Cookshire-Eaton holds its monthly council meeting
By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
The Municipal Council of Cookshire-Eaton held its monthly meeting May 6 at the Cookshire Town Hall, with much of the public discussion centering around the use and abuse of local roads.
Topics at the meeting also included two unanimously adopted bylaws authorizing substantial loans, one of more than $11 million, and a proposal to replace Birchton’s baseball field with a housing development.
Mayor Mario Gendron presided over the meeting with around nine local residents in attendance. The meeting lasted roughly 45 minutes, with well over 50 separate items on the agenda.
Roads
In the meeting’s first question period, community members voiced concerns about local infrastructure, municipal projects, and public safety issues. The conversation started with a citizen addressing Gendron directly.
He offered a proposal concerning municipal street cleaning operations. Observing street cleaners at work, he believes their labour conditions are deplorable and inefficient. He suggested the city should invest in advanced cleaning machines that can streamline the process. According to him, these machines can significantly reduce the workforce required, resulting in more efficient cleaning.
Throughout, he passionately described the difficulty street workers endure, emphasizing how disheartening it is to see them struggle. He insisted that better equipment would make their work easier, allowing one operator to do the job of multiple people.
He also brought up a Facebook post advertising a new machine that could handle the workload with a single person. He expressed concerned about the maintenance of the equipment, noting that sometimes machines are down for repairs.
Another individual raised concerns about the grading of gravel roads. He claimed that the current maintenance isn’t keeping up with demand, leaving potholes that reappear shortly after grading. The individual questioned the need for additional graders, considering that in the past, fewer graders handled the same workload without a problem.
