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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, April 23, 2015
Volume 31 No. 16
CAR CARE - Pg. 11
‘The Citizen’ helps you
get ready for spring
PLAY - Pg. 9
‘Love Letters’ to grace
Blyth stage
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
INSIDE
THIS WEEK:
Brussels
project
resumes
Mark the occasion
Melville Presbyterian Church celebrated a very special
anniversary on Sunday, marking the 100th anniversary of
the church’s current building. The congregation
celebrated with a special service that included, among other
things, a performance by the church’s choir, featuring current and
past members. (Jasmine deBoer photo)
Street light project expanded, fundraising to begin
Brussels’ Kathy Nichol is at the
head of a new fundraising initiative
that will help “light up” Brussels
with new decorative street lighting
throughout the entire village.
At a meeting earlier this month,
the Brussels Community Trust
approved the placement of 66
decorative coach-style streetlights
throughout Brussels, expanding
upon the 20 lights that had been
approved at the Trust’s meeting in
late March, according to Trust Chair
Ralph Watson.
The Trust initiative will expand
upon the traditional “cobra”
streetlighting proposed by the
Municipality of Huron East as part
of the massive Brussels main street
reconstruction project.
The cost to upgrade to a decorative
coach-style lamp from the basic
cobra light is $800 per light, for a
total cost of $52,800 for the entire
66-light project.
According to Nichol, the Trust
approved the lighting expense on the
condition that at least $15,000 is
raised by the community to assist in
the cost.
The new lamps, Nichol said, will
feature energy-saving LED lights
and run along all four entrances to
the village (north and south along
Turnberry Street and along Orchard
Line in the west and Newry Road in
the east).
“The time is right to upgrade to
decorative lighting since the
municipality will be paying for the
basic ‘cobra’ style during the
summer of 2015,” Nichol said in a
press release issued Monday. “On
the heel of the opening of the newly-
renovated public library, four new
businesses opening since November,
upgrades to our streets, the
renovated Libro Multi-Purpose
Sports Pad, and other parts of our
community, along with two new
festivals, the community is bursting
with community pride and ready to
embrace new ideas.”
Nichol says that the support for
the new lights has been
overwhelming with a petition signed
by over 100 people presented to the
Trust in support of the move.
Nichol says that the fundraising
committee is now looking for
donations. She says that citizens and
businesses can donate enough to
cover an entire light ($800), half of a
light ($400) or a smaller amount of
their choice. All donors will be
recognized, Nichol says, although it
is unclear yet as to whether plaques
will be included on the actual light
poles, or all together on a central
donor plaque.
Nichol says that donation forms
can be picked up throughout
Brussels and returned with a form of
payment either to Huron East or to
Solace on Turnberry Spa and
Boutique. She says that payment can
come by way of a cheque made
payable to Huron East, or an amount
of your choice can be added to your
tax bill and paid over the course of
between one and three years. As a
result, Huron East will provide tax
receipts.
To support the project, contact
Nichol at 519-525-3333 or by e-mail
at knichol0214@gmail.com.
Construction was scheduled to
resume on Turnberry Street through
Brussels on Monday, as part of the
second phase of work that began last
year.
According to a letter from Zoltan
Tako of GM Blueplan Engineering,
the work aims to complete work on
the street’s sidewalks and
boulevards and is expected to be
completed by late May.
Next week, however, road work
along Turnberry Street will
commence once again, beginning at
George Street and working north
along Turnberry Street. It is
anticipated that this work will be
completed by mid-July.
During the work, the letter reads,
access to Home Hardware, in the
north end of the village, will be
provided at the intersection of
Turnberry and George Streets until
all work from George to Beech
Streets is complete. At that time, full
access to the business will be
restored.
The letter also references the open
house and public information
session held in Brussels last April,
stating that all efforts will be
made to have as little impact on
residents and businesses as
possible.
North Huron Township Council
officially approved its budget with
an overall spending increase of 2.24
per cent during its Monday night
meeting.
The budget, which had been the
focus of several special sessions of
council and many hours of staff
work, originally came in north of
four per cent but was brought down
to 2.24 per cent after much work by
the senior management team.
Chief Financial Officer Donna
White explained the budget in a
special public budget presentation
prior to the council meeting and
outlined some of the high points of
it.
The overall increase of 2.24 per
cent represents a cash value of
$99,294.46 in the $12,503,880
budget.
From the budget, $4,530,273 will
be raised through taxation,
$3,203,398 raised from the base
taxation rate and the remainder from
area-rated services and streetlight
costs in the hamlets.
Based on an average residential
assessment of $156,250, Blyth
ratepayers will see an increase of
$37.46, East Wawanosh ratepayers
will see an increase of $21.35 and
Wingham ratepayers will see an
increase of $12.97.
Of the budget, $5,477,219 or 43.8
per cent of the total budget
represents wages and benefits for the
municipality.
White explained that, with new
assessments, North Huron was
facing a new challenge it never had
before in work on the budget.
“North Huron has now dropped to
the lowest taxable assessment in the
county, below Howick and Morris-
Turnberry,” she said. “This
significantly contributes to why it’s
difficult to maintain the services we
do offer.”
Councillor Trevor Seip asked if
there was anything the municipality
could do to fix that.
“We can attract new businesses
and new buildings, which will put
the assessment up for sure,” she said.
The Citizen
Celebrating 30 Years
1985~2015
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
North Huron officially approves its budget
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
Continued on page 28