Borough Council
Verdun’s borough council consists of three city councillors and four borough councillors. The borough mayor presides over council sessions in which all councillors participate.
The council’s role
The council administers city business within the borough.
On behalf of the city, the council oversees the areas of responsibilities
defined in Montréal’s city charter (in French).
These areas mostly pertain to such community services as:
- Urban planning and local economic development
- Borough roads and parks
- Collection of household and other solid waste and
selective collection
- Permits and inspections
- Culture
- Recreation and sports
- Social and community development
- Human resources
- Fire prevention
- Non-fiscal user fees
- Financial management
Financing
The city sets the borough’s annual budget fund, which totalled $34,131,600 for Verdun in 2008. The borough council may also apply a user fee system to finance its goods, services and activities.
Council meetings
Elected officials must meet in regular session at least 10 times per year to resolve issues and questions that are submitted to them. Majority vote rules.
Regular council meetings are held the first Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m., except for January and August.
- Borough council room: 4555, rue de Verdun.
Question period
In order to allow more residents to speak, borough council has revised the structure of the question period. Each person who wants to ask a question at the council meeting must now register beforehand. The registration period is held from 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on council meeting evenings. Each resident is entitled to ask two questions at the start of the meeting, on a topic of his choice. The first may include a short introduction of no more than two minutes, and the second must be short and asked with no introduction at all. Residents also have the chance to ask a brief question at the end of the meeting, on one of the topics dealt with during that council session. In addition, a committee made up of the mayor, another elected representative and the borough manager has been set up in order to ensure follow-up, in writing, and in less than 10 days, if possible, to any questions that may have remained unanswered at the council meeting.
At these same meetings, residents may also file petitions or submit requests on topics of concern to them in relation to the municipality. Anyone interested in doing so may take advantage of this opportunity at any time by contacting the Accès Verdun office.
