The Citizen, 2017-02-16, Page 10PAGE 10. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2017.
Physician recruitment budget, reserve questioned
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
The Wingham and Area Health
Professionals Recruitment
Committee's reserve funds raised
some eyebrows at a recent North
Huron Council meeting.
The committee's 2016 financial
report and 2017 budget was
presented to North Huron Council
during its Feb. 6 meeting.
While the budget was accepted to
be part of council's own budget
deliberations, the fact that the group
held approximately $150,000 in
reserves inspired some questioning
about whether North Huron should
give the $33,097 the group requested
for 2017.
"It's a good thing this committee
does," Councillor Trevor Seip said.
"I am worried that they have
$150,000 in the bank. That's enough
to fuel them for a year and a half.
When does that change? When does
the allocation change because of
that? Should we reduce it?"
Seip said this situation was no
different than a previous
circumstance when the Belgrave
Community Centre started keeping a
reserve for future capital projects
which some councillors didn't feel
was a good use of taxpayer dollars.
"We need to start seeing a return
on this investment," Seip said.
"Doctors are hard to find and I'm not
suggesting they aren't, but do we
need to continue to put money away
for a doctor or two who come? I
don't think a doctor is going to ask
for $150,000 from this committee."
Seip said that North Huron, the
highest -contributing municipality to
the organization, is paying nearly
$39,000 this year.
"At that value... we need to see
some returns," he said. "I haven't
seen a doctor in Wingham for [four
years] and I'd like some discussion
on this issue as opposed to passing
it."
Deputy -Reeve James Campbell,
who lives in East Wawanosh, said he
has had a doctor in Seaforth for
many years, but the doctor is only
there one day a week. He called
Wingham to see if they could switch
and was told to stay in Seaforth
because there wouldn't be a spot for
him in North Huron.
Councillor Brock Vodden pointed
out, as he has in previous
discussions about health care in
North Huron, that not everyone in
the municipality uses the Wingham
hospital.
"I'm not interested in the
Wingham hospital," he said. "We go
Cowbell will increase
Blyth traffic says Ginn
Continued from page 1
the safety of the intersection,
including funding for the project in
the 2017 budget. However, in
accordance with council's
presentation policy, councillors
asked for a staff report on the
issue.
Warden Jim Ginn said he had
recently toured the Blyth Cowbell
Brewing Company facility and said
the company's plans are grand and
that traffic in that immediate area is
destined to increase greatly as a
result.
He said that the brewery will bring
thousands more people to the area
every year, adding that he personally
agreed with Knott that a solution is
necessary for that intersection, but
that the decision is council's to
make.
North Huron Reeve Neil Vincent
said that while traffic studies had
been conducted, their information
was highly unreliable because over
the years collisions at that
intersection had been reported nine
different ways, leading to inaccurate
data.
Past -Warden Paul Gowing agreed
that the intersection is a very
complicated issue and that there are
a lot of questions that need to be
answered before a solution is
decided upon.
He agreed with Ginn that a study,
including information on the traffic
for the 2017 IPM
Issue
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through the intersection, was the
best way to proceed and for council
to have valid information on how to
best address safety concerns.
Council passed a motion asking
for a staff report, which will be
presented at a future meeting of
council.
elsewhere and the recruitment of
doctors is not uppermost in my
mind. I feel people in other parts of
the township are contributing to
something that does not impact their
lives."
Reeve Neil Vincent said the
amount paid by each municipality is
based on the number of people from
each municipality that use the
emergency room.
He said ratepayers' doctors'
offices may be in Teeswater or
Lucknow, but more than one-third of
the catchment area's emergency
medical patients come from North
Huron.
Seip still wanted a better return on
the investment, and Vodden felt
North Huron had contributed
enough to the cause already.
"The enhancements to the hospital
will be great for recruiting," Vodden
said, speaking of the $250,000 North
Huron had pledged to the Wingham
Hospital Foundation's improvement
fundraising efforts. "I'm not in
favour of giving any longer to this
fund."
Seip felt it was time for the
municipality to understand the plan
of the organization and offer
suggestions based on that
information.
"Maybe I'm out of touch with
what their [action plan] is," he said.
"I would like to get information back
from them as to what that is."
Seip's request was clarified to
have a one-page document outlining
the group's actions to be brought
forward to a future council meeting.
The current budget will be
considered as part of North Huron's
budget.
Building it up
Building when the packing snow has turned a little crusty takes some ingenuity, just ask
students at Hullett Central Public School. From left are Clara deBoer, Elizabeth Howson and
Eli Barker building at recess on Monday. (Denny Scott photo)
Looking for local heroes
There are so many people out there who do
so much to improve their community.
Now you have a chance to say thanks.
Nominate that special person for the 32nd
Annual Citizen Citizenship Awards.
Each year a committee chooses an outstanding citizen from each of the Blyth and area
and Brussels and area communities to receive an award for contribution to the
community. If you know someone you think should be honoured, please fill in the ballot
and send it in. You may attach a longer explanation of why you think your nominee
should win, if you like. If you have nominated someone before and he or she didn't win,
please feel free to try again.
I nominate
as Citizen of the year for
Blyth Brussels
& area & area
I feel she/he deserves this award because
Nomination Deadline July 31, 2017.
Name and phone number of nominator