HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-06-30, Page 15THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016. PAGE 15.
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The
Citize A
Tenders
Tenders
Municipality of
Morris-Turnberry
Rintoul Municipal Drain, and
the Peacock Municipal Drain
SEALED BIDS, on forms supplied by the Municipality, will be received
at the Office of the Municipality of Morris-Turnberry until:
12:00:00 p.m. (noon), local time Wednesday, July 13, 2016
1) Rintoul Municipal Drain Improvement
South Part of Lot 24, Concession 5, Morris to the North Part of Lot 26,
Concession 6 Morris.
2) Peacock Municipal Drain Improvement
Lot 46, Concession 1, Morris upstream to Lot 52, Concession 1,
Morris
A digital copy of the Bid Documents may be obtained, free of charge,
from the Municipality by contacting mail@morristurnberry.ca
In addition to other provisions in the Bid Documents, the lowest or any
Bid will not necessarily be accepted.
Owner
Nancy Michie, Administrator Clerk -Treasurer
Municipality of Morris-Turnberry
41342 Morris Road, PO Box 310,
BRUSSELS, ON NOG 1 HO
Phone: 519-887-6137
Down the pipe
Former Grey Clerk -Treasurer and current Huron East Chief
Administrative Officer Brad Knight threw out the first pitch of
the Grey Township 160th anniversary slo-pitch tournament,
which began Friday night. (Vicky Bremner photo)
Three municipalities look to share services
Continued from page 1
similar areas of the community with
both municipalities having to pay for
a full department's work. The plan
continues to grow, Chambers said,
with the goal of fully merging the
two municipalities' administrations
by 2018.
Chambers told councillors that the
process has taken a lot of staff time
and effort and it is especially
strenuous on the CAOs. She also
said that it's important to be as
honest and upfront with staff, as
early as you can, about the project.
Michie agreed, saying that
throughout the process, councils
will have to remain committed and
be sure not to make any
promises they can't keep.
Michie also discussed the
importance of the steering
committee, which includes both
CAOs and three councillors from
each municipality. The body is
important, she said, but it's also
important that a quorum is never
reached, which means no official
council decisions can be made by
the steering committee.
She also included several lessons
learned along the way, saying that if
the three municipalities were to
consider sharing services, they
should start small, perhaps with one
department. She said that the North
Huron and Morris-Turnberry service
sharing has grown faster than
anyone ever thought it would.
Bluewater Councillor Bill
Whetstone began the questioning,
asking about measurements for
success throughout the process.
Michie said that a measurement
process has not yet been set up, but
that will happen soon. One way to
gauge their success, she said, is that
the public seems to be pleased,
which indicates they've made a
positive first step.
Huron East's Kevin Wilbee asked
Getting inked
Dan Cochrane, right, didn't feel quite ready for Grey's 160th anniversary celebration on
Saturday — he felt he needed a tattoo to complete the look and that's where Sheridan Smith
came in, providing Cochrane with some temporary ink for the weekend's festivities, beginning
with Saturday afternoon's fun fair at North Woods Elementary School. (vickyBremnerphoto)
where the money came from.
Chambers said that the process
began with $250,000 of seed money
in the first year divided among the
two municipalities.
Wilbee said that Huron East
doesn't have any "spare money" in
its budget, so he was curious as to
how the project is being funded.
Michie said that because
discussions became serious around
budget time, they were able to
budget for it.
Going ahead, for purchasing,
Chambers said that North Huron
will be paying 55 per cent of joint
purchases, compared to 45 per cent
by Morris-Turnberry.
Michie said that in the first two
years of the project, through various
avenues, it is anticipated that the two
municipalities will save a total of
$600,000. Already, however, it's
looking like that number will
increase significantly due to a
number of new efficiencies, whether
it be through attrition or working
together to find more efficient ways
of doing the same job.
Huron East CAO Brad Knight said
that when comparing roads budgets,
the proposed combined North
Huron/Morris-Turnberry roads
budget is $3.7 million. Huron East,
he said, is 15 per cent larger than
North Huron and Morris-Turnberry
put together and its roads budget is
$1 million less — so a $600,000
saving over two years "wouldn't cut
it" for him.
Huron East Councillor Bob Fisher
also disagreed with the proposal,
saying it felt like what Huron East
did 15 years earlier when it
amalgamated Grey, Tuckersmith,
McKillop, Brussels and Seaforth —
although Huron East amalgamated
all the way.
He said the only possibility he saw
through sharing services would be
an increase in bureaucracy similar to
that which he felt was happening at
the Huron County level.
MacLellan, however, rebutted
Fisher, saying that things at the
county are more efficient than ever
and the level of service is higher
than it's ever been.
Hessel presented Bluewater's
proposal, which, like Michie had
suggested, would start small. He
likened his idea to central billing for
credit card companies and said all
municipalities in Huron County, and
perhaps beyond, could centralize
their tax and utility billing.
Knight disagreed, asking Hessel if
he had ever asked his tax clerk what
he does and Hessel said he had not.
There is much more to the job than
simply issuing bills, Knight said.
Hessel agreed, but also felt there is
room for efficiencies to be found.
Hessel also addressed the
"elephant in the room" which is staff
wages. He said that Bluewater has
done more than its fair share of
hiring recently and every time a new
employee is hired, costs rise. All
three municipalities, when they face
replacements or retirements, are
going to pay out more in salary than
they did before — a proposal that's
not sustainable.
Before the meeting was adjourned,
a short closed session was held so
the councils could receive
information. Knight told MacLellan
that he disagreed that the
information had to be presented in
closed session, but the session
proceeded anyway.
Before the meeting closed, Ginn
suggested that councils now return
to their home municipalities and
discuss the idea on their own and
decide if they want to move forward
and, if so, how they want to move
forward. He also suggested that if
they are going to move forward, a
third party should be engaged, and
both Hessel and MacLellan agreed.
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