HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-02-18, Page 1INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
MISSION - Pg. 9
Local to head to Zimbabwe
for mission trip
SCOUTS - Pg. 10
The Citizen' honours
local scouts and guides
JINos - Pg. 19
Local nominated for
third Juno Award
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Volume 32 No. 7
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ESTABLISHED 1877
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Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, February 18, 2016
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A cold outdoor journey
Family Day weekend is always one to mark on the calendar
for North Huron residents. The weekend often means
Snowarama for snowmobilers, a get-together at the
Courtney house for children and adults alike and, of course,
North Huron's Family Day program. On Sunday, dozens of
residents both young and old were treated to old-
fashioned sleigh rides thanks to this team of horses. A tractor
picked people up at the Belgrave Community Centre, and brought
them to this property in the north end of the community for a tour
of the winter wonderland. The event also included hockey,
broomball, breakfasts and a snow volleyball tournament. (Shawn
Loughlin photo)
Ec. Dev.
projects
advance
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
With a new strategic plan in the
works and realignment of the
economic development department
already underway, those at the top of
the initiative are beginning to further
focus their efforts.
Vicki Lass, agricultural and rural
economic development advisor for
the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs, spoke to
Huron County Council at its Feb. 10
committee of the whole meeting,
saying that Huron has become the
envy of many in Ontario for its
approach to county -wide economic
development.
In fact, Lass said, the issue will be
one of the many topics being
discussed at next week's Rural
Ontario Municipal Association
(ROMA) and Ontario Good Roads
Association (OGRA) conference,
which is set for Toronto.
Thus far, Lass and Huron
Economic Development Manager
Natasha Fritzley have met with six
of Huron's nine lower -tier
municipalities in regards to their
strategic plans, with plans to meet
with the final three very soon.
The conversations have gone well,
Lass told councillors, and they're
now looking ahead to some of the
common themes identified as a
Continued on page 19
Shared services agreement marks new beginning
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
As reported in The Citizen last
week, North Huron and Morris-
Turnberry Township Councils
announced on Feb. 9 that several
services provided by the
municipalities would be merged in
an attempt to find efficiencies and
make the two municipalities more
attractive for economic development
projects.
In a special announcement on
Tuesday afternoon in the Knights of
Columbus Hall at the North Huron
Wescast Community Centre, staff
and council members from both
municipalities were present to
discuss the issue and look to the
future together.
Prior to the public announcement
of the shared services plan, staff
from both municipalities, along with
council members, were brought
together. It was explained to staff
that the joining was in response to
increasing costs for both
municipalities.
Specifically, Ontario Municipal
Partnership Fund (OMPF) funding
decreases and increasing Ontario
Provincial Police costs were leading
to large demands in the two
municipalities' budgets.
It was explained that in September
Huron County Council held a
workshop in Blyth on sharing
municipal services. Following that
workshop, Morris-Turnberry and
North Huron staff started looking to
working together to reduce costs and
eliminate overages.
Both Morris-Turnberry Mayor
Paul Gowing and North Huron
Reeve Neil Vincent would later
pinpoint the meeting as the genesis
of the idea.
"The big impetus at the meeting
was sharing recreational services,"
Vincent said. "The whole thing
started growing from there and we
felt it was reasonable to look at
sharing costs."
Gowing felt the meeting had more
of a broad aspect to it, looking at all
services that could be shared.
"We need to look at sharing these
kinds of costs across all
municipalities and trying to reduce
costs," Gowing said. "What we got
from the meeting was that costs and
services needed to be shared for the
municipalities to continue to work."
All the discussions after the shared
services meeting were handled in -
camera, meaning the public was not
privy to the decision-making
process.
One month after that meeting, a
joint committee was struck to
discuss options for merging service
delivery for the two municipalities.
According to documentation
presented at the announcement, the
committee included Gowing,
Deputy -Mayor Jamie Heffer,
Councillor John Smuck and
Administrator Clerk -Treasurer
Nancy Michie from Morris-
Turnberry and Vincent, Deputy -
Reeve James Campbell, Councillor
Trevor Seip and Chief
Administrative Officer Sharon
Chambers from North Huron.
The committee decided that
change was necessary and that status
quo was not an option.
As a result of the in -camera
discussions and decision, no one
outside of council and key senior
staff members knew about the
project until the announcement was
made on Feb. 9.
The committee gave direction to
Chambers and Michie to prepare a
Continued on page 7
`Citizen' nominated provincially
On Friday, the Ontario
Community Newspapers
Association (OCNA) announced
that The Citizen has been nominated
in two of the highest categories in its
circulation class.
The Citizen is one of three
nominees in the category of general
excellence in the circulation class of
1,999 and under.
Also nominated in the category
are The Valley Gazette from Barry's
Bay and The Minden Times.
The Citizen, by way of its parent
company North Huron Publishing,
has also been named in the top three
for best community website with a
circulation under 9,999. The
Citizen's website is also home to
sister publications The Rural Voice
and Stops Along The Way, as well as
an extensive history archive.
In this category, The Citizen is
joined by The Huntsville Forester
and The Manitoulin Expositor.
The winners and ranking of the
nominees will be announced at the
OCNA's Better Newspapers
Competition on Friday, April 22 at
the Hilton Garden Inn in Vaughan.
This comes after The Citizen was
honoured with three Canadian
Community Newspaper Awards
early last year for its work in 2014 in
three categories, including general
excellence for its circulation class.