BRENDA O’FARRELL
The 1019 Report

Fissures of division and disagreement among elected officials are cracking the surface at the MRC Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

And the mayor of the largest municipality in the territory, Guy Pilon of Vaudrueil-Dorion, says he will pry them wider by asking tough questions in public beginning later this month. He is going to start with attempting to find out the salary paid to the MRC’s prefect, Patrick Bousez, for 2024-2025. It is a piece of information Pilon has requested, but has been told he would have to make an access-to-information request to obtain.

“It’s landed at that,” Pilon said in frustration during an interview Monday.

In 2021, The 1019 Report requested the salaries paid to all elected officials in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region. Bousez earned $156,843 as prefect of the regional council at that time, in addition to his $25,290 annual salary as mayor of Rivière Beaudette, earning him a total of 182,133 and the distinction as the top-paid elected official in the region. It is not known what, if any, annual increases he has been allotted.

Bousez was not available for an interview with The 1019 Report.

The splintering of consensus at the regional authority – which rarely offers any public debate or discussion of the issues – emerged Nov. 4 during a special meeting of the 23 mayors who sit on the council. In a split vote, the council opted to hire a new director-general, fill three top administrative roles, create a new post and abolish two others.

These moves come about four months after the MRC council suspended its former long-time director-general, Guy-Lin Beaudoin, and ordered an internal investigation into what multiple sources at that time described as a series of issues. Days later, the Quebec Ministry of Municipal Affairs announced it had assigned an official to act as an “observer” to review how the MRC manages its human resources. Then, days later, Beaudoin abruptly quit.

The MRC recently received notice that Municipal Affairs had completed its report, which has not yet been seen by elected officials, Pilon confirmed Monday.

Pilon, who voted against the motion to name Alexandre Lambert to the post of director-general, said his opposition stems from the council’s failure to conduct an open and competitive hiring process to fill the top administrator’s job.

“Would they do that in their own town?” Pilon said, referring to the mayors who supported the move.

“People don’t care at all,” he added, again referring to some of the mayors in the region.

Hudson Mayor Chloe Hutchison was one of seven mayors who voted against the hiring, a group of elected officials who represent 47 per cent of the MRC’s population. Her objection focused on the process to fill the position as well.

“It’s a big position,” Hutchison said, “why not look at who is available.”

Lambert, was first hired by the MRC in February of this year to the post of interim assistant director-general. He was named interim director-general in June, when Beaudoin was suspended.

During the Nov. 4 meeting, the MRC council also opted to abolish the positions of assistant director-general and director of human resources, while naming new people to the posts of director of the clerk’s office and clerk of the treasury; director of communications and social development; and director of finances and accounting, and assistant treasury clerk. It also created the new position – director of territorial planning. This position has not been filled.

St. Lazare Mayor Geneviève Lachance voted in favour of hiring Lambert.

“To me it was a clear and easy decision,” Lachance said in an interview Monday, explaining Lambert’s performance since first being hired by the MRC was proof he could meet the challenges of the position.

The MRC oversees land use plans for the region, waste management and civil protection services, as well as prepares valuation rolls for the towns and promotes regional economic development.