2025 Annual General Meeting
Sunday, July 27, 2025 (10:00 AM)
Minutes of Meeting
Directors Present:
Alex Sandahl, President, Black Lake
Bonnie Swaine, Past President, Boyd Lake
Lynn Palmer, Secretary, Clear Lake
Jacques Pigeon, Communications, Clear Lake
Andre Therrien, Curran Lake
Brian Robinson, Curran Lake
Trudy Adams, Black Lake
Marina Chambers, Black Lake Johanne Vallée, Clear Lake
Guest speaker: Alain St. Jacques, Directeur, Sécurité et Incendie, Lachute
1) Call to Order
The president called the meeting to order at 10:07 a.m.
Approximately 60 people were in attendance.
He also thanked everyone for coming and acknowledged that the land upon which we live, work and play is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people.
2) Approval of the Agenda
Seconded: June Parker
3) 2024 AGM July 28
a) Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the last meeting were available on the DCA website. AS asked for modifications. No changes were suggested.
Motion to Approve: Tom Lowe
Seconded: Revilla Sauvé
b) Business Arising
There were no items outstanding from the last meeting.
4. President’s message
The President thanked the DCC for the use of their Club House. He also thanked the DCA Board of Directors for their efforts over the past year and acknowledged the presence of Gordon Fehr, who was President of the DCC 40 years ago. He also noted that Alain St-Jacques would be joining us from Lachute who will speak to the new system for fire covering all municipalities, which is very important for us.
Security has become a focus, particularly with climate change – windstorms, ice, etc. The onus has been pushed down to municipalities by the Provincial Government. J. Vallee will speak to this later.
The President advised that there will be a cell tower installed by Videotron in our area so our communications should be improving.
Wentworth Municipal council elections are in November and our two Dunany counsellors will not be representing themselves in the next election. It is important for Dunany to have representation at the Municipal level.
Those of us who golf are aware that there are pesticides being used on the golf course due to the invasion of the Japanese Beatle. The process takes a couple of years. All pesticides are approved by the Provincial government, and the application of the pesticides is done by a licensed operator. The DCC tests drinking water once per month and the outflow of the stream on the 8th hole (into Clear Lake) and the 3rd hole twice each season. Results have not raised any issues.
The Wentworth By-Law re. boat washing that was discussed at last year’s AGM is in force. – Clear Lake is an anomaly because of the 4 municipalities that meet on the lake. The DCC is taking measures to ensure that all residents are compliant with the rule even if they are not in Wentworth. He also encouraged everyone to use the boat washing station.
The President noted that Jason Morrison, Mayor of Wentworth, was present to answer questions. Alex thanked everyone for their involvement in the community.
5. By-Law Change
Bonnie Swaine introduced why we are recommending a change to the By-Law with regard to the term of the term of the President. The information was circulated to all residents prior to the meeting. She read out the current By-Law which restricts the term of the President to two years. She also read out the new proposed By-Law that would allow the re-election of the President for one additional year, if it made sense.
Motion to Approve: Daniel Payette
Seconded: Rod Armstrong
6. Special Presentation – Organization of Fire Services – Alain St. Jacques, Directeur, Sécurité et Incendies, Lachute
Mr. St. Jacques spoke to what is happening to Fire departments in the Region. He has been in Lachute for many years. A few years ago, Wentworth approached Lachute to ask for their help for fire services. Lachute now handles Administrative and Operational issues. Wentworth Station is still open. It is not easy to find volunteer fire people. There is 300 hours of training involved to be a volunteer, and you have to be available 365 days/year.
Gore has also recently approached the Lachute fire department for help. They are now sharing resources. There is no intention of closing anything that currently exists. From an insurance perspective, there is a lessor rate for homes that are 8 km or less around a Fire Station. They have four full-time firefighters in Lachute during the day. Since March, the Quebec Law has changed which demands that the fastest service should respond. In some cases, Lachute can arrive faster than the part-time firefighters in the other Municipalities, even though they are closer. It may depend on whether it is during the day or at night.
