ARICHAT - Richmond municipal councillors are hoping to regain control of the question periods at their public meetings, two weeks after the 15-minute question period that typically ends the monthly Committee of the Whole meeting was extended to 40 minutes by a questioner who insisted on making a formal presentation as part of her impromptu appearance before council. 

According to District Two councillor Michael Diggdon, this actually prevented two other people in attendance from getting a chance to ask their own questions. Speaking on the issue at the May 23 regular meeting of Richmond Municipal Council, Diggdon demanded more stringent rules on council question periods and their use by members of the public.

Regular meetings of Richmond council actually have two ten-minute question periods – one that covers items presented in the Committee of the Whole report, and another at the end of the night that covers issues outside of that particular committee report. During the May 23 meeting, the first of these question periods did not have any participants, while the second only had two participants – each of whom stuck with two questions apiece.

However, given the disarray in some recent question periods, Diggdon urged Warden Amanda Mombourquette and his fellow councillors to revisit the issue and ensure the public knows the rules. At the warden’s suggestion, the issue will come up again once two councillors who were absent from last night’s meeting due to illness and travel – Shawn Samson and Melanie Sampson – are able to weight in on the topic.

In the meantime, the issue that extended the May 8 meeting-ending question period - community demands for upgrades to Pondville Beach Provincial Park - received council action at the May 23 regular meeting, drawing applause from several beach supporters in attendance at the Richmond Municipal Building in Arichat. 

The provincial Department of Natural Resources and Renewables (DNRR) has confirmed that Pondville Beach will be put under a new management plan, and this will involve several community consultations over the coming weeks and months. At the May 23 council meeting, Richmond councillors voted to draft a letter – using input from the community campaign’s leaders – to send to D-N-R-R officials along with Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau.

In the meantime, some of those in attendance on May 23 are warning that some new rezoning proposals designed to assist recreational-vehicle owners and small-scale campground developers might not wash with several Isle Madame residents…

Slated to go to a public hearing on June 23, the changes – which received first-reading approval at the May regular council session – would see recreational vehicles (RVs) and small-scale campgrounds permitted to be used as seasonal main dwellings or seasonable accessory dwellings within some currently-unzoned portions of Isle Madame. Local landowner Tom Stanton warned council that these measures could generate negative responses from the community when they come to the hearing stage.