BY: Tim Jaques/The Tribune


Former Deputy Mayor Ron Bourque made an appearance before Belledune village council on Aug. 4. And true to his feisty form, he had plenty to say.

The outspoken Bourque, who ran for mayor in 2008 and was defeated by current mayor Nick Duivenvoorden, was in front of council to make a presentation on a new sewerage lagoon planned for part of the Jacquet River section of the village.

"The fact that I am here doing a presentation on behalf of the taxpayers of this community certainly should send a very clear and loud message to council that not everyone here is happy with what is happening at Shangra-La," he said.

The stiflingly-hot municipal chambers were jammed with people, and extra chairs had to be brought in to accommodate the crowd. Even then, some had to stand outside in the hallway and at the back.

Bourque said his presentation to council was in hope that it would rescind its motion to buy land on Jacquet River Drive for a sewerage lagoon. To do this, he said, he would have convince one of the councillors who voted in favour of the motion to bring the motion to rescind. That would exclude Councillors Jerry Guitard and Mario Lapointe (who was not present).

Bourque said that the figures he was laying before council came from government sources. He said that consultants have an interest in seeing projects go ahead, as they make money on the projects.

"They present that information with a positive note. The reason they present that information with a positive note is so that their services will continue to be paid because the project or that the item they are discussing will move forward. A good example would be that if this project were to move forward at $7 million, Roy Consultants would stand to be paid somewhere between $700,000 and a million dollars. So I can see where they would be extremely excited for this project to go forward," he alleged.

Bourque said that he opposed the project on three grounds: its location, its costs, and its potential economic impact on the village.

Location

In February, said Bourque, council was given eight options and the lagoon was to be on Lawlor Road. In April, a drawing appeared that showed the lagoon on Jacquet River Drive. Bourque charged that the change was because the Lawlor Road location would have put it in the backyard of a village councillor.

He said that Jacquet River Drive is inappropriate for a sewerage lagoon, because it is in the most heavily populated part of the village. It is also one of the main entries into the village, seen by tourists and travellers.

Cost

Bourque said that the cost of project was too high.

He said that in 2003, the project was to cost $3.8 million. Now, it stood at $7.1 million. The estimated yearly cost to those on the system under the lower number was $450 to $500, but at $7.1 million it is projected to be only $600. Bourque said that the math didn't add up, as it would require 60 per cent more houses on the system for this to work.

Those houses don't exist, he said. He challenged council to put the figure of $600 in writing.

"I do not believe for one moment that $600 is the final figure."

He said that council will leave a financial mess for the next council - because he doesn't believe that the current council will be elected after this.

Economic impact

Bourque presented a series of charts which he said compared Belledune with 13 area municipalities. In coming to averages in each case, he said, he removed the highest and lowest numbers before calculating the average, in order not to skew the number.

Of these municipalities, $252.72 is the average yearly sewerage fee, he says, compared to the $600 Belledune will charge.

The average income per person in these 13 northern New Brunswick is $19,490. In Belledune it is $16,609. The average income per household among the 13 municipalities is $50,283. The average household income in Belledune is $32,726. People working full time year-round make up 26 per cent of the population of Belledune, he said, compared to 45.7 per cent in the other municipalities. A total of 57.7 per cent of people in northern New Brunswick are not in the labour force, compared to 42.1 per cent in northern New Brunswick.

He said Belleduners are plainly making less money than in other areas, but are expected to pay more.

He said that Belledune would lose its low tax rate, since, he claimed, "sewerage is just another form of tax" even though it is on a separate bill from the property tax bill.

Bourque said that using a $50,000 assessment, the cost is $445.65 for Belledune in yearly property taxes. Unlike most other municipalities, there is currently no sewerage charge. But with a $600 annual sewerage fee, the householder will pay $1,045.65, dropping Belledune from first place to ninth place as the cheapest place to live.

Environmental

Asked by Mayor Nick Duivenvoorden what he had to say about the environmental impact, Bourque said that he didn't think the environment was important at any cost.

"I don't think it will come to a shock to anyone in this room that when I was on council, I was in favour of a septic system for our community.

The environmental issues are very, very simple. What is the sense of having environmental issues when you are broke? It is not about the environment. Do we feel that the environment will be cleaner? I am not so sure about that because a septic system to me is a very, very green way of disposing of solid waste. If I have 400 homes hooked up to a system and the you-know-what hits the fan, there are 400 disasters. If my septic system has a problem, I've got one problem. The logic of environmental issues in my estimation doesn't hold all that much credibility," he replied.

"Environmental issues, as important as they may be, are not the top priority."

Questions

Bourque asked a series questions he wanted answered by council He wanted to know what impact the cost would have on struggling service clubs and churches; what the contingency plan was for any failure of the system; a guarantee in writing that nobody will lose their homes if they can't pay; how the assessments of homes will be affected near the lagoon; does the hook-up cost include the cost of removal of the septic system; how many homes will be on the system; why does council think the demand will increase if the population is declining; and how can the location of the lagoon be advantageous to the community.

Duivenvoorden said that council would respond to him later.

No motion was made on the presentation, as it was meant to be information for council to consider.

