Châteauguay’s new city council has first public council meeting

Châteauguay’s newly elected officials held their first city council meeting on Monday, November 22nd. New Mayor Eric Allard seized the opportunity to make a few announcements about changes to council procedures to “promote transparency” and encourage citizens’ participation.

Translation Amanda Bennett

From now on, the city council meeting agenda will be available on the City’s website on the Friday prior to the meeting rather than the same day the meeting is held. This will give citizens time to learn about the topics that will be addressed during the public meeting.

A new point will also be added to the agenda: allowing a return to previous questions from the public. “We thought it was interesting for situations when citizens don’t get an answer to their question the same evening. This way we can go back to it, people often find the questions interesting and would appreciate hearing the answer as well,” explained the Mayor of Châteauguay. When the questions are not of a personal nature, officials will return to the previous session rather than simply provide an answer to the individual who posed the question. 

The new city council will also bring back an option for citizens to ask their questions online. The terms and conditions will be announced at a later date, indicated Mr. Allard.

“No Party Line”

Eric Allard was elected Mayor of Châteauguay with seven of the eight candidates that ran under his party banner. He ensured that there would not be a party line at the table. “Many people are afraid of party lines, but that won’t be an issue for us. We think that would be terrible,” he expressed.  

He also intends to work with the independent councillor, François Le Borgne, who was elected to represent district 8. “During the campaign I had a team. Now that the campaign is over, my team is all of the people sitting around the table and that includes Mr. Le Borgne,” he specified.