To the residents of North Hatley and people in surrounding communities interested in our recreational program,

As you may have heard, last week the North Hatley Recreation Society (NHRS) announced that it has decided not to run its summer program this year for the first time in many years. Their announcement has caused some residents of our village and of the surrounding communities some concern and confusion about what NHRS’s cessation of activities will mean for them. The municipality would therefore like to bring some perspective on the situation and to assure you that there WILL be a summer program at our public beach this year for all who wish to participate.

Before we go further, the municipality would like to express its appreciation for all the volunteers in our communities who have, over many decades, worked tirelessly to carry out NHRS’s mission of providing high quality recreational activities at an affordable cost. Thanks to the dedication of these volunteers, who have generously invested innumerable hours of their valuable time without remuneration of any kind, North Hatley residents and those of neighbouring communities have been able to benefit over the years from the excellent program of recreational activities offered by NHRS. North Hatley’s council and administration have always worked hand-in-hand with NHRS to make the summer program the success it has been. The municipality has always provided the physical location rent-free (beach property and tennis courts), has maintained the properties using its own resources at no charge to NHRS, and has provided substantial financial assistance to NHRS in the form of an annual grant for operation of the program.

Clarification regarding the management of the beach and its activities …

As the owner of the building and grounds at the municipal beach, the municipality recognizes that the primary responsibility for management of our public beach falls to us. The municipality has the ultimate responsibility to provide good management and a safe environment for our beach. For many years we were fortunate to have a partnership with a volunteer organization that provided our recreational activities and which we supported financially and administratively.

However in the last few years as demands for more regulation grew, the municipality found it increasingly more difficult to keep the finances and management responsibilities of the village and NHRS clearly defined. The municipality must now ensure that activities at the beach are conducted in a safe and secure environment in conformity with current laws and regulations.

In 2017, acting on the advice of the municipality’s insurance providers, Council and our administration decided to set up an “entente”, a written agreement to clarify the responsibilities of the two parties (NHRS and the municipality) on an annual basis. After some negotiation, the first ever written agreement between our two organizations was signed.

During the 2017 season of activities, a number of issues arose which the municipality wished to address for the following season (2018). These included the following:

– We wished to provide our citizens with improved beach access by increasing the hours of supervised operation to 8 or 9 pm (rather than 5:30 pm in 2016) and opening the beach from mid June until Labour Day (depending upon availability of lifeguards). This would provide up to 77 hours of supervised bathing per week.

• Extended hours at the beach would allow residents better access, but after hours we needed to ensure that the beach premises were securely locked when the property was not under supervision, especially given that the beach is recognized as a designated public bathing place and is in a residential neighbourhood.

– For swimming lessons, (usually a small group of participants) a small registration fee should be charged, allowing this activity to be self- financing.

– Council wanted to give our residents free access to their beach, particularly since our citizens bear a heavier tax burden than most. We note that Ayer’s Cliff beach has free access. The municipality welcomes non-residents to our beach, but since their municipalities are not contributing to North Hatley’s recreational facilities, we think they should assume a more realistic portion of the annual costs incurred by North Hatley in running the summer program.

North Hatley taxpayers are carrying the major part of funding for memberships:

– Based on information received from NHRS, we have estimated that the average annual actual operating cost to NHRS for one beach family membership is $258.

• Last year (2017) North Hatley members (45 families) paid $120 

• In 2017 non-resident members (61 families) paid $200.

The balance for both North Hatley and non-resident memberships came from a grant from North Hatley.

A draft agreement containing these new additions to the entente was presented to the directors of NHRS on the 28th of February. NHRS was unwilling to accept the new terms and proposed rate structure, so the municipality put together a second proposal on April 10th in which the municipality offered to take charge of the beach, providing supervision of the beach and swimming lessons and assuming the cost of these operations. This would free the NHRS to pursue its tennis and sailing activities and relieve its administrators of the financial and administrative burden they felt would be imposed by the terms of the Feb 28 proposal.

The municipality really felt that this was a fair and equitable division of resources for both organizations, but was disappointed once again when NHRS rejected out of hand any part of the new proposal, although they did commend the municipality for proposing to actively engage in the operation of the summer program and agreed to continue to work with the municipality where possible. However, with the agreement unsigned, the NHRS thus had no mandate to proceed. They subsequently declared that they would cease their beachfront operation.

