After decades of managing the activities at the public beach, the North Hatley Recreational Society (NHRS), a non-profit organization composed of volunteers, has suspended its activities for the summer and winter periods of 2018-2019.

According to town officials, the beach will still open this summer and continue with business as usual.

The decision was made after negotiations between the NHRS and the municipality failed to reach a formal agreement regarding the management of the beach.

Both parties have published detailed explanations of the situation; North Hatley released a special ‘News from Council’ edition outlining the town’s position. The NHRS put a post on its website with a document entitled ‘Context leading to the decision to suspend the NHRS activities’.

Citizens have thrown their hat into the ring as well, with a petition calling for a committee to be formed to come up with an agreement to satisfy both parties, maintaining the status quo at the beach in the meantime.

According to NHRS President Mathieu Devinat, who has been with the organization for two years, the group suspended its activities because of the municipality’s refusal to budge on key issues at the beach.

“It wasn’t a decision that was taken lightly,” he said, adding that a substantial part of the issue was related to financial concerns.

Among the conditions that the town wanted to impose were extended hours for lifeguard supervision at the beach and free entry for North Hatley residents. According to Devinat, the conditions came without an offer of additional funding from the town to make up for the losses that would be incurred.

A countermeasure was proposed by the town to increase the fees for non-residents to use the beach.

Devinat explained that because the town’s stipulations were presented as non-negotiable, the NHRS had no choice but to walk away.

As a non-profit, beginning the summer knowing, based on figures from previous years, that operating the beach with the imposed conditions would lead to a deficit was unreasonable, Devinat said. He added that the price increase for non-residents could risk decreasing membership rather than boosting revenues, and would also penalize community members outside of town who have volunteered and contributed to the successful running of the beach over the years.

Another issue was locking the front gate of the beach outside of supervised hours, preventing public access.

According to Devinat and the NHRS, locking the gate would not deter use and would likely cause bigger liability issues, and also lead to a decline in the quality of life of residents in the area who often frequent the beach outside of opening hours.

North Hatley Mayor Michael Page said that the negotiations that led to the standoff with the NHRS stemmed from a need on the part of the municipality, as owner of the beach, to account for what goes on there.

“It’s got to be a clearer picture. We need to justify money spent from taxpayers,” he said, adding that there are insurance issues to consider.

“I know how the history of North Hatley is based on volunteers, I appreciate that, I’m sensitive to those issues,” Page said.

“We’re not tossing volunteers aside.” According to Page, year after year, the NHRS was asking for additional support both financially and administratively.

Requiring more accountability, Page said the town couldn’t continue blindly handing over cheques.

“Last year we gave them a cheque to operate, reluctantly, without all the necessary information,” commented Page, adding that they were warned to be more prepared this year.

“They never had to work with a structure in the past. It just can’t continue like that. There are questions the town has to answer,” commented Page.

Regarding the bones of contention, Page said it is not uncommon for nonresidents of a municipality to pay a premium for services in another town. In terms of financing, he said the town was open to contributing more for additional supervision. As for the locking of the gate, Page said closing after hours was entirely reasonable for safety and security reasons.

As it stands, Page said the town intends to assume management of the beach this summer.

“They will come back next year,” Page said, assuming the town and the NHRS will be able to come to an agreement at some point before next summer.

Devinat said the consensus among NHRS members was that it would be a good idea to let the municipality live the experience of running the beach and see what the job entails.

Regarding the beach equipment, the bulk of which belongs to the NHRS, Devinat said the equipment was purchased for use with the organization’s mission to provide activities to locals at affordable rates. Should the town’s plan be consistent with that mission, the NHRS will lend the equipment to the town free of charge. If not, they could be headed back to the negotiating table, Devinat said.

Devinat added that at some point town council will have to account for a statement made where they stated there are “no plans to privatize lands or to hand over any part of the public beach to a private company.”

According to Devinat, the ententes proposed by the town very clearly indicated that a private for-profit company offering paddleboard services would be coming to the beach and space would need to be made available.