Lennoxville residents face identity crisis over “borough no. 3”
Some of those who consider themselves residents of Lennoxville were troubled to discover that they have been living in “Borough No. 3” for the last month. Following the municipal restructuring put in place by the city’s previous council, all four of the city’s boroughs are designated by numbers until such time as the new council determines a process through which to name them.
The previous city council, under the leadership of Mayor Bernard Sévigny, restructured the city so that it is made up of four boroughs rather than six. In that process, the boroughs of Mont-bellevue and Jacques-cartier were joined together into one central borough while the boroughs of Rock-forest-saint-elie-deauville and Brompton were also merged. Although the boroughs formerly known as Lennoxville and Fleurimont experienced no change in their external borders as a result of the restructuring, the city is still referring to all boroughs by number in place of names in all official documentation, leaving the task of naming the new divisions to the council that was elected on November 5.
Asked about the issue, former Lennoxville Borough President David Price clarified that the number assignment is a legal matter at the provincial level.
“They don’t care about the names,” Price said, explaining that although all
the boroughs have names that are decided upon by the council, from a legal standpoint they exist only as numbers. Prior to the change in Sherbrooke’s structure, Lennoxville was borough number six in the eyes of the provincial government.
The former councilor added that his understanding at the time was that Lennoxville was assured its name because of the lack of change to its borders.
“It’s stated in the minutes,” Price said, adding that although the name would need to be made official by the city’s toponymy committee, he didn’t foresee it as an issue.
Lennoxville’s current President, Claude Charron, seemed less certain about the matter.
“We don’t have the intention of keeping the numbers, that’s for sure,” Charron said, emphasizing the temporary nature of “borough no. 3” and stating that he is making an effort to get the matter of borough names on the agenda of the city council
Council President Nicole Bergeron said that the discussion surrounding the naming of boroughs should be addressed by the council within the month of December, but she noted that the process might take more or less time depending on how the councilors decide to go about it.
“If there are public consultations it might take longer,” Bergeron said.