Tributes
Doug Minnes Celebrates Ten Years as Mayor
The Low Down to Hull and Back News, July 25, 1985
Back in 1975 this writer had aspirations to a political existence, at least to the point where, with no one else coming forward to replace the retiring Mayor Jim Brown, my "Hat was in the Ring," or so The News headline blazed forth across the front page. The ink was not even dry before there was a phone call for me from Minnes saying something to the effect that, "Sorry to ruin your political career, but I'm running for mayor!"
Now, to my mind that is the kind of confidence that I didn't need to run against! So without further ado, I withdrew and went out at the appropriate time and voted for the guy. In hindsight, I'm probably happier writing about him being the mayor, than it would have been the other way around!
One of the principal reasons for my action on that day was a good understanding of competence. That's one thing that Doug had then, and now with ten years under his belt he has just that much more to his credit! Doug's experience while working with the City of Ottawa Finance Department was to set him in good standing when dealing with the feds for a better tax deal for West Hull.
In an interview conducted earlier this month Doug outlined his philosophy of administering a small, semi-rural municipality and set forth some of the concrete achievements he has made for West Hull over the past ten years.
Doug Minnes, Mayor of West Hull, c. 1985. Talking about by-laws and their enforcement, Doug said he got some pretty good advice from an old fellow who served on Council for years. Here is what he said: "By-Laws are not created in rural municipalities for the absolute and strict enforcement of them, but rather to enable the community to respond to complaints and concerns expressed by the citizens."
Doug went on to say: "In a way, I have been guided by this philosophy and we have responded to very extren1e situations, but our experience before the Courts is that a man is considered king of his castle and that judges usually find against the municipality. And besides, going to law is both costly and time consuming."
When questioned about the success of The News' «Eye-Sore» campaign, he felt it did some good in getting people to clean up their properties. But then again, he said: "Im surprised you haven't been sued!"
He also claimed that flexibility in municipal politics is the rule rather than the exception, though he did not realize that this was the case until he served on Council and became concerned with the needs of the taxpayers. Doug is deeply committed to keeping bureaucracy at the absolute minimum. Hence he does not see a compelling need for a By-Law Enforcement Officer, although he does concede there is a problem with dogs, or more correctly with dog owners.
He said, "It's always dogs, never people, but I would point out that there are owners of all these dogs; they are not wild animals. When I talk about freedom to do as you wish in the country, I still say that you must respect your neighbour. Unfortunately, in West Hull there are a great number of dog owners who do not have respect for their neighbours, or, in fact, do not have a great deal of respect for their pets, as they do not seem to take care of them. The complaints should be against the people, not the dogs.
"We have suffered through the economic doldrums, but West Hull is now being rediscovered. There is better value for the dollar in acre lots than in the city where lots are about one-sixth of an acre and construction costs are higher. Taxes are the lowest of any Outaouais municipality."
There is, in fact, a building boom in West Hull. Seventy-one residential permits have been issued since January, with an approximate value of over 5 million dollars. Each new residence is valued at between $135,000 and $200,000. It is anticipated that 1985 will see at least 85 new houses built in West Hull. Back in 1976 the municipality issued a record 35 permits, and thought that this was a boom!
Doug can take a lot of credit for the low tax situation and a practically debt-free municipality. "We have taken a very conservative approach to borrowing and only when we need specialized equipment, like a new fire truck or road equipment," he said.
Here's how he explains West Hull's great financial position. "Grants-in-lieu of taxes, paid essentially by the NCC on its holdings in West Hull, were $11,000 ten years ago. This year they are $180,000. This is because the NCC revised their policy on grants-in-lieu and now pay taxes on the mill rate established by the municipality. Or, in other words, they pay taxes as ordinary tax-payers. The 1984 payment was back-dated to 1983. This allowed $100,000 to go into the reserve fund for the construction of the new town hall. The reserve fund now stands at $200,000. The municipality is fairly wealthy from the point of view that there is no debt and there is lots of borrowing capacity," he said.
But Doug also mentioned that there were other sources of revenue available to municipalities prior to some rationalization of funds by the Province in 1978. For example, gone is the three per cent share of sales tax collected in West Hull, and the large grant from Hydro Quebec for the dam at Farmer's Rapids.
During Doug Minnes' nearly ten years as Mayor, West Hull has seen some solid material progress. He ran through the list: "Reconstruction of the Old Chelsea Road and construction of the sidewalks; Meech Lake road improvements and paving; new road equipment and the establishment of a high standard of service for municipal roads and the fire department; hiring of a full-time building inspector (we are fortunate to have a man of Paul Lussier's calibre); some preferential credit for a new post office; and a recreation centre serving a wide cross-section from young kids to senior citizens."
On other matters of concern to the Mayor were police protection and the rumour that the Quebec Police Force (Q.P.F.) Low Detatchment is eliminating the night shift. He said, "I have not been advised of any direct service reduction, and I am not unhappy with the service provided by the force. There are no bars or beer halls that require a continuous presence of the police, but break-ins and the highway are major problems. It was suggested to me that one way to improve safety on the highway was to ask for more law enforcement, for its deterrent effect."
Doug also expressed some concern about the crowded conditions of parking lots at the various area stores, especially along Highway 105 at Kirk's Ferry. He said, it is too crowded to have three businesses sharing the parking lot along such a bad stretch of highway. Some stores, especially at Farm Point (on 105), made commitments to pave their parking lots, but have not done so yet. Maybe we have to insist businesses provide more parking for their clients."
Meech Lake is very much in the limelight these days especially with Mila Mulroney calling Doug to assure him that speeding cars to Harrington Lake would heed the speed limit. A couple of other situations at this Lake were the subject of questions to the Mayor.
First of all, there was the ticklish problem of nude swimming at the lake. Doug commented, «The NCC does not condone anything that is contrary to the criminal code. The signs warning of the possible presence of nude bathers work well and there have been no complaints from the Meech residents. The problem that existed seems to be well under control."
On a subject somewhat less ethereal than nude bathers, such as illegal parking adjacent to the NCC beaches at Meech Lake, Doug commented, "This is a perennial problem. It is a municipal road, hence West Hull's concern. The NCC parking lots are supposed to be sized to the number of people who can use the beach. But the NCC doesn't turn away the overflow and they end up parking along the road. We have had good cooperation from the Q.P.F., who patrol the road. They ticket, and will tow away cars that are obstructing traffic. I plan to speak to Mrs. Pigott, the NCC chair, to see if we can't solve this problem.
Both Doug Minnes and the Municipality of West Hull have come a long way over the last ten years. He has maintained a neat style that is well suited to the needs of this rather delightful piece of our universe. He runs things well enough to suit most residents.
Of course, as is the wont of municipal politicians, it was impossible to get a commitment from Doug if he would run for another term in the upcoming November elections. It's a rather amusing tradition that each candidate plays a cat and mouse game until the eleventh hour on nomination day, just to see what the competition is going to be like. Fair enough perhaps, but it sure makes it tough for us news guys to get a scoop!
I really hope that Doug runs again and saves me all the decisions of ten years back. But then again, it's a certain way to get your picture on the front page of the paper!