Not against

When Bourque was on council, he used equally strong language in favour of a sewerage lagoon during debates in 2003 and 2005. At a July 7, 2003 council meeting, minutes show, Bourque complained that he had moved to the village 12 years before and sewerage was being discussed then but in

2003 they were only discussing Phase I, with nothing done. He accused council of being afraid to make a decision and that "we are in danger of contaminating our water supply for the future," that a sewerage system was "a necessity of life," and that a sewerage system was needed if development was to be attracted.

He went on to complain that "Belledune is one of the only municipalities in New Brunswick that does not have a sewerage system", and that he "would like it known that he is certainly for putting a sewerage system in this municipality."

Asked about this by telephone after the meeting, Bourque said the distinction is the cost. He said when he was on council $500 was being spoken of at "the ultimate extreme end" for cost per year, and now it was at $600. He said he didn't believe that that could be the real number, which he said had to be higher given the higher cost of the project.

"It's not possible," he said. "It is far, far too expensive for the citizens."

Bourque said that there were "only a dozen homes" with problem systems (or lack of systems) that could harm groundwater.

"If they concentrated on those areas to fix those problems we wouldn't have the environmental issues that everyone is trying to mushroom into a major problem. A septic system is a very, very economical and environmentally friendly system."

In addition, he said, when he was on council, "It was going to be situated so that it was out of sight, out of mind," whereas now it is in the "worst possible place to put it."

Bourque denies his presentation was the kick-off to a campaign to run again for council But he said that election results in Belledune are "not decided by thousands of votes", and that it would only take a few ticked off people to defeat the current council.

It's 'do-or-die', says mayor

It's necessary for development, affordable, and a safeguard for the environment.

That is how Belledune mayor Nick Duivenvoorden defends the village's plan to build a new sewerage lagoon in the Jacquet River section of the sprawling village. In a telephone interview on Friday, the mayor defended the plan against counter arguments made by former deputy mayor Ron Bourque.

"I think if anything, his presentation strengthened the resolve of this council to move forward with this project, because most of the people who were at Tuesday night's meeting were actually not even eligible for hook-up. I'd say maybe one-third at the most. I think a lot of people came out perhaps because they thought there was going to be fireworks between Ron and myself, and I guess we would have disappointed people that way," he said.

"This proposal is a little more expensive, but the big difference between this proposal and the previous one [in 2003, when Bourque was on council] ....which makes it palatable to me is that the village is offering financing for hook-up. Previously, hook-up cost was going to be in the range of $1,500 and at that time the proponents of the proposal had no reservations about imposing that kind of up front fee on the potential users. I had a big problem with that because I knew it would create problems for a great many people. This time the village is offering financing for up to five years for people who want to take advantage of that. So if we are looking at an average hook-up cost of $2,500 - and I think that is a little on the high side - that shakes down to about $45 a month over five years, which means that your user fee combined with your hook-up fee for the first five years is about $100 a month. I think even though this proposal is, overall, a little more expensive I think it is also much more affordable to our citizens because we are able to offer that financing. There is no money upfront.

And for about a hundred bucks a month you get the fee and that's for five years and then the loan is paid off and it is basically the user fee."

Duivenvoorden said that about 300 households would be hooked up to the system in the Jacquet River section of the village. Each unit in a large apartment complex counts as a separate household.

He said that as far as he is aware, a utility must be self-supporting.

No grant money was available for this project which could have lowered the total cost.

"I think that the biggest issue is perhaps the location of the lagoon [on Jacquet River Drive] It is on a piece of property that most people have not visited. But when it gets to a couple of hundred metres of where people have homes they declare it as pristine property. I understand their way of thinking. When we set out on this project we deliberately set out to avoid any waterfront property, as that just has too much value. And when we identified these pieces of property we said they aren't really in anyone's back yards. But back yards become a whole lot bigger when you bring a proposal like this forward."

Duivenvoorden stressed that a sewerage system is vital if that part of the village is to be developed. He said that in the past, Ron Bourque himself was one of the most vocal proponents of that view.

"The argument that Ron Bourque put forward in favour of it as recently as 2005 was that if this village is going to grow, we need a central sewerage system....Obviously he has given up on the idea of growing this village."

The mayor said that opposition comes with the territory of being an elected representative.

"We have to go through bumps and bruises as elected people sometimes to bring the village to another level, but I think because we have taken care of the financial component, and we've recognized that we have an obligation - whether the people agree with it or not is almost irrelevant - to protect our groundwater, to protect our well water, to clean up what is in the ditches now," he said, adding that some people have to get with the times. It is now or never for the lagoon, after abandoning the previous attempt.

"It is obvious we are dragging people kicking and screaming into the new century and into the new way of doing things. The people of our community have to understand that the council are doing this because we believe in earnest that this is in the municipality's best interest. It is unfortunate that people take it as personally as they do. I think that we have addressed all the issues as best we can, and probably have come up with the best proposal ever. I believe it is a do-or-die application for us now. If we were to turn this down again, we wouldn't be considered - perhaps never again by those who review applications for funding at the province of New Brunswick."