In the wake of these events, the municipality is now committed to organizing the summer program so that we can offer a similar summer beach experience to that which NHRS has provided through the years.

To put a stop to certain rumours circulating, we would like to reassure the citizens of North Hatley that there are no plans to privatize lands or to hand over any part of the public beach to a private company. Our municipal administration has many years of experience in recreational management and is now preparing to take over the management of operations and activities at the beach. The municipal administration and the beach manager are currently making preparations for the upcoming summer season. The village is hiring qualified personnel, giving priority to team members from the previous year. Rest assured that membership in the beach program this summer will be at least on a par with the service provided by NHRS. Meanwhile, we thank you for your patience and understanding during this period of transition.

And finally, following a number of questions that have been asked by citizens, Council would like to reassure citizens that it has no plans to privatize land or to allow the construction of condominiums in the public ball park.

Council is well aware that North Hatley is endowed with exceptional qualities that make life here special, and we are doing our very best to make the most of our beautiful village. We will continue to work to take care of and preserve its greatest assets, including its public parks.

The members of Council and the directors of the administration of the municipality are always available to answer any of your questions or to provide you with further clarification. We ask you to contact any Council member, our Mayor Mike Page, or our administrative head M. Daniel Décary with any concern you have.

Respectfully,

The Council of North Hatley

 

The opinions expressed on this website are those of their authors. Space on the website is provided as a service to the community and FANHCA, its administrators and host cannot be held responsible for any of the opinions expressed thereon.

La municipalité de North Hatley a décidé de prendre la relève et de gérer les activités à la plage.

(English follows)

C’est avec regret que les membres du Conseil d’administration de la Société récréative de North Hatley ont pris la décision, le 11 avril dernier, de rejeter unanimement le protocole d’entente proposé par la Ville de North Hatley en vue d’encadrer ses activités pendant l’été 2018.

En raison de ce refus, elle va suspendre l’ensemble de ses activités pour les périodes estivale et d’hiver pendant l’année 2018-2019. Pour plus d’information au sujet des raisons de cette décision, nous vous prions de consulter la partie suivante : « Contexte de la décision de la SRNH ».

Par ailleurs, le Conseil d’administration de la SRNH souhaite confirmer que malgré la suspension de ses activités, elle compte poursuivre avec autant d’énergie et d’enthousiasme sa mission de contribuer à l’accessibilité des activités récréatives à l’ensemble des familles de la région.

Les modalités concernant les activités qui seront offertes et les coûts de celles-ci n’ont pas encore été précisées, mais la municipalité de North Hatley va – selon toute vraisemblance – prendre la relève.

Nous invitons nos membres désirant obtenir plus d’information à communiquer directement avec la municipalité. SVP voir le site web du Village (lien en bas).

Conseil d’administration

Mathieu Devinat, président

Michael Munkittrick, secrétaire

Carrol Haller

Dave Blodgett

Steve Percy

Darryl Williams

Elaine Lebourveau

Kirsta Fidler

John McCrea

**

Contexte de la décision de la SRNH

Mission de la SRNH : offrir des activités récréatives à l’ensemble de la communauté

La SRNH organise et offre depuis plus de 50 ans des activités récréatives de qualité, sécuritaires et à faible coûts aux familles habitant la région. Parmi les activités offertes, on trouve :

• L’été : la surveillance de la plage, les cours de natation, les cours de voile, les cours de tennis, les cours de golf, des activités spéciales le vendredi pour les enfants, du ping pong, du football sur table, des terrains de volleyball, des jeux de société, un espace de lecture et un accès à des courts de tennis, etc.

• L’hiver : la patinoire et l’espace de patinage dans le parc de North Hatley.

Financement des activités de la SRNH : le fruit d’une participation de nombreux bénévoles et de dons généreux

Afin de financer ses activités et d’assurer un accès à un coût modique, la SRNH organise tous les ans de nombreuses activités de levées de fonds, telle que les petits déjeuners, la course de la Fête des mères, le salon des antiquités et des arts populaires, la danse–méchoui et la vente de garage. Le succès de ces activités repose sur la participation de plus de 70 bénévoles qui proviennent de l’ensemble des municipalités de la région. Grâce à eux et aux contributions de généreux donateurs, la SRNH a pu amasser plus de 150 000$ depuis 2012 qui ont été entièrement réinvestis à la communauté.

