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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2016-08-10, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, August 10, 2016 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com ikon Expositor PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 P.O. Box 69, 8 Main Street Seaforth Ontario NOK 1 WO phone: 519-527-0240 fax: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor E POSTMEDIA r+ NEIL CLIFFORD Advertising Director neil.clifford@sunmedia.ca SHAUN GREGORY Multimedia Journalist shaun.gregory@sunmedia.ca DIANNE MCGRATH Front Office seaforth.classifieds@sunmedia.ca NANCY DEGANS Media Sales Consultant ndegans@postmedia.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GS1) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. 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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada OPP costs are too high W2en I first arrived on Seaforth soil, in July of 015, I never knew much about this place, accept that the agriculture industry is the leading sector for pretty much all the region. To learn more, I studied web- sites, checked on social medias, anything to provide my brain with a little more information relating to this land that at the time was foreign to me. I started to detect trends and statistics quickly, in the first week I came to the realization this was an older community, which I don't mind at all. I needed to know more though; I didn't even know the Mayor's name. There was only one solution to this difficult dilemma and that was to pack my camera, voice recorder, pens, paper, pencils and march my butt down to the municipal council meeting. I thought this new motivation to learn about the government came with some mileage, to my luck I lived across from the Post Column Shaun Gregory Office on Main Street, which is honestly a hop and a skip away from Seaforth's historic town hall. At first when I heard the group of local politicians sitting around the table almost all equipped with a laptop or tablet, I was a little intimidated; actually I was more confused than anything. They would start talldng about land taxes, by-laws and zoning amendments, I felt like I was in Spanish class, especially after hearing the Huron East CAO Brad Knight, talk for about 90 seconds. I had to make sure my head was still attached. Note, I The meaning of a bridge For Such A Ar Time As This yesterday I drove across the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie twice as part of my job driving for Grace Motors which I wrote about in an earlier column. That bridge is a beautiful one, with two spans crossing the St. Mary's River, which joins Lake Superior to Lake Huron and gives a panoramic view of the huge locks, which join the two. With a long while on the road, I had a good deal of time to muse about bridges and their importance to us. As a child we lived on a street that abutted the QEW in Grimsby on one side and went over the CN Rail line a couple of blocks the other side. So back then we could stand on the side- walk of the QEW bridge and wave at the cars and going to school I would have to walk over the sidewalk of the railway Column Pastor Laurie Morris bridge with its creaky boards. How many times I road my bicy- cle over that narrow railway bridge I can't remember. Neither bridge is there today, both having been replaced by much more modem and larger structures as the transportation corridor was modified over the years. Neither is our family home there as well, expropriated for the QEW expansion through Grimsby. I well remember driving across the Burlington Bay Sky- way as I was learning to drive, nervously hoping that I could still have to call him at least twice a month, like what in the heck does this mean? And in simpler terms he explains it for me. Let's get to the focus of the rant, as I become more educated in the municipal affairs of Huron East; I start to question things more often than not. The one thing that has me puzzled is why the police costs go up so juristi- cally. Last year, Huron East's policing costs jumped to a mas- sive increase of $190,000 in one year. This works out to about six per cent of the generally munici- pal tax levy that had went up to 20 per cent. This is just food for thought, but if they could cut the ACP Program for a total savings of $177,000 per year. Why not find a different police force that doesn't charge you so much. If they went up almost a quarter of a million dollars, I'm not saying it's for sure, but what if you made a contract with another organization where you signed a waiver where it stated certain costs can only go up so often. keep in my lane and trusting that a wind gust wouldn't cause me any grief. Today I cross the Bluewater Bridge both ways at least a couple of times a week, often being stopped at the top in a long line of traffic. Bridge building requires a great deal of planning that we seldom think about. When you are on top of a large bridge, with bumper -to -bumper traffic stopped and one full lane of that traffic being large heavily loaded transport trucks, you certainly hope that the engineers planned for all that weight, and that the builders didn't take any shortcuts in materials and construction. Not only do bridges need to be designed well, but being con- structed of materials, which can rust, get metal fatigue, be cor- roded by weather and concrete which can begin to chip and crack, they must be maintained. If you have driven ANYWHERE in the last couple of years, you have most certainly come across a bridge maintenance project. Every year you could be saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. Or at least let the Ontario Pro- vincial Police know how impor- tant it is for costs to stay some- what the same. I think that has already been done though, at a previous Huron East council meeting I attended. Where council met with the top dogs of the OPP and in that meeting they admitted that most likely, the cost increases will never go down. A statement several members of Huron East were not thrilled about. I don't know much about all these specific contracts con- nected to the OPP, but I just thought it was a good idea to look into, since the municipality has to apply several cuts to level out the budget because policing costs increase and shortages of government funding. Signing out from the Expositor office on this beautiful Sunday night, Shaun AKA the guy that tries his best to be educated in politics. They are everywhere in North America. Our climate causes remediation to be necessary. If you ever wondered about that, just look up at the Gardiner Expressway from Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto, or see the open metal rebar sticking out from bridge columns almost any- where in Montreal. Every day that I take the Long - woods Road exit off the 402, I cross over a set of bridges under- going reconstruction this sum- mer on the 402. But why do we need bridges? Well, to make it possible to cross a barrier that we otherwise couldn't cross. They cross bodies of water, take us over railway tracks, over heavily travelled roads as well as other obstacles. Yesterday travelling home from the Sault, I crossed the St. Mary's River on the International Bridge, the Straits of Mackinaw on the Mackinaw Bridge, and the St. Clair River on the Bluewater Bridge. Just imagine with summer traffic trying to do all that on Ferries. SEAFORTH HURON EXPOSITOR — HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00 - 5:00 • TUESDAY: - CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • THURSDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • FRIDAY: - 9:00 - 5:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: - CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT 2:00 • PHONE 519-527-0240 • FAX: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com