Eganville — The date is rapidly approaching for the February 19 Bonnechere Valley Town Hall meeting to address the impending closure of the Bank of Montreal branch in the village but there has been very little cooperation so far from senior bank executives.
“The thing I am waiting on is to see if anyone will actually come from BMO,” said Bonnechere Valley Mayor Jennifer Murphy last Tuesday. “I don’t want to do too much planning without knowing.”
The format will be an open forum with the mayor as the moderator.
“I will let people have their say,” she said.
The mayor said council will be on the panel in the front listening to the concerns of the community.
“We will explain it as we know it because even we were not given a heads up,” she said. “We will let people come to a miC.”
The meeting is February 19 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Eagles Nest.
“And we will allow people to linger and talk,” said Councillor John Epps.
“My hope is Bank of Montreal will send somebody,” the mayor said. “At least one person.”
“It’s really disappointing they didn’t have an open house,” said Councillor Tracey Sanderson.
Mayor Murphy agreed.
“It is our role to advocate for our residents and we didn’t have any say in say Freshmart closing,” she said. “They left in the middle of the night. We had no idea. It’s a shame. It’s a service that I know a lot of people in the village miss.”
“At least Freshmart has a chance of reopening under a new guy,” said Councillor John Epps. “This does not.”
Mayor Murphy said she is hoping the letters council sent will elicit a response and someone from BMO will attend the meeting.
CAO Annette Gilchrist said she continues to reach out to other contacts, as do members of council at various levels of government for support.
“The public has been asking if we should do a petition,” she said.
As well, the Northern Credit Union has reached out and asked if they can do anything and a representative is planning on attending the meeting, she said.
“If they would like to explain what they do very well at the credit union and that they are open for business,” the mayor said.
Councillor Meredith Caplan Jamieson said people want to know what the difference is between a credit union and a bank.
“So, people can decide ‘do I actually need a financial institution that’s a bank as opposed to a credit union’,” she said.
Coun. Epps said it will be good to have the presentation about what they can do at the credit union.
“And one thing they cannot do is close a branch without the membership, which is me, saying ‘we are going to close this branch’,” he said.
Northern Credit Union staff will be given 10 minutes to do a presentation at the Town Hall about the services the credit union offers.
Mayor Murphy said she has been asked about the likelihood of the branch staying open and she has replied she cannot answer that question.
“But I did say on behalf of all of council we are committed to fighting our hardest to keep it open,” she said.
CAO Gilchrist said she continues to encourage people to contact the banking commissioner to explain the impact the closure of the branch will have.
“We need to incite people to get these phone calls made,” said the mayor.
Coun. Caplan Jamieson said having a form letter and contact information would help at the public meeting and could be made available.
BMO is slated to close the Eganville branch on June 19. The town hall is being held exactly four months before the closure.
By Debbi Christinck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Feb 11, 2026 at 14:43
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