Four of the six Pincourt councillors voted to support a new agreement to rent ice time at the Vaudreuil-Dorion arena.

The votes were cast during an extraordinary council session at the Omni-Centre on Monday evening, June 19. District 1 Councillor Hugo Gendron and District 3 Councillor Sam Ierfino voted against the resolution.

The neighbouring municipalities of Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot and Terrasse-Vaudreuil adopted similar resolutions at their respective extraordinary council sessions last night.

Vaudreuil-Dorion council also adopted its own resolution at its regular council meeting last night to allow the city to proceed with negotiations to purchase the arena. 

Pincourt Mayor Claude Comeau said the process was necessary to give Vaudreuil-Dorion the green light to start the purchase phase.

"We've been working on this issue for a few weeks now and finalized the agreement last Friday," said Comeau.

"This is what Vaudreuil-Dorion needed to start the process. It's the middle of June and the hockey season starts in August. They're in a bit of rush to get the negotiations going for the purchase," he added. 

The cost of the arena rental for all three municipalities will be will be about $60,000 between the three towns, said Comeau.

Pincourt councillors present their opposing viewpoints

The mayor took issue with the Councillors Gendron and Ierfino who voted against the resolution. 

"If people aren't for it, that's fine. I don't have a problem with that but to say you're for it and don't want to vote for it, I don't understand that," said Comeau. 

Ierfino said after the meeting that he supports the project but voted against it because it was only presented last Friday and it didn't give him enough time to properly review the project details before the extraordinary council session.

Gendron said he also supports the town's initiative to rent the arena because the infrastructure doesn't exist on Île Perrot, but said it wasn't necessary to do it at a special council session.

"This agreement between Vaudreuil-Dorion, Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot and Terrasse-Vaudreuil requires a major commitment for our town and it must be carefully analyzed," said Gendron in a statement.

"It would have been preferable to study the project in greater depth and present it at the regular monthly council meeting, even if it meant holding an information session. In my opinion, there was no advantage in adopting this at a special meeting, which is why I voted against it," Gendron added.