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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-02-04, Page 1010 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, February 4, 2015 Goderich and Huron County featured in new active transportation videos Huron Countylocations and residents are showcased in a new active transportation video series from the Huron County Health Unit. Active transportation is any method of going from one place to another using your own body. This includes walk- ing, cycling, kayaking, or cross- country skiing. The "What's Your Here to There?" video series features Huron County residents show- ing how they use active transportation. "The purpose of these vid- eos is to raise awareness of what active transportation is and where it can be done in Huron County," said Laura Dekroon, public health pro- moter. "We also want to get residents excited about active transportation opportunities in their communities:' Places and people in the vid- eos include an outdoor sports camp in Walton, Bayfield trails, a Seaforth farm, a Goderich school and a bicycle club in Wmgham. The videos can be found online atwww.huronhealthu- nit.ca. Residents can also see them by tuning into local broadcasters Eastlink and Hurontel's Channel One. The Huron County Active Transportation Report: A Call to Action, released in 2014, looks at ways to support active transportation in Huron County. It includes recom- mendations for the County, lower -tier municipalities, local groups, individuals and busi- nesses. Part of this report calls for more awareness of active transportation. These videos are an excellent starting point to see how active transporta- tion is being used in Huron County. Keep your funny -bone in shape! Laughing has pmven stress -release and Sharing a Healthier health benefits. Funny how that works, eh? Future- with naRnanarnan Usborne & Hibbert Mutual Fire Insurance Company NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING The 139th Annual Meeting of the Usborne & Hibbert Mutual Fire Insurance Company will be held at the Kirkton-Woodham Community Centre at 2 p.m. on Monday, March 16, 2015 for the presentation of the Annual Report, to elect Directors and to transact any business that may rightly come before the meeting. Nominations will be received for the election of two Directors for a three year term. The Directors whose term of office expires are Jack Hodgert and Larry Gardiner. Jack Hodgert will stand for re-election. Larry Gardiner is retiring from the Board after serving for 26 years as a Director. Article 22: Any person wishing to seek election or re-election as a Director must file his/her intention to stand for election in writing with the President & CEO of the Corporation in person at least thirty days in advance of the Annual Meeting or Special General Meeting called for the purpose of electing Directors. The 2014 Financial Statements for Usborne & Hibbert Mutual will be posted to the company's web site. Copies will be available at the company office, 507 Main Street South, Exeter, Ontario. Tom Feeney Shelagh Cleary BA, FCIP Chair President & CEO Social Research and Planning council seeking funds for community trends project Dave Flaherty Goderich Signal Star You can never have too much information. That is the belief of the United Way of Perth -Huron's Social Research and Planning Council. The council has applied for $20,000 in funding from the county to develop a Commu- nity Trends Platform. United Way director Ryan Erb said the vision of the pro- posal would be to have updated information and data at the fingertips of local organ- izations at all times. Erb said by always having up-to-date data, it would be easier to recognize past and current trends. "We could compare data we've never thought of com- paringbefore, Erb said. He explained that often when looking at data, organi- zations only compare in four- year intervals, which can lead to missing "changing trends:' He showed council an example of this through a graph regarding food bank requests in Cambridge. In the example, the data showed there were 117 requests in 2006 and 75 requests in 2010. While this data would paint one story, the number of requests spiked to 163 in 2007, 190 in 2008 and 194 in 2009. David Blaney, another member of the council, said the Community Trends Plat- form would put data into context. "Many small not-for-profit organizations don't have the time and resources to quantify their contributions and cannot create benchmarks;" Blaney said. He added that organiza- tions could also make sure they are not overlapping ser- vices and it would provide bet- ter information for grant appli- cations as well. Blaney said the platform could provide useful informa- tion for local municipal govemments. "Councils sometimes get stuck reacting because they don't have the data to see what's coming down the road:" Erb said they would likely request the same amount of funding in 2016 and 2017, but would not approach lower -tier municipalities. "We are not looking to dou- ble dip," he said. Seaforth Mayor Bernie MacLellan said he could appreciate the need for the program, but wondered how the United Way currently deals with organizations that pro- vide overlapping services. "That's a conversation we have everyday," Erb explained. It is a given that some groups that receive United Way funding may compete in some fashion, he said, but they try to help them find ways around it. Howick Reeve Art Versteeg said he was a little concerned when the council said they would like to "engage the com- munity" on the project. To him, there maybe some special interest groups that would try to push the results in a certain direction. County staff will report back with a report on the request at a later date. ESTC in Blyth seeking $284,600 in county funding Dave Flaherty Goderich Signal Star Officials at the Emergency Services Training Centre (ESTC) in Blyth are hoping for an investment from the county. The ESTC has applied for $284,600 in funding over the next three years. If approved, the funding would go mainly towards the implementation of new pro- grams, equipment and sup- plies and upgrades to the ESTC facility. ESTC principal David Spar - ling told county council at the Jan. 14 committee of the whole meeting that since opening in 2005, the centre has had a significant impact on emergency services throughout the region. "Every municipality repre- sented at this table has hired firefighters that came through our training centre" he said. According to Sparling, in 2014 alone, 139 fire and police departments had training at the centre, amassing 2,760 student days. In all, 81 programs were run at the centre last year. Sparling said the ESTC is recognized and respected within in the industry, and is one of only three propane emergency preparedness training centres in North America, and the only in Canada. There are three training programs the ESTC would like to bring in this year - indus- trial fire brigade, Maritime emergencies and pre -service firefighter. Sparling said they estimate that these programs could create an additional $2.8 mil- lion in economic impact for the centre by the end of 2017, adding those figures are "con- servative" estimations. "The issue is putting together the last pieces of these programs" he said. The $284,600 funding request is broken down as follows; • $37,000 for software upgrades • $84,000 for industrial air packs and equipment for training • $61,500 for advertising and promotion of the new programs • $13,000 for a business consultant to help create a business plan • $31,000 for curriculum development experts • $41,500 for updates to the facility • $16,600 for equipment and training for mask fit testing Sparling said these pro- grams could have a positive economic spin-off for the local communities, with stu- dents spending at local busi- ness, restaurants and accommodations. Seaforth Mayor Bernie MacLellan said he was con- cerned because the ESTC's 2015 budget showed a $92,000 deficit. He said in his view the information that was provided to council didn't have a far enough forecast for him to see if it was a sustainable project or not. Sparling said that until the construction the ESTC's new facility in 2011, they had made a profit every year. He noted they received a $660,000 loan from the municipality of North Huron, and if you take away the pay- ment and interest on that, their deficit is closer to $12,000. MacLellan said that there were parts of the application that "he did like" and he believes the county needs to do a better job of promoting "something so unique within our area."