To the Editor:
Mitch Lavoie asks a lot of questions in his letter to the editor about off-highway vehicle use in the Oct. 5 issue of the St. Paul Journal. I have one question of my own that I would like to ask Mr. Lavoie. Did you even bother to get the facts before you started your campaign to discredit the County of St. Paul and myself? I can tell that you didn’t. In 2008, the Lac Sante Family Recreational Society approached council and asked for our support.
Council did not enter into any agreements, verbal or written, for trail development. What council did do was tell the Lac Sante Family Recreational Society to get letters of permission from all adjacent landowners and then come back to council with their project, because we do recognize the needs and rights of landowners. The Society never did come back to council and no permission was ever granted to the Society to proceed with trail development and no agreement was entered into between the County and the Society.
The only concession the County of St. Paul provided to the Society was after the fact. Council agreed that a quarter of a mile of trail did not need to be reclaimed provided the Society cleaned up the area, they provided adjacent landowners with fencing material and signed the trail as winter use only and no ATVs allowed. Council agreed to do this as there was no environmental issue on this particular section of the trail.
On a final note, these decisions are discussed by council as a whole. Council is made up of six elected officials who all have a voice around the table. This is how the County of St. Paul operates, contrary to your suggestion that the Reeve has free reign to do as he pleases. As a doctor, I think you would be conscious of how council works and that you would make sure you have the right information and facts before proceeding. Or is this because there is an election coming up and this is your attempt to damage the reputation of myself and council?
Robert Bouchard
Reeve of the County of St. Paul
