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$1.25 GST included Serving the communities of Blyth and Brussels and northern Huron County Thursday, November 26, 2015
Volume 31 No. 46
FAUXPOP - Pg. 22
Local creative company
buys former train station
AGRICULTURE - Pg. 15
Bluevale’s Cronins named
Outstanding Young Farmers
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:
Presents!
What better way to start the Christmas season than by giving gifts? Julie Sawchuk, the
celebrity “lighter of the lights” for the Blyth Business Improvement Area (BIA) also drew names
for the door prizes at the event on Saturday night at Memorial Hall. Here organizer Averly
Kikkert holds the box of names while Julie, with the help of son Oliver, draws the next lucky
winner. The evening was a popular one as snow fell in Blyth for one of the first times this winter,
playing host to approximately 50 people. The event, held at Memorial Hall, also featured plenty
of snacks and a gingerbread cookie-decorating station for the kids. (Denny Scott photo)
High cost, staffing barriers to EMS amalgamation
Grey looks ahead to
160th anniversary
Santa Claus parade
Saturday in Brussels
After extensive research and
number-crunching, the Huron and
Perth Emergency Medical Services
(EMS) have decided not to merge.
Linda Rockwood, Perth County
EMS Chief, presented the working
group’s report to Huron County
Council at its Nov. 18 committee of
the whole meeting.
She opened bluntly, saying there
were no cost benefits to a merger
between the two EMS departments.
Instead, such a move would result in
the hiring of more staff and a higher
year-over-year budget, she said.
Because of Perth County’s “lean”
staffing model, Perth currently
employs approximately 160 people
across the county, compared
to Huron County’s approximately
700 staff members.
For that reason, she said, the
human resources infrastructure
would have to be increased in Perth
to accommodate the influx of
people. This included a number of
different departments, she said, most
notably human resources and
information technology (historically,
she said, emergency services is one
of the highest users of both
departments in most corporations).
From a fleet standpoint, she said,
changes would have to be made –
likely involving even more staffing –
if the two departments were to
amalgamate. Huron does all of its
mechanic work at Exeter’s Huron
Motor Parts, while Perth handles its
repairs in-house.
Rockwood also noted that
amalgamating the two counties
would increase the power of the
paramedics’ union. She said that
while that increase in power isn’t a
bad thing from an employee or
public relations standpoint, from the
counties’ perspective, it could
certainly make things more difficult.
She added that there could be bigger
implications through the Workplace
Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
as well.
In terms of implementation, due to
a number of factors, including the
use of different equipment by the
two departments, Rockwood said
that it would cost nearly $1 million
to implement the amalgamation and
it would likely take a number of
years. That would be in addition to
an estimated increase in fixed costs
of $724,000 ($614,000 in labour and
$110,000 in overhead)
and operational costs of
$487,000 ($190,000 in fleet
and $297,000 in operations).
Rockwood also detailed a few
perceptional drawbacks to
amalgamating, specifically from
Huron County’s point of view.
Because Perth would absorb
Huron under the proposed
amalgamation, not the other way
around, Huron County would
experience a loss of ownership and
control. She said that while the
amalgamated department would
make every effort to keep ownership
split between the two, there would
certainly be a perceived loss of
control.
In addition, there would be more
politics involved in the process. She
said that councillors could likely
relate to how difficult it can be to get
everyone around the council table to
agree – saying that process would
then be doubled, with Perth County
Council having to agree on anything
do with the joint EMS department,
as well as Huron County Council.
If the councils were to disagree,
the issue of who would trump whom
would then arise, which would
certainly be a complicating factor.
She also said that, geographically
speaking, if Perth were to merge
with another region, it would likely
be Stratford just for geographic
convenience.
Warden Paul Gowing thanked
Rockwood and the rest of the
committee for its hard work and
extensive research.
“This just goes to show that you
never know how something’s going
to work out until you crunch the
numbers,” Gowing said.
Huron East Mayor Bernie
MacLellan was less enthusiastic
The annual Brussels Santa Claus
parade will make its way down the
village’s main street starting at 5
p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28.
The parade, featuring Mr. and
Mrs. Claus, will form at the
Brussels, Morris and Grey
Community Centre at 4:30 p.m. and
make its way through the village,
running to the north end of town and
coming back south on Turnberry
Street before returning to and
finishing at the community centre
with plenty to do and see.
After the parade, free skating, face
painting and a colouring contest will
be held at the community centre as
well as a chance for younger parade-
goers to sit on Santa’s lap and tell
him what they want for Christmas.
The theme for this year’s parade is
“The Gift of Christmas” and the
evening promises to be the perfect
start for Christmas in the village.
Alvin McLellan and Dianne
Diehl, Huron East Councillors for
the Grey Ward, want to take the
community’s temperature on a
potential 160th anniversary
celebration for Grey Township in
2016.
McLellan and Diehl will be
hosting a meeting at the Grey Fire
Hall in Ethel on Thursday, Dec. 3,
beginning at 7 p.m. The meeting will
be an informal discussion to gauge
the community’s interest in a
celebration, and McLellan and Diehl
will be serving as community
members, not in a municipal
capacity.
Discussion about a potential
celebration began last month,
McLellan said, when the Ethel
Community Centre Board held its
annual Harvest Supper, and
community members began asking
if any plans had been made for 2016.
In July of 2006, Grey Township
celebrated its 150th anniversary with
a huge, weekend-long celebration
that consisted of a ball tournament, a
parade, a dance, a golf tournament
and a fire department breakfast, in
addition to a number of other meals.
It was called “Grey Kicks in 2006.”
McLellan, as well as Grey resident
Leona Armstrong, co-chaired the
anniversary committee in 2006,
taking charge of all community
events.
While McLellan, in discussion
with The Citizen, feels that a 160th
anniversary celebration certainly
won’t be the scale of 2006’s 150th,
he feels it’s important to celebrate
the township’s history on important
dates.
In addition, McLellan said, there
is always turnover in the community,
so there are likely plenty of people
living throughout the Grey Ward of
Huron East who weren’t around in
2006. McLellan says those residents
should be involved in the
community’s history too and should
be treated to a party whenever the
occasion calls for it.
The meeting will be held at the
Grey Fire Hall, in the west end of
Ethel, on Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.
For more information, or to get
involved, call McLellan at 519-887-
9456, Diehl at 519-887-9442 or the
Municipality of Huron East office at
519-527-0160.
The Citizen
Celebrating 30 Years
1985~2015
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Continued on page 14