En effet, ces fonds ont permis d’offrir, années après années, des services de qualité à un coût modéré et de financer l’achat, entre autres, des courts de tennis (60 000$), de voiliers (plus de 20 000$), de contribuer aux rénovations du chalet sur la plage (plus de 40 000$), et d’équipements sportifs (par ex. les tables de ping pong, un bateau zodiac, une zamboni, etc.). De cette somme, plus de 100 000$ ont directement profité à la municipalité de North Hatley sous forme de dons.

Activités à la plage et relations avec la municipalité

Depuis 2017, les activités de la SRNH sont encadrées par un protocole d’entente avec la municipalité de North Hatley, qui est propriétaire de la plage, qui fixe les modalités des services offerts par chacune des parties.

Au moment de son renouvellement, la direction municipale de North Hatley a présenté plusieurs nouvelles conditions qu’elle a expressément décrite comme étant « non négociables ». Compte tenu du caractère inacceptable de celles-ci, la SRNH n’a eu d’autre choix que de rejeter la proposition de la municipalité et de suspendre ses activités pour l’année en cours. Parmi les conditions imposées par la municipalité qui ont été fermement rejetées par la SRNH on trouve les exigences suivantes:

1) Augmentation substantielle de la tarification pour les non-résidents de North Hatley qui passerait de 200$ à 300$: 

Le refus de la SRNH est motivé par le fait qu’une hausse de la tarification avait déjà été effectuée récemment (de 120$ à 200$) et qu’une hausse supplémentaire allait vraisemblablement restreindre l’accès aux activités pour les familles à faible revenus, contrairement à la mission de la SRNH.

De plus, plusieurs bénévoles qui contribuent aux levées de fonds de la SRNH proviennent de l’extérieur North Hatley, il serait donc foncièrement inéquitable que cette participation soit « récompensée » par une hausse importante des frais d’inscription.

2) Gratuité d’accès à la plage pour la baignade aux résidents de North Hatley sans contrepartie de la municipalité :

La SRNH a refusé cette proposition, car elle engendrait des pertes de revenus estimées à plus de 8 000$ sans compensation par la municipalité.

Les résidents de North Hatley bénéficient déjà d’une grille tarifaire favorable (120$ pour

une famille au lieu de 200$ pour des non-résidents) et leur contribution, tout comme celle des autres membres, est essentielle pour couvrir les frais liés aux activités offertes par la SRNH.

Afin de compenser le manque à gagner entraîné par cette mesure, il aurait été nécessaire d’augmenter substantiellement les frais imposés aux autres membres non-résidents, ce qui va à l’encontre de la mission de la SRNH.

3) Augmentation du nombre d’heures de surveillance des plages sans contrepartie de la municipalité

La municipalité a demandé que les heures d’ouverture soient augmentée d’une heure, sans offrir de contrepartie financière. En raison des coûts associés à cette exigence, évalués à plus de 2000$, la SRNH a refusé cette exigence.

4) Fermeture de la plage en dehors des périodes surveillées :

Depuis un an, la municipalité a décidé d’interdire l’accès à la plage en dehors des heures de surveillance par des sauveteurs en verrouillant les portes y donnant accès.

Dans le protocole d’entente, la municipalité voulait imposer à la SRNH l’obligation de procéder à cette fermeture des portes. La SRNH a fait valoir qu’elle ne pouvait se plier à cette obligation pour les raisons suivantes :

• il n’existe aucune obligation légale imposant la fermeture des plages publiques en dehors des heures de surveillance;

• bien au contraire, le SRNH a obtenu un avis juridique, qu’elle a communiqué à la municipalité, dans lequel Me Nathalie Vézina formule plusieurs mises en garde à l’égard d’une telle pratique.

Selon Me Vézina, experte en droit de la responsabilité extra contractuelle, le verrouillage à une période où la tentation pour les usagers d’accéder au plan d’eau est clairement prévisible pour la municipalité pourrait même être de nature à augmenter les risques que la municipalité soit tenue responsable d’accidents ou de noyade. En effet, les risques d’accidents et de noyades sont accrus si les usagers qui souhaitent accéder à la plage ou au plan d’eau et qui en sont empêchés par le verrouillage de la barrière tentent d’y accéder par des moyens moins bien balisés. De plus, si un accident devait survenir, l’accès à la victime par des personnes se portant spontanément à son secours serait ralenti par la présence d’un dispositif de verrouillage. Il en va de même pour l’intervention des premiers répondants en matière de sécurité (pompiers) et des services ambulanciers appelés sur les lieux.

