HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2015-06-11, Page 19THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015. PAGE 19.
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refuse and review new information?”
the letter begins.
Furthermore, the letter stated that
Deputy-Mayor Joe Steffler and
Councillors David Blaney, Ray
Chartrand, Dianne Diehl, John Lowe
and Kevin Wilbee voted not to
review or discuss a report in the
closed session; a report that was
requested by council and paid for by
the municipality.
The letter then detailed a number
of financial challenges Huron East is
facing, suggesting that municipal
taxpayers “need a break” and that
council needs to start working on
such a break immediately.
He referenced the proposed
upgrades for the Brussels, Morris
and Grey Community Centre, which
are due to cost a total of $1.5
million, saying that the savings
proposed by the report in question
would have been substantial.
“The savings, over the next decade,
from the report that council never got
to discuss, would have covered most
of Huron East’s share of the Brussels
Arena project,” the letter read. “I’m
not opposed to updating the arena, but
where is the money going to come
from? Who can afford to pay more?”
Several councillors, however, felt
uncomfortable with the letter and
with the fact that it had been
included in an open session of
council, as per MacLellan’s request.
Blaney then raised a motion of
privilege, which was seconded by
Chartrand, asking that council move
the letter and any subsequent
discussion into closed session. As
dictated by procedure, there could be
no discussion on Blaney’s motion,
just a vote.
“As a member of the Municipal
Council of Huron East named in the
mayor’s letter of May 27, 2015 with
regard to a vote on a matter before a
closed meeting, and that the
referenced letter could be construed,
by a reasonable individual, as
implying financial irresponsibility
and a deliberate attempt to suppress
information and discussion on my
part,” the motion read, “I believe that
the referenced letter and the manner
of its public release are a
contravention of my rights and
privilege as a member of this council,
as I am unable to defend or explain
my actions to the public at any time
or to council during an open session
as the matter was originally discussed
in an ‘in camera’ session of this
council. Therefore I wish the letter to
be returned to the closed session of
[the June 2] meeting of council to
allow the matter to be appropriately
discussed in its entirety.”
The motion passed and the issue
was returned to a closed-to-the-
public session of council, which
lasted over 90 minutes and resulted
in no motions being considered in
council’s subsequent open session.
In an interview after the meeting,
MacLellan defended releasing the
letter to the public and said he was
“disappointed” that council moved
into closed session to discuss it
further.
He said he didn’t expect
councillors to be happy with the
letter, but felt that even councillors’
displeasure with his actions should
have been dealt with in open session,
especially after the letter had
become a matter of public record.
Reaction to MacLellan’s letter taken to closed session
Morris-Turnberry Council couldn’t
come to terms with a proposed open
air burning bylaw during its June 2
meeting.
The bylaw, which addresses such
issues as unattended fires and
firefighter harassment, comes after
several field- and bush-fires in the
area, and several more in the
surrounding communities, saw
firefighters struggling to save
nearby lands and structures this
spring.
Council, prior to discussing the
document themselves, gave
permission for ratepayers to address
council who had contacted the
municipality after the deadline to be
on the agenda for the meeting.
John Schwartzentruber was the
first to speak and he said that he
agreed with the spirit of the bylaw –
to reduce the occurrence of unneces-
sary and preventable fire calls.
He felt the document, which was
borrowed from the Municipality of
Bluewater and recently passed by
North Huron, was too heavy-handed.
Unless the municipality started to
provide better alternatives for waste
disposal, he said, a prohibited burn
material list should not be included.
He said that burning some things
is better than having them in the
landfill system which, through
leachate, can contaminate nearby
water systems.
He also felt that the municipality
could not have a clause related to
harassment without clearly defining
what it is, as he felt that it could be
“a hazard to [ratepayers’] civil
liberties and property rights unless
there is a clearly defined mechanism
by which such actions can be
measured” according to a letter he
submitted.
Mayor Paul Gowing said he felt
the harassment clause was being
misread and that it would only come
into use if someone was stopping
firefighters from doing their job,
harassing firefighters or putting a
neighbour’s property at stake.
Schwartzentruber disagreed, and
said the only way he would support
any act that included the clause
was if “harassment” was clearly
defined.
“We would have to wear body
cams and audio equipment just to
protect ourselves from what could be
malicious use of this bylaw,” he said.
Lynn Hoy of Lynn Hoy
Enterprises also had a problem with
the proposed bylaw, but his feedback
was that he hoped the municipality
would keep individuals like himself
in mind when implementing the
open air burn bylaw and include
some mechanism for exceptions.
Hoy said he has been burning the
wood from the crates that goods for
his business are shipped in for 42
years and doing so, according to
him, in the safest way possible – the
fire is never left unattended and
water is always on hand.
Hoy’s site is surrounded by
agricultural land on three sides, yet
his land is zoned urban so the
burning is illegal.
Councillor Sharen Zinn said she
didn’t see a problem with allowing
Hoy to continue burning, however
Councillor Jim Nelemans saw it as a
slippery slope.
“Where do you start and where do
you stop?” he asked. “We will have
people asking why they can’t burn if
Lynn Hoy can.”
Mayor Paul Gowing said that he
was in favour of some of the
document and also stated that, under
the Ontario Fire Code, there needs to
be a document in place.
Other councillors didn’t share
Gowing’s appreciation for the
document, however.
“The best thing we can do here is
if you have a burn that gets out of
control, you have to pay a fine,”
Councillor John Smuck said. “We
have to find something simpler than
what is here, but get the message
across that we can’t have fires that
get out of control.”
While Fire Prevention Officer
James Marshall, who outlined the
necessity of the document for the
firefighters and for the municipality,
answered all the questions put to
him, council still wanted more
research done.
In the end, council deferred the
bylaw until more information came
from staff regarding the necessity of
the clauses in the document.
M-T defers burn bylaw, directs staff to provide info
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One of the Blyth Festival’s most popular events of the year,
the annual used book sale wrapped up over the weekend
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