Councillor Réjean Meilleur files assault complaint against Mayor Newberry
Councillor Réjean Meilleur files assault complaint against Mayor Newberry
Tuesday, April 28th – A family member of Réjean Meilleur, a L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet council member, said in a Facebook post alleging that Mayor Serge Newberry would have verbally and physically attacked Councilor Meilleur, an elderly man of 72 years old.
CHIP 101.9 was able to confirm that a complaint was filed with the Sûreté du Québec by councilor Meilleur against mayor Newberry for assault. Although Réjean Meilleur refused to be interviewed publicly by CHIP 101.9, he confirmed that he received an unexpected visit from Serge Newberry and that he is awaiting legal proceedings before making a comment.
The events were said to have occurred at Meilleur residence, who lives with his mother who is over 90 years old. Following this visit, Mayor Newberry went to Councilor Alice Meilleur-Pieschke, 71, where he also allegedly had a heated conversation with her. Councillor Meilleur-Pieschke also refused to comment publicly. She said, however, that she hopes the proceedings will follow their course. Still according to information obtained by CHIP 101.9, the events were also reported to the Commission Municipale du Québec (CMQ).
Note that the two Councillors in question are over the age of 70 and are therefore part of the group more at risk of contracting COVID-19. In this context, certain health security measures were not respected. CHIP 101.9 invited mayor Newberry to give his version of the facts and will be made available upon receiving his responce.
Issues dating further back than yesterday
Recall that Councilor Réjean Meilleur was suspended by the Quebec Municipal Commission, in January.
The mayor of L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet was also the subject of a complaint made to the CMQ by the MRC Pontiac in the Îles Lafontaine file. Councilor James Azola also stated during a municipal meeting that he too had filed a complaint with the CMQ against Mayor Newberry. The CMQ has not issued any updates concerning Serge Newberry. On several occasions, votes that took place in the past few months have divided the municipal council. On one side are Councilors Mona Donnely, Martin Bertrand and Mario Bérard who were behind Mayor Newberry and on the other side, Councilors Réjean Meilleur, James Azola and Alice Meilleur-Pieschke.
Remember that in addition to the passage of five different mayors since 2013 (Paul-Émile Maleau, Irène Nadeau, Pierre Fréchette, Jean-Louis Corriveau and Serge Newberry), the municipality has also seen five different director generals (Jacques Mantha, Lisa Dagenais , Lisa Boisvert, Paul Langlois and the current director Sabrina Larivière.) During the same period, Councilor Patrice Dumouchel, elected in 2017 also resigned a few weeks later.
