Paralyzed for several days, the Municipality of Sainte-Pétronille convenes an extraordinary session

Paralyzed for several days, the Municipality of Sainte-Pétronille, on Île d’Orléans, convened an extraordinary meeting of the municipal council to discuss the thorny issue of human resources.

In crisis for a year, Sainte-Pétronille does not seem to be at the end of its troubles.

The extraordinary meeting of the municipal council will take place on Wednesday, December 4, at 6:30 p.m., at the town hall of the municipality.

No notice or agenda has been published so far. The municipality would not currently have the necessary staff to manage day-to-day affairs.

A few days before the budget is tabled, the municipal offices have been closed for at least 48 hours and Mayor Jean Côté has not responded to questions from the Journal.

General management

The next regular meeting had already been postponed to December 16.

According to different sources, the two positions at the general management of the municipality should be discussed on Wednesday.

Contested since her hiring, general director Nathalie Paquet left her position for an indefinite period on July 18.

The day before, The Journal reported a lawsuit before the courts in connection with the death of a citizen of the municipality of Val-des-Lacs, his former employer.

The lawsuit against the Municipality of Val-des-Lacs and Nathalie Paquet, the former general director, was filed in Superior Court by the estate of the late Bertrand Thomas and Diane Raymond Thomas, his spouse.

At the same time, the elected officials of Sainte-Pétronille had asked the Fédération québécoise des municipalities to appoint an interim director general because the deputy director general and deputy clerk-treasurer, Marie-Claude Pouliot, had refused the promotion.

In a twist, however, DG Nathalie Paquet returned from her sick leave in October, but the municipal council meeting was then canceled in the absence of elected officials.

An expected report

For his part, the special advisor to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs Mario Caron appointed to “accompany the Municipality and support it in its relations with citizens”, has now completed his mandate. His report has not been released publicly.

The mayor of Sainte-Pétronille, Jean Côté, has always defended the hiring process of Nathalie Paquet.

For former federal deputy Louis Duclos, who has lived in Sainte-Pétronille, on Île d’Orléans, since 1977, the situation is turning ridiculous.

“At the very beginning of the saga, I used the expression “grand guignol”. This confirms what I said. I don’t know what’s in the air here. It’s far from improving,” says the former politician.

According to him, there is only one thing left to do in Sainte-Pétronille.

“The only way to get out of this is to put the Municipality under supervision. This is where we are, until November 2025, for the elections.