En l’absence d’un avis juridique contraire, la SRNH ne pouvait s’engager à verrouiller les portes de la plage lorsque les services de surveillances prennent fin, comme l’a exigé la municipalité lors des négociations pour le renouvellement du protocole d’entente.

D’ailleurs, la SRNH s’inquiète de l’impact de la fermeture de la plage en dehors des périodes de surveillance, particulièrement pendant les mois de mai, de juin et de septembre où le beau temps permettrait de profiter du Lac Massawippi. Empêcher l’accès à l’une des rares plages publique constitue, selon la SRNH, un recul sur le plan de la qualité de vie des résidents de la région.

Pour l’ensemble de ces raisons, c’est avec regret que les membres du Conseil d’administration de la SRNH ont décidé de rejeter les exigences imposées par la municipalité lors du renouvellement du protocole d’entente. La SRNH a proposé que soit reconduite l’entente initiale pour une année supplémentaire et qu’un comité bipartite soit créé afin de mener une réflexion sur les services offerts à la plage, mais la direction de la municipalité a catégoriquement rejeté cette contre-proposition, poussant la SRNH prendre la décision de suspendre ses activités.

La municipalité a accepté de prendre la relève et de gérer les activités à la plage cet été

Malgré cela, la SRNH se réjouit du fait que la municipalité ait – pour une première fois – manifesté une volonté de contribuer activement à la gestion des activités à la plage, assumant ainsi les responsabilités financières et administratives qui l’accompagne.

Pour cette raison, les membres de la SRNH ont exprimé, unanimement aussi, leur volonté de collaborer avec la municipalité dans la préparation de la saison estivale. Une rencontre est d’ailleurs prévue avec la municipalité afin que soient engagées des discussions au sujet des conditions d’utilisation de l’équipement appartenant à la SRNH afin d’assurer une continuité dans l’offre de services aux familles.

Poursuite de la mission de la SRNH

Par ailleurs, le Conseil d’administration de la SRNH souhaite confirmer que malgré la suspension de ses activités cet été, elle compte poursuivre avec autant d’énergie et d’enthousiasme sa mission de contribuer à l’accessibilité des activités récréatives à l’ensemble des familles de la région.

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The Municipality of North Hatley has decided to take over and to manage the activities at the beach.

It is with regret that the members of the Board of Directors of the North Hatley Recreational Society took the decision, on April 11, to reject unanimously the Municipality’s conditions that were imposed concerning its summer activities. See below (Context leading to the decision to suspend the NHRS activities).

Because of this refusal, it will suspend all of its activities for the summer and winter periods during the year 2018-2019.

Therefore, we invite our members to disregard the activities described in the previous email.

The NHRS will continue its mission of promoting recreational activities in the community

The NHRS Board of Directors wishes to confirm that, despite this decision to suspend its activities, it intends to pursue with as much energy and enthusiasm as before its mission to contribute to the accessibility of recreational activities to all families of the region.

The Municipality of North Hatley will take over

The terms and conditions of the activities that will be offered at the beach have not yet been established, but the Municipality of North Hatley will – in all likelihood – take over.

We invite our members who wish to obtain more information to communicate directly with the municipality. Please visit the village website (link below).

Board of directors

Mathieu Devinat, president

Michael Munkittrick, secretary

Carrol Haller

Dave Blodgett

Steve Percy

Darryl Williams

Elaine Lebourveau

Kirsta Fidler

John McCrea

**

Context leading to the decision to suspend the NHRS activities

Mission of the NHRS: offer recreational activities to the whole community

For more than 50 years, the NHRS has offered high-quality, safe and low-cost recreational activities for families living in the region. Among those activities, we find:

• Summer: beach surveillance, swimming lessons, sailing lessons, tennis lessons, golf lessons, special activities on Fridays for children, table tennis, foosball, volleyball courts, board games, reading area and access to tennis courts, etc.

• Winter: the skating rink and skating area in North Hatley Park.

Funding for NHRS activities: the product of volunteers and donations from all over the region

In order to finance its activities and to ensure a large access at a low cost, the NHRS organizes fundraising activities, such as breakfasts, i.e. the Mother’s Day race, the Antic Show, dancemechoui and garage sale. The success of these activities rests on the participation of more than 70 volunteers from all municipalities in the region. Thanks to them and the contributions of generous donors, the SRNH has raised more than $ 150,000 since 2012, which has been fully reinvested in the community.

In fact, these funds have been able to offer, year after year, quality services at a moderate cost and to finance the purchase of, among other things, tennis courts ($ 60,000), sailing boats (more than 20,000 $), to help renovate the cottage on the beach (over $ 40,000), and sports equipment (i.e. ping pong tables, zodiac boat, zamboni, etc.). Of this amount, more than $ 100,000 directly benefited the Municipality of North Hatley in the form of donations for renovations of their beach house.

The subject of disagreement: the memorandum of understanding imposed by the municipality

Since 2017, the summer activities of the NHRS are the object of a memorandum of understanding with the owner of the beach, the municipality of North Hatley, in which the terms of the services offered by each party are laid down.

At the time of its renewal, the municipality has decided to modify the initial agreement by introducing new conditions that it expressly described as “non-negotiable”. Given that these conditions are contrary to the NHRS’ mission and to the interest of its members, the board of directors had no choice but to reject the proposal and suspend its activities for the current year.

Among the conditions imposed by the municipality that following have been firmly rejected by the NHRS:

1) Substantial increase in pricing for non-residents of North Hatley from $ 200 to $ 300:

NHRS’s refusal rest on the fact that the fees for non-residents have recently been increased (from $ 120 to $ 200) and that an additional increase was likely to restrict access to activities for lowincome families, which goes against the mission of the NHRS.

2) Free access to the beach for North Hatley residents without a financial compensation from the municipality:

The municipality insists that North Hatley residents be granted free access to the beach, therefore preventing the NHRS of imposing entrance and registration fees for its services.

As a result of this measure, it is estimated that the NHRS would lose approximately $ 8,000, without any financial compensation by the municipality.

Residents of North Hatley already benefit from a different rate for the registration fees ($ 120 for a family instead of $ 200 for non-residents; free entrance for senior (60 and over) and their contribution, like that of other members, is essential to cover the costs of the activities offered by the NHRS.

In order to compensate for the shortfall caused by this measure, it would have been necessary to substantially increase the fees imposed on other non-resident members, which is highly unfair and goes against the mission of the NHRS.

3) Increased hours of beach monitoring without compensation from the municipality

The municipality has requested that the hours of operation at the beach be increased by one hour, without offering a financial compensation. The estimated costs associated to this obligation would be of $ 2,000.

4) Closing of the beach gates

Since last year, the municipality has decided to limit the access to the beach by locking the gate after service hours.

In the memorandum of understanding, the municipality wanted to impose on the NHRS the obligation to close the gates when the lifegard services would end. The NHRS submitted that could not comply with this obligation for the following reasons:

• There is no legal obligation to close public beaches outside monitoring hours;

• On the contrary, the NHRS obtained a legal opinion, that was communicated to the municipality, in which Me Nathalie Vézina suggested caution with regards to such a practice.

According to Me Vézina, an expert in the law of extra-contractual liability, foreclosure at a time when the temptation for users to access the water is clearly foreseeable. To close the gates under those circumstances could even be likely to increase the risks that the municipality be held responsible for accidents or drowning. Indeed, the risks of accidents and drowning are increased if users who wish to access the beach or water attempt to access it by other means. In addition, if an accident were to occur, access to the victim would be hindered by the presence of a locked gate. The same applies to the intervention of first responders, for example firefighters and ambulances, that would be called on the spot.

In the absence of legal advice to the contrary, the NHRS could not accept to expose itself to civil liability by locking the gates.

Moreover, the NHRS is deeply concerned about the impact of the closure of the beach outside the monitoring periods, especially during the months of May, June and September, where the good weather would make it possible to enjoy Lake Massawippi. Preventing access to one of the few public beaches is, according to the NHRS, a decline in the quality of life of residents of the region.

For all of these reasons, it is with regret that the members of the Board of Directors of the NHRS decided to reject the requirements imposed by the municipality during the renewal of the memorandum of understanding. The NHRS proposed that the initial agreement be renewed for a further year and that a bipartite committee be created to reflect on the services offered at the beach, but the municipality’s management categorically rejected this counter-proposal, pushing the NHRS to make the decision to suspend its activities.

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The opinions expressed on this website are those of their authors. Space on the website is provided as a service to the community and FANHCA, its administrators and host cannot be held responsible for any of the opinions expressed thereon.