A question was asked regarding Brownsburg-Chatham where three houses have burnt down in the past 20 years. Mr. St. Jacques advised that they are working much closer together and there is multi-station response. Call 911. The dispatch is all pre-programmed.
Another question was asked regarding the height of the trees to make it easy for the fire trucks to get in. They require 15 feet and citizens should clear their roads to provide good clearance for the truck – otherwise firefighters would have to walk down the road instead of having the truck available to them.
It was noted that there was an instance 2 years ago where there was a power line that fell down across the Dunany road. When the person called 911, she was asked to call Hydro Quebec. Mr. St. Jacques suggested that if that happens call Lachute so that they can follow up. Jim Anderson advised that the 911 person should have called the SQ – who would have followed up. Ideally, if there is a live line across the road, no one should cross it as you are putting yourself at risk. Dunany road is a Provincial road and you can call 511 – but Transport Quebec has very few resources available to them.
Mr. St-Jacques was asked to speak to the advantage of having a smoke detectors directly linked to central monitoring. He noted that when there is a fire and deaths occur in ¾ of the cases, the smoke detector was not functional. Mr. St. Jacques noted that it was very important to have functioning smoke detectors. 1/3 of houses currently don’t have one. The law is to have 1 per floor of a residence. But if you are linked directly to an alarm system, it is better.
A question was asked as to how they find a house when 911 is called because sometimes “Google Maps” is wrong. Mr. St-Jacques asked to be informed about the address of such houses and will ensure access is correct in the system. The service is for police, ambulance and firefighters.
He was asked about who determines whether the equipment is up to date. The Municipality is responsible for the governance and quality of the equipment for each Municipality. They do annual inspections, etc. There are two kinds of trucks – tankers (1,500 gallons) and pumpers (500 – 1,000 gallons). They have a range of equipment. The cost of a fire truck is $1M.
He was also asked whether we should burn brush if we have some around our houses and whether it is better to burn it or just have it in a pile. He recommended not burning.
He was also asked if they re-charge fire extinguishers – they don’t. No fire station does; he suggested using private companies to do that.
7. Reports
a) Security/Emergency Preparedness
Johanne Vallée noted that there is nothing to report on security. We have not had any thefts this year.
On Emergency Preparedness, JV spoke to the evolution of Climate Change and how everyone needs to be more vigilant. She distributed a tool that was used to examine the level of risk. The MRC of Argenteuil is of high risk in all areas (wind, fire, landslides, etc.). She noted that we are developing a plan for the Community for each Lake to ensure that we can help each other if a crisis arises. She also noted that we are responsible for our own health and security for the first 72 hours after a disaster/emergency and distributed a list of important telephone numbers. There is also information available on what should be in a Security Kit to handle such an event. Bonnie Swaine added that the coordinators of each lake are Johanne Vallee for Clear, Carole Sauvé on Black Lake, Andy Therrien on Curran and Bonnie Swaine on Boyd.
b) Dunany Trail
The Dunany trail crosses the northern half of our community from St. Paul’s Church to Curran Lake. It was an initiative of Bob Percy’s and the DCA 10 years ago. They have ‘stitched’ together other trails in the woods. The DCA’s job has been to keep them open and accessible. From December to April, it is kept open by several volunteers, who Brian thanked: Bob Percy, Simon Octeau, Jim Andreson and Marie-Claude, Peter Curtin, Bill Gauley, Pierre Demers. Conditions are spectacular during the winter. They aren’t as accessible in the summer months as we can’t access them through the Golf course. He will try to speak to a few of the property owners to see if we can get better access in the summer months. He will also look at seeing if he could start to incorporate trails from the southern network into the northern network. Last year they added more signs to clearly mark the trail.
