K.C. Jordan, LJI Journalist
The MRC Pontiac’s council of mayors voted at its Feb. 19 sitting to pass two resolutions that will enable the MRC to move forward with its plans to create an AgriSaveur food transformation facility.
The first motion grants the MRC the power to sign a lease on a commercial kitchen for the AgriSaveur project, and the second to purchase equipment for the kitchen.
AgriSaveur, an MRC project aimed at supporting the development of the region’s agricultural industry, has three components: the Shawville abattoir, a boutique store located in the abattoir, and a commercial kitchen where producers will be able to transform their products and sell them directly to consumers.
The MRC’s economic development commissioner for agriculture, Shanna Armstrong, confirmed in an interview the day after the meeting that the three-year lease for the kitchen, located at 107 Rue West in Shawville, will begin Apr. 1 at a cost of $2,500 per month.
The space will be used as the hub of the AgriSaveur project’s transformation kitchen, where she said local producers can come to turn their ingredients into value-added products, or where people can do large-batch cooking, for example.
“There’s been a lot of interest from producers, like vegetable growers, [ . . . ] then the idea is they could bring it there and process it in larger quantities,” she said. “We’ve also had interest from bakers, [ . . . ] and then there’s also been some people from outside the Pontiac who’ve shown some interest as well.”
Armstrong said the kitchen is pretty much ready to go, and includes much of the equipment needed to begin operations, such as two commercial ovens, slicers, utensils and a smoker.
The second AgriSaveur motion passed Wednesday evening was for the purchase of the equipment, totalling $45,000.
“It’s ready to go, you could go in and start using it tomorrow,” she said, noting the MRC still has to apply for a permit from the province before it can start renting out the kitchen.
She said the facility will be for foods that contain 50 per cent or less meat, and that any food transformations of primarily meat-based recipes will be a service offered at the abattoir, which was purchased by the MRC as part of the AgriSaveur project last spring.
“They could have their sausage processed [ . . . ] there at the abattoir, but it will be the staff that are running the abattoir that would be providing that service.”
Armstrong hopes the facility will be available for public use by June. “Once we get the use of the building, there will be some little things we’ll have to do, [ . . . ] but we don’t envision very much work required.”
She said the MRC hasn’t yet determined the cost for members of the public to use the facility yet, but that she is expecting the it to range from $25 to $30 per hour. Anyone who wishes to use the facility must have food handling training.
“It’s a bit of an incubator to help [producers] grow and flourish, so part of that will be providing support, like getting the training lined up,” she said.
Also last week, THE EQUITY confirmed with several sources three members of the board of directors that formed to run the abattoir have stepped down from their positions.
“We’re still going ahead with the co-op,” said co-op vice-president Kyle Kidder, explaining the group is still waiting for a band saw and a meat grinder to arrive, and will soon begin hiring for the abattoir’s general manager position, among other jobs.
Armstrong, who on Wednesday was named as the MRC’s representative on the abattoir’s AgriSaveur co-op, said through attending meetings she learned that some members felt they had contributed all they could to the effort.
“These members felt that they had contributed all their expertise in the startup and early development of it,” she said. “Now they’re just going to take a step away and let others move forward in the next phase.”
Draft bylaw would ban photos, videos in council sittings
A new draft bylaw tabled by the council would, if passed at next month’s meeting, change the way the council sittings are managed.
The draft details rules for remote participation from mayors, management of question periods, and what kind of recording is permitted by the public during council meetings.
Article 14 of the draft bylaw suggests banning any filming or photographing inside the council room.
“It is forbidden to film and photograph inside the place where the municipal council sittings are held, and the use of any photographic device, video camera, television camera or other is prohibited,” the article reads.
MRC Pontiac warden Toller, who was not present at this month’s plenary meeting where this bylaw was discussed, said she did not know it would forbid photography, and that she would make sure to review it and consider reducing the ban to just videography. “I see a difference between taking a photograph and having a video,” she said.
There is no exemption for media written into the draft bylaw, but Toller said she believes the media should be able to take photos and would consider making an exception.
After a November council meeting where Toller asked a woman who had set up a tripod near the mayors’ table to stop filming, MRC director general Kim Lesage said in an email to THE EQUITY the MRC was working on a bylaw to control the conditions of recording during council sittings.
Lesage cited article 149.1 of chapter C-27.1 of the municipal code, which says the council may prohibit the recording of images or sounds if a video recording of the meeting is available online free of charge the working day following the meeting.
Toller, who cited the high number of elected officials, particularly in Quebec, who are stepping down from their positions due to increased harassment and threats from the public, said the bylaw came down from the Federation of Quebec Municipalities (FQM) and is intended to give the person presiding over the meeting more control.
“Some elected people have felt really threatened and abused, and I guess some are just saying, ‘Who needs this?’ So what they’re trying to do is add some decorum or rules to help the people that are leading the meeting have something to fall back on,” she said.
“It should be obvious if someone is causing a disturbance versus taking a picture of their kid being recognized.”
Regarding updates to the management of question period, article 17.1 of the draft bylaw also permits a second question period of up to 10 minutes at the end of the sitting if there are further questions addressed to the council.
Toller said having the question period before the meeting’s resolutions doesn’t allow question-askers to engage with the content of the meeting. “I think we should be encouraging that,” she said, of people asking questions.
The resolution to table a draft bylaw means that the bylaw won’t be officially voted on until next month, and tweaks can be made to the bylaw before that time.
“At our March plenary we have another opportunity to still fine-tune it,” she said. “It has to work for our council. It can’t be the cookie-cutter exactly what FQM has said we need to do.”
The next MRC council of mayors meeting will take place Mar. 19.