Mun. of Pontiac resident wants answers from public works, cites poor roads

STEPHEN RICCIO
MUNICIPALITY OF PONTIAC April 28, 2021
A Municipality of Pontiac (MoP) resident is looking for answers from public works on what she describes as poor road conditions in her community.
Marie-Anne Larose, a resident of the area north of Quyon/Hwy. 148, had reported . . .

rough conditions to the MoP’s public works department on chemins Beaudoin, Hammond and Proven several weeks ago, including a sinkhole.
“I’m not angry, I’m just trying to look for a solution for everybody because it’s not acceptable,” she said. “When your neighbours got to start pulling you and you can’t feel safe driving and you’re getting pulled [by a sinkhole] … I can understand if we were like in the middle of nowhere in a hunt camp or something but these are public roads.”
In an email communication with Larose, interim public works director Maxime Renaud agreed that the roads in her sector needed to be rebuilt with good gravel, but he added that the cost of doing one km of gravel is $500,000.
Larose said that while Renaud explained to her that the municipal budget for gravel is $80,000, she thinks there needs to be more of an emphasis on public safety. Having been in an accident herself due to bad roads in the past, she said she was very aware of the risks that bad roads cause, especially to elderly community members.
According to assistant director general Geneviève Latulippe, the municipality’s budget of $80,000 for gravel purposes is fairly typical when compared to recent history. It was just $75,000 in 2020 and $100,000 each year from 2017-2019.
She also told The Equity that the public works department had already planned on the replacement of a culvert that is in poor condition at the intersection of chemins Beaudoin and Hammond within the next several weeks.
She said that it is difficult for the public works employees to put focus on roads in sectors like where Larose lives due to the fact that some roads in the municipality are at their worst condition at this time of year due to the spring thaw.
“These are all dirt roads and are usually in the shade all day,” Latulippe explained. “So the thaw is in the circumstances much longer, so the water [is stored for longer] under the road, and this does not help the situation with this road, which is already difficult without this bad condition.”
“I don’t want to point fingers at the employee, but I think there’s definitely a management problem and I think there’s also a lack of effort,” Larose said.
One of the things Larose said she wanted to see more of was the municipality having a better idea of where problems are before they arise. She said it shouldn’t be the job of citizens to inform employees where things need to be done.
Renaud told Larose that the department is well aware of the poor state of many roads, but he emphasized that they are doing their best to improve things.
The former director of public works was terminated within the last year, according to Mayor Joanne Labadie. Councillor Scott McDonald said that Renaud took over the department three to four months ago.
McDonald said that he has high hopes for Renaud, noting that it’s a tough department to run.