There was discussion that if you have dogs on the trails please clean up after them.
c) Environment
Jacques Pigeonreported on the state of our lakes. He published a report in April, and the news was all good. The highest classification we can have is ultra-oligotrophic. Of all the lakes that are part of the Quebec program, there is only 1 lake that qualifies for that directive – it has a depth of 800 feet. At the provincial level only 1/3 are in good shape and the rest are in a state of decay. Next year the report will come from Daniel Payette.
He also spoke to fish stocking. Late April DCA sent out a notice to see what fish were caught on what lakes. There were 13 trout caught on Boyd and 15 on Black from six fishermen. He sent another message out at the end of May. There was one trout on Clear and two speckled trout on Curran. We will continue this tracking and send out another message at the end of August. Once we get the data, we will analyze and see what actions to take.
Some questions have been raised about contamination from the fish stocking process. Our fish come from the Pisciculture de Mont-Tremblant. They have all the accreditation you can ask for and they supply the lakes for the Provincial Government. There has never been a contamination case reported in the past.
Daniel Payette noted that it takes a village to replace Jacques Pigeon and France. He shared that the ‘old house’ on the Dunany Road has been gutted and is dangerous – where it is located is on a huge piece of land that follows the Northern edge of Lachute and goes down past the East River. There was some risk that it would be sold to a developer and developed. The good news is that it was purchased by Ducks Unlimited for pure conservation purposes. There are plans for a ‘development’ so people can access it as an interpretation center. That was done through the Lakefield Conservation Center. They are also looking to buy another section of wetland.
Daniel also noted that the Smith property on Clear Lake has been sold to a colleague with no desire for development.
d) Roads André Therrien talked about a chronic problem on the curve on Curran. They have added signs, but the problem persists. He has asked the Municipality and the Province to add a flashing light and this is ongoing. It is a very poorly designed corner. Andre was asked whether it would be easier to take the corner out. André advised that he has been speaking with the Municipality.
There is a gravel section on Curran Road and 17 residents have been doing maintenance on their own. They approached Wentworth to see if they would take over that road and make it a municipal road. The residents have improved the road to make it easier for emergency vehicles to access. The DCC has supported their request.
Spring cleanup was done again in April – after snow melting and before black flies and golf. AT talked about a Sir John beer called “Dunany Road” and was looking at a way to reward those that do the clean ups. Sir John contributed a case of beer and André acknowledged the work of the core team of Gail and Brian Robinson, Carol and John Wilson, Judy Hammond and Glenn Cameron and handed out ‘beers of appreciation’.
John Wilson noted that there tends to be a pattern of things that are left on the road. We should maybe send out something to encourage people to take their garbage home. ACTION: DCA to discuss whether to send out a communication on this
e) Activities
Marina Chambers spoke about artists, walking clubs, knitters and noted that the DCA has lots of activities. She advised that residents should go on the website and check it out. She noted that July 28 Lois Finch and Chris Jackson are hosting a SPANK on Black lake. There are 16 kayaks that will be lent by the Black Lake residents to those from other lakes. It starts at 9:00 a.m. and there will be lots of parking. Any money raised will go to the Dunany trails. This is an effort to keep SPANK going given the new boat washing rules.
f) Fish stocking
The president noted that we will continue one more year with fish stocking. It is a significant part of our budget and then we will visit it next year with more complete data. One of the benefits of our stocking program is that we had an infiltration of sunfish before we started our fish stocking, which has been reduced. There is also the benefit of educating our children to teach them about the environment.
Judy Hammond had a question on the pumpkin sunfish. There were no sunfish one year ago. They started to show up in the 70’s. Rod Armstrong noted that warm water fish are more active.
8. Financial Review
a) Membership
Bonnie Swaine is now in charge of Membership and the collection of dues. She advised that we achieved our objective of collecting from 75% of residents for 2024. For 2025 you should have received notice of fees due. She advised that there is a new email address to pay your bill by and it is: ardca.membre@gmail.com. She also thanked everyone that has paid.
She noted that dues would remain at $45 again for this year.
b) Financials and budget
The treasurer noted that the DCA usually runs a slight surplus. He reviewed the Income Statement that was available online and noted that revenues were a little higher than last year due to a grant from the Municipality of Wentworth. We did have a surplus last year of $1,1006, compared to the plan of a balanced budget. On our Balance sheet we had about $9,600 in the bank in our current account, and we have a term deposit of $11,000 which is invested. We are in an enviable cash position of $21,000. In accounts payable we have money that is accrued for our beaver trapper.
c) Financial Review Committee
The President noted that unfortunately, Annabelle Moore could not be with us today. The Secretary read out the report from the Committee that ‘Annabelle has reviewed the books for this year and is comfortable that the financial results are a true reflection of the activity of the Association”. She asked for a motion to receive the financial statements as presented.
Motion to Approve: June Parker
Seconded: Rod Armstrong
d) Budget 2025 – AS noted that our budget is similar to the one for last year. We have budgeted the same amount for fish stocking. We do have $1,000 for a review of aquatic species for Boyd Lake. The Budget has been presented to and approved by the Board of Directors.
9. Nominating Committee Report for 2025-2026
Bonnie Swaine, Chair of the Nominations Committee, proposed that the following DCA members be nominated to the Board of Directors for the period of one year from the AGM on July 27, 2025, to the ensuing DCA AGM in 2026:
President – Alex Sandhal, Black Lake
Past president Bonnie Swaine, Boyd Lake
Secretary Lynn Palmer, Clear Lake
Treasurer (Interim) Alex Sandhal, Black Lake
Communications Jacques Pigeon, Clear Lake
Environment Daniel W. Payette, Clear Lake
Director – Trudy Adams, Lac /Black Lake
Director Johanne Vallée, Lac Clair – Clear Lake
Director André Therrien, Curran Lake
Director Marina Chambers, Black Lake
Motion to Approve: June Parker
Seconded: Diane Hislop
10. Questions and Varia
Alex thanked the members of the Board for their work over the year. He particularly thanked Brian Robinson for all his work past/present and future on our Dunany Trail and for working so tirelessly to improve it. He also thanked France Jobin for staffing the welcome desk.
Revilla Sauve spoke to the importance of the DCA – and how 24 years ago there was a full algae bloom on Clear Lake. She thanked Rod Armstrong who was DCA President at the time who gathered all the Municipalities together to help deal with the situation and noted how that moment really defined the critical mandate for our DCA.
She also spoke to the Municipal Elections in November and re-iterated that we need a representative on Council and encouraged any who were interested to apply.
Maureen Dubiel noted that she has a house at 2235 Dunany Road and that they would like to demolish their cottage and build a more permanent residence. They were advised that it was on a list for ‘pre-inventory’ of Heritage Status. She was wondering if the DCA could help inform members about the ‘pre-inventory list’ and making sure that owners/residents are ok with it. The President spoke to the issue around St. Aidan’s church and cemetery and the Cleary farm and noted that the latter would not be added to the list. His understanding is anything built after 1945 is exempt from this designation. He noted that we would follow up. ACTION: AS to follow up
Judy Hammond asked about the speed on the Dunany Road and noted that there are 56 hidden driveways. She noted that there is precedent for reduced speed on the Provincial Road from Grenville to St. Andrews near Greece’s point in Cushing. ACTION: AT to follow up.
Bob Percy noted that that the Mayor of Gore is retiring who has served the Community for 30 years. He suggested that the Board send a letter of thanks. He also noted that at 4:00 p.m. the Church will be open for service. ACTION: DCA to follow up.
Joel Hay wondered whether there are other/additional uses for the new cell tower. For example, can it be used for a short-wave system? ACTION: DCA to see whether there are other tools that could use the cell tower.
11. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 11:40 –
Motion to Approve: Diane Hislop
Seconded: Joel Hay
