the member mu- L’ORIGNAL | Many local pensioners call them home and they mean a lot to people who want to maintain an inde- pendent standard of living in Prescott- Russell. So now the counties council will give some thought to setting up a special reserve fund for domiciliary hostels in the region. The United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) has subsidy agreements with more than three dozen domiciliary hostels in the two counties. Many of the smaller ones are located in Russell County while Prescott County has most of the larger multiple- resident setups. Each receives a combined provincial/counties subsidy to help cover the operating costs for their residents who are all on fixed incomes, either senior or disability pension, and who have limited budgets for their rent, food, medical, and other living expenses. Each resident also receives a small amount of the subsidy as a “personal needs benefit” for such things as toiletries, health and hygiene items, and other personal necessities. UCPR Social Services Director Anne
nicipalities. “I want to make sure we don’t double up,” he said. “But I think it’s a great idea if we want to promote our (smaller) communi- ties.” Clermont will present counties council with a report on hamlet signage, including guidelines for what is a hamlet as opposed counties council during its August 13 committee of the whole session with a proposal to create a special reserve fund for domi- ciliary hostels. The reserve fund would benefit those hostels that have subsidy agreements with the counties and would serve as a depository for any leftover sur- plus funds at the end of the year from the subsidy allocation included in the annual counties budget. “Part of the money could be used for dis- cretionary benefits,”Comtois-Lalonde said, citing as an example either installation of or improvements to fire sprinklers or other protection equipment in the hostels. How large of a surplus might exist at the end of a budget year would depend on what kind of expenses a domiciliary hostel operation had to deal with outside of the usual. Some expenses, like heating costs, could vary from year to year for various reasons. But the special reserve would serve as a source of funds that a hostel could draw on in an emergency or for ne- cessary projects or programs. Comtois-Lalonde presented
to a village or town. Warden Jean-Paul Saint-Pierre offered a suggestion, based on his childhood memories, about how to de- fine a hamlet. “Wherever there was a school house,” he said, “there was a little hamlet around that school house.” While the province does provide part of the annual domiciliary hostel subsidy, it does so through the UCPR. This year’s pro- vincial share was about $2.5 million after deducting administrative expenses. The UCPR’s own subsidy share this year was about $3.08 million. Stéphane Parisien, UCPR chief adminis- trator, told council that the counties have the right to decide how to deal any surplus that occurs. Once the provincial portion of the subsidy becomes part of the counties’ budget allocation to the hostels, it is not entitled to any clawback of unspent funds. “Any surplus is the counties’,” he said. “It’s the ratepayers’money. It’s not the pro- vince’s.” Council members were in general agree- ment on the idea of creating a special re- serve fund for any hostel subsidy surplus rather than let make it part of the general counties reserve. Council directed Com- tois-Lalonde to prepare a detailed report for either the August 27 regular session or the September session on how the new reserve fund would work. (GC)
L’ORIGNAL | They’re not big enough to be called villages and the folks who live in all the little hamlets scattered through- out Prescott and Russell counties prefer the “very small town” lifestyle these bed- room communities offer. A new signage project proposed at counties council may make these tiny communities a little more noticeable to casual passersby. Champlain Township Mayor Gary Barton suggested during the August 13 commit- tee of the whole session that the United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) follow the example of its counterpart in Stormont- Dundas-Glengarry with the new highway signs provided for the hamlets throughout the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry (UCSDG). “The signs are small and they are neat,” Barton said. The highway signs for hamlets in UCSDG have room for the name of the community with space for a small UCSDG logo. Bar- ton proposed that the UCPR look at doing something similar for the benefit of hamlets in Prescott and Russell like Ettyville, located within the boundaries of the City of Clar- ence-Rockland, and others. “I think it’s a great idea,” said Marc Cler- mont, UCPR public works director. He noted that his office and the counties economic development and tourism de- partment could work together on a propos-
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