While the North Hatley Recreational Society (NHRS) has suspended its activities for the summer, citizens from the village and neighbouring towns aren’t ready to see the volunteer run non-profit walk away from the management of the public beach. North Hatley council was grilled for over an hour by locals wondering what’s to come for the summer at the beach. After over 50 years of running the beach activities including swimming, sailing and tennis, the NHRS opted to step aside. The decision was the result of a breakdown in negotiations between NHRS and the municipality, which had imposed a number of conditions on the organization for the summer. According to NHRS President Mathieu Devinat, the conditions were presented as non-negotiable and would have caused the volunteer-run non-profit to run a deficit for the summer, something that was unacceptable, Devinat said. Leading up to Monday evening’s council meeting, a group of around 20 protestors gathered next to town hall before with signs about the beach and NHRS. Once the meeting began, over an hour was spent discussing the management of Pleasant View, which will be undertaken by the municipality this summer. Before question period began, North Hatley Mayor Michael Page recognized the work done by the NHRS over the years and its contribution to the community. “Everyone here on the council believes that,” Page said. “It was never in our goals to run the beach. We have enough to do,” he said. Questions began with the submission of a petition asking council to allow the NHRS to assume management of the beach this summer with the agreement from previous years, while forming a bi-partisan committee to help decide on a course of action for next year to the satisfaction of citizens, the village and NHRS. See full story in the Wednesday, May 9th edition of The Record.
North Hatley council fields complaints from citizens about Pleasant